The Diary That Ended My Marriage

It was the dead of night when my phone buzzed to life. The call was from my best friend, Rosalie Corvyn's five-year-old daughter. "Aunt Veron! My mom's in the hospital, she's covered in blood!" I raced to the hospital as fast as my legs could carry me, only to be met with the steady, high-pitched beep of a flat, unblinking line on the heart monitor and Evie Corvyn, wailing, sobbing her little heart out next to the bed. I dialed her husband, Dominic Corvyn, again and again, but every single call went straight to voicemail. I was just gearing up to dial him for the 38th time when Evie's wobbly, choked-up voice cut through the silence. "Aunt Veron… is Daddy really done with me and Mommy?" A dull, throbbing ache squeezed my chest. I fought down the urge to completely fall apart, pulled myself together, and brought Evie home with me. But the second I stepped through the front door, I froze. My blood ran cold. There, leaning in Sebastian Riven's arms, was his secretary, her shirt was half unbuttoned and her hair was a mess. The second he spotted me, he gently pushed her away, his face as calm as if nothing was out of the ordinary. He didn't even have the decency to look guilty. "You're back? Don't overthink this. Delia was here to report on work. She had just lost her balance and fell, that's all." This wasn't the first time she'd "fallen" into his arms. Before today, I'd always lied to myself, convinced that no matter how much he fooled around as part of some casual act, I was the only one in his heart. But today, all I could think about was what my best friend Rosalie had asked me a few weeks back. "Veron, do you think the two of us are such lovesick fools that we're both gonna end up crashing and burning?" Just like that, I decided I was done with this asshole... Done for good. ***** I stared numbly at Sebastian and Delia Vyrne on the couch, then walked straight to the bedroom to grab the still unopened plush toy I'd bought. It was Rosalie's favorite cartoon character. I'd noticed she'd been in a foul mood lately, so I'd asked a friend overseas to send it over for her. It had only arrived two days ago. I never thought I'd be too late. When I came back to the living room, Delia was already gone. Sebastian saw me coming down the stairs, casually took the plush from my hand, and grabbed his car keys. "Dominic just called. He's already at the funeral home. Let's get going, fast." I nodded, my fingers clamped tight around Evie's small hand. Sebastian sighed. "Veron, what happened with Delia just now was really just her losing her balance. Don't overthink it, okay? I'd never do anything to hurt you—" I cut him off before he could finish the sentence. "I'm not in the mood to talk about this right now." He just held my gaze for a long, heavy moment, and in the end, he said nothing more. Thirty minutes later, we pulled up to the funeral home. Dominic was sitting on a wooden bench, zoned out, his eyes raw and bloodshot. Sebastian stepped forward first, giving Dominic's shoulder a firm, gentle pat. "Dominic, my deepest condolences. Take care of yourself." Dominic lifted his head, and his eyes landed on Evie and me right away. He hurried over, squatted down in front of the little girl, his voice trembling so bad it almost broke. "Evie, what exactly happened that day?" Evie shrank back behind me, her lips pressed so tight they turned white. She wanted nothing to do with him. Only then did Dominic look up at me. "What the hell happened? She was perfectly fine just a few days ago…" I could see every detail clear as day: his glistening, wet eyes, the dark heavy bags under them, the rough stubble he hadn't bothered to shave. For a split second, I was thrown back years ago, when he'd sat just like this in the hospital corridor, waiting for Rosalie to finish giving birth to Evie. But when he shifted slightly, my pupils shrank sharply. Two bright, suspicious love bites peeked out right next to his collarbone. Dominic noticed me staring, and awkwardly tugged his shirt collar up to cover them. I was just about to rip into him when the funeral staff walked over. Then everything blurred together: preparing her for the viewing, the eulogy, the farewell ceremony, and the burial. Just a few hours later, Rosalie, who'd just been talking to me last week about our planned trip together, was reduced to a tiny pile of ashes in a box. It felt so light, no matter how carefully I tried to hold onto the thought of her, I couldn't keep her with me. Evie had cried herself to exhaustion and passed out. Dominic held the urn in both hands, tears streaming down his face as he mumbled to himself, "Rosalie, we promised we'd grow old together, remember? What happened to that? "How could you leave me and Evie all alone like this?" I stormed forward and snatched the urn right out of his hands. "Oh, now you remember you have a wife and daughter? Where was this concern earlier? When she was fighting for her life in the ER, I called you thirty-seven times. Thirty-seven. Where the hell were you then?" Dominic froze for a second, glanced nervously around at the other people nearby, and lowered his voice sharply. "Veron Brinley, whatever this is, we can talk about it at home. Not here. No matter how close the four of us are, this is a private family matter between me and Rosalie." Hearing that, I was so furious I actually laughed out loud, bitter and sharp. "These past two years, I was the one who sat with Rosalie every time she got sick. I was the one who showed up to Evie's parent-teacher conferences when Rosalie couldn't make it! What about you? What the hell have you been doing as a husband and a father?" Dominic went silent. I was ready to fire off more questions, but Sebastian grabbed my arm to hold me back. "Veron, that's enough." I froze for a second, assuming he was worried we'd wake Evie up. But his next words sent a bone-deep chill shooting through me. "Even if Dominic really did mess up, there's no point digging into it now. Rosalie's gone. The people who are still alive have to keep going. Let it go." I stared at Sebastian in total disbelief, like I was looking at a total stranger. My voice shook. "No point? Let it go?" The four of us had first met back in our first year of college. Back then, Dominic was dead set on winning Rosalie over, so he kept dragging Sebastian with him to loiter under our dorm building. Rosalie ignored him at first, so he brought Sebastian along to butter me up first. I caved first, then Rosalie followed. Whenever the four of us hung out, they covered every bill and carried every bag. Rosalie was terrible at advanced math. Dominic, the guy who couldn't even be bothered to show up to that class himself, pulled multiple all-nighters cramming the material, then put together neat, detailed notes and talked her through every problem step by step. Little by little, we became a solid four-person crew. Dominic and Rosalie got together first, then Sebastian and I did too. We stuck by each other's side for over ten whole years. Sebastian knew better than anyone that Rosalie was as close to me as my own sister. And now he was telling me to just let it go? Unbelievable.