The Divorce He’ll Regret

Chapter 3 — An Arranged Wife

A year earlier, Anneliese Harrington had stood beneath the crystal chandeliers of the Kensington estate and wondered whether she had made the greatest mistake of her life.

The wedding reception was still underway, but she had slipped away to the terrace for a few minutes of quiet. Beyond the stone balustrade, the gardens stretched beneath a clear summer sky, illuminated by discreet golden lights. Music drifted through the open doors behind her, accompanied by the murmur of guests who had spent the evening congratulating two families on an alliance neither bride nor groom had chosen for themselves.

Anneliese rested her hands against the cool railing and took a slow breath.

She was married.

The thought still felt unreal.

She looked down at her left hand. The diamond ring on her finger caught the moonlight, beautiful enough to belong in a jewelry advertisement and heavy enough to remind her that it represented far more than affection. The marriage between the Harrington and Kensington families had been discussed for months before either of them had been given the opportunity to object.

Anneliese had not objected.

Neither had Julian.

That did not mean they had wanted the same thing.

“You’re hiding.”

Anneliese turned at the sound of Julian’s voice.

He stood several feet behind her, one hand in his trouser pocket and the other holding a glass of champagne he had barely touched. Even then, at twenty-six, he possessed the same restrained presence that would later make boardrooms fall silent. His black tuxedo fit him perfectly, and his dark hair had been swept away from his face for the ceremony.

Anneliese smiled politely. “I needed some air.”

Julian stepped beside her and looked toward the gardens. “You should have stayed inside. Everyone is looking for us.”

“They’re celebrating.”

“They’re celebrating the merger of two families.”

She glanced at him.

“Is that how you see it?”

Julian didn’t answer immediately.

He was not cruel. That was what made everything more difficult.

If he had been arrogant or openly dismissive, Anneliese might have found it easier to dislike him. Instead, Julian had always treated her with a restrained courtesy that made it impossible to accuse him of mistreating her.

He simply kept her at a distance.

“The marriage was arranged for practical reasons,” he said eventually. “You know that.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want you to misunderstand what I can offer.”

Anneliese looked down at her ring.

“I won’t.”

Julian studied her expression. “Anneliese, I don’t want to give you false expectations.”

She knew what was coming.

There was someone else.

There had always been someone else.

“Katherine,” she said quietly.

His gaze sharpened.

“Yes.”

Anneliese forced herself to meet his eyes. “Your first love.”

Julian nodded.

He had never tried to hide Katherine from her.

Perhaps that was why Anneliese had fallen for him anyway.

There was something strangely compelling about Julian’s honesty. He did not pretend to be more affectionate than he was. He did not make promises simply because their families expected him to behave like a devoted husband.

Instead, he had told her the truth before their wedding.

Years ago, Julian had loved Katherine Hayes. He had proposed to her because he believed they would spend their lives together. Katherine had loved him, but she had chosen her career rather than marriage. She wanted to establish herself first, and Julian had respected her decision even though it had broken his heart.

Their relationship ended, but Julian never stopped believing that Katherine was the person he was meant to be with.

Anneliese knew all of this before she accepted his proposal.

She simply hadn’t expected to care about him so much.

“I won’t ask you to forget her,” she said.

Julian’s expression shifted slightly.

“You shouldn’t have to.”

Anneliese smiled.

The smile was small, but genuine.

“Then we understand each other.”

He looked at her for a long moment.

“I’ll make sure you’re treated well.”

Something about the phrasing made her chest ache.

Treated well.

As though she were a responsibility rather than a woman who had just married him.

Still, she nodded.

“Thank you.”

Julian returned his attention to the gardens.

Neither of them mentioned love again that night.

Their marriage began exactly as it had been arranged: with courtesy, expectations, and an invisible distance neither knew how to cross.

In the months that followed, Anneliese slowly learned the rhythms of Julian’s life.

He woke early, worked relentlessly, and rarely allowed himself an evening without some professional obligation. He read business reports during breakfast and took calls during dinner. His office occupied an entire wing of the residence, and sometimes he remained there until dawn.

Anneliese never complained.

She knew what she had agreed to.

At least, she thought she did.

There were moments when Julian surprised her.

