After the Divorce, She Disappeared

The night I signed the divorce papers, my husband did not even look at me. Alexander Blackwood pushed the document across the marble table with two fingers, as if touching it for too long would dirty his hand. "Sign it," he said. His voice was calm. Cold. Final. I looked at the paper in front of me. Divorce Agreement. Three years of marriage, reduced to two words on a white page. Beside the document was a check. Five million dollars. Enough money to buy a beautiful apartment. Enough to start a new life. Enough, in his eyes, to erase me completely. My fingers curled under the table. "Is this what you think I want?" I asked quietly. Alexander finally raised his eyes. They were the same eyes I had loved for three years. Dark, sharp, impossible to read. "Isn't it?"he said." You married me for money, Emily. Don't pretend to be hurt now.” Something inside my chest cracked. I had heard those words before. From his mother. From his friends. From every person who believed a girl like me could only enter the Blackwood family through greed. But hearing them from him still hurt the most. Vanessa Reed stood behind him, one hand resting lightly on the back of his chair. She wore a soft white dress and a sad little smile, as if she felt sorry for me. "Emily," she said gently," maybe this is better for everyone. Alex has already done more than enough for you." Alex. She called him Alex. I had been his wife for three years, but he had never let me call him that. I looked at her hand on his chair. Then I looked back at my husband. "Did you ever believe me?" I asked." Even once?" Alexander's jaw tightened. "There is nothing left to believe." The answer was so simple that it almost made me laugh. Three years. Three years of waking before him, preparing his coffee exactly the way he liked it. Three years of sitting beside him at dinners where no one wanted me there. Three years of loving a man who saw me as a mistake he had been waiting to correct. And now, I was pregnant with his child. My hand moved to my stomach before I could stop it. Alexander noticed. His eyes narrowed." What is it?" For one second, I almost told him. I almost said, I found out this morning. I was going to tell you tonight. I thought maybe, just maybe, this baby would make you look at me differently. But then Vanessa stepped closer. "Emily, please don't make this harder than it needs to be." That was when I understood. No truth would save me here. Not my love. Not my loyalty. Not even our child. So I picked up the pen. My hand did not shake when I signed my name. Emily Carter. Not Emily Blackwood. Not anymore. Alexander watched me with a strange look in his eyes, as if he had expected me to cry, to beg, to fall apart. I pushed the papers back to him. "You're right," I said." There is nothing left to believe." Then I stood. I did not take the check. Alexander's gaze dropped onto it." Take the money." I smiled, but it hurt. "Keep it," I said." You'll need it one day." His expression darkened." What is that supposed to mean?" I looked at him one last time. "One day, Alexander, you're going to realize what you threw away." Then I walked out of the Blackwood mansion with nothing but my coat, my pride, and the child he would never know. Behind me, I heard Vanessa laugh softly. But I did not turn around. Not once. Because if I did, I was afraid I would break. And I had no right to break anymore. Not when another heartbeat had just begun inside me.