Once, during a winter storm, Anneliese developed a fever. She had insisted that it was nothing and refused to call a doctor, but Julian noticed that she was struggling to stand. He canceled a meeting and stayed home until her temperature fell.

He never made a fuss about it.

He simply brought her medicine, made sure she ate, and sat in the chair beside her bed while she slept.

When she woke the following morning, he was gone.

The housekeeper later told her that Julian had stayed until four in the morning.

Anneliese had smiled at the discovery.

That was how she began falling for him.

Not because Julian showered her with affection.

He didn’t.

She fell for the quiet things he did without realizing she noticed them.

He remembered that she disliked overly sweet tea.

He moved a chair closer to the fireplace when he saw her reading there.

When they attended formal events, he always made sure she knew when they would leave because he had noticed that crowded gatherings exhausted her.

None of it meant that he loved her.

Anneliese understood that.

She simply began wondering whether love might not always arrive dramatically.

Perhaps it could grow slowly between two people who shared a home.

Perhaps Julian would eventually look at her differently.

That hope was dangerous, but she allowed herself to keep it.

For their first wedding anniversary, Anneliese prepared dinner.

She spent most of the afternoon cooking and chose a quiet table near the windows. She bought a small cake from a bakery Julian liked and placed a single candle in the center.

She knew he might not remember the date.

He didn’t.

At eight thirty, her phone remained silent.

At nine, she stopped checking the time.

At ten fifteen, the front door opened.

Julian walked inside, speaking quietly to his assistant.

He looked exhausted.

When he saw Anneliese waiting in the dining room, his expression changed.

“You’re still awake.”

“It’s our anniversary.”

Julian froze.

For a moment, genuine surprise crossed his face.

Then guilt.

“I forgot.”

Anneliese smiled.

“I know.”

“I’m sorry.”

She gestured toward the table. “It’s fine. I made dinner.”

He glanced at the candles and the cake.

“You didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to.”

Julian removed his jacket and sat down.

For nearly an hour, they ate together.

It wasn’t romantic.

There was no grand declaration or sudden transformation.

They simply talked.

Anneliese told him about a book she had been reading. Julian discussed an acquisition his company was considering. She teased him about his terrible sleeping habits, and, unexpectedly, he laughed.

It was the first time she had heard that sound from him.

She remembered it for months.

That evening became precious to her precisely because it had been so ordinary.

She began believing that perhaps their marriage could become something real.

Then Katherine came back.

In the present, Anneliese stood inside the small apartment she had rented after leaving the Kensington residence, unpacking the last of her belongings.

The memory of that first anniversary lingered in her mind.

She had been so hopeful.

She had mistaken kindness for the beginning of love because she wanted so desperately to believe there was a future for them.

Now she understood that Julian had never promised her one.

He had simply been himself.

Anneliese placed another book on the shelf and paused.

Her hand drifted toward her stomach.

The secret she carried made everything more complicated.

She was no longer only thinking about herself.

There was a child to consider now, a tiny life that had been conceived during the marriage Julian had just ended.

She had spent the morning wondering whether she had made the right decision by keeping the pregnancy from him.

Every instinct told her that a father had the right to know about his child.

But Julian had also made his choice.

He had chosen Katherine.

If Anneliese told him about the baby now, would he stay because he loved her, or would he stay because he felt obligated to?

She could not bear the uncertainty.

She wanted her child to be loved freely, not used as a chain around Julian’s life.

Anneliese sat on the edge of her new bed and looked down at the ultrasound photograph resting in her hands.

“I’ll figure this out,” she whispered.

Outside, evening settled over London.

Across the city, Julian was preparing to see Katherine again, still convinced that the woman he had loved years ago was the person he had been waiting for.

He did not yet understand that the year he had spent with Anneliese had changed him in ways he had never bothered to examine.

He had thought their marriage was something temporary, a responsibility that would eventually end when Katherine returned.

But now that Anneliese was gone, the memories he had dismissed as ordinary moments were beginning to follow him.

The dinner she had prepared.

The books she left scattered around the house.

The quiet conversations.

The way she always waited for him.

He had never considered how much of his life had quietly begun revolving around her presence.

By the time he understood it, she would already be gone.

And neither of them yet knew that the child growing beneath Anneliese’s heart would make forgetting each other impossible.