Chapter 3
1077 Words
Brianna woke up to pain.
Not the quiet kind that goes away if you wait long enough.
This was sharp, drilling behind her eyes, and it made her whole body feel too heavy to move.
She groaned and shifted under the blankets, and as soon as she did the memories from last night came crashing back in pieces that didn’t fit right.
The bar.
The drinks she swore she wouldn’t have.
Blake.
“…great,” she muttered, pressing her palm to her forehead like that would make it stop.
She tried to sit up and immediately froze, because she wasn’t alone.
There was a shadow standing next to the bed.
Not moving.
Just watching her.
Brianna lifted her head slowly and her stomach dropped when she saw him.
Blake.
He was standing there in the same suit from last night, tall and still, with that dark expression he wore when he was trying not to lose control. His eyes were cold but underneath that there was something else, something hot and angry that he was barely holding back.
Brianna blinked. “...you again.”
He didn’t answer right away. He just looked at her like she was a problem he couldn’t solve.
“You’re awake,” he said finally, and his voice was low in that way that meant he was pissed.
Brianna let out a dry laugh and pushed herself up even though the room tilted. “Unfortunately for both of us.”
She swung her legs over the side of the bed and tried to act like she wasn’t dizzy. “Let me guess, you didn’t come here to ask if I’m okay.”
Blake’s jaw tightened. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
The silence after that was awful. It sat between them like a third person.
Brianna forced herself to stand. “Where am I?”
“My place,” he said, like it should’ve been obvious.
She gave a small, tired smile. “Of course it is.”
“Don’t read into it,” he added quickly. “You were drunk and I wasn’t about to leave you in an alley.”
Brianna looked at him and something in her chest went hard. “How noble of you.”
His eyes darkened. “You embarrassed me last night.”
There it was.
Not ‘are you hurt’.
Not ‘do you need water’.
Embarrassed.
“That’s what this is about?” she asked quietly.
“You made a scene,” Blake went on, like he hadn’t heard her. “You were drunk, you were reckless, you were practically hanging on me in public—”
“I was not hanging on you,” she cut in, and her voice came out sharper than she meant.
“You could barely stand.”
“And whose fault do you think that is?”
“Don’t,” he warned.
“Don’t what?” Brianna stood all the way up now, even though her head was pounding. “Don’t say what really happened?”
Blake stepped closer and the air in the room got heavy. “Don’t twist this. You’ve always been like this. Emotional. Careless. Weak.”
The word hit her right in the chest, but she didn’t let it show.
Instead she laughed, soft and bitter.
“You actually believe that, don’t you?”
“I know it.”
Brianna shook her head. “No. You need to believe it. It’s easier for you to call me weak than to admit that maybe you were wrong about me.”
Something flickered across his face and disappeared too fast for her to name it.
Blake turned away and reached into his jacket. He pulled out a folder and dropped it on the bed between them.
“Sign it,” he said.
Brianna looked down.
Divorce papers.
She didn’t move.
“I’ve already handled everything,” Blake said, his voice flat again. “You’ll get a settlement. More than you deserve, honestly.”
Brianna let out a breath and then, weirdly, she smiled. Not the sad one. Not the broken one. The sharp one.
“No.”
Blake stilled. “What did you say?”
“I said no,” she repeated, and she was surprised by how calm she sounded.
His eyes went dark immediately. “You don’t get to say no to this.”
“I just did.”
He took a step toward her and his voice dropped. “Don’t test me, Brianna.”
“I’m past being scared of you,” she said.
The tension between them was so thick it hurt.
“You think this is some kind of game?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “I think it was a marriage. Or at least it was supposed to be.”
“You’re in no position to negotiate.”
“I’m not negotiating.”
Brianna picked up the papers with hands that didn’t shake, flipped through them, and saw exactly what she expected. Cold. Clean. Final. Just like him.
Then she put them back down on the bed. Unsigned.
“If you want a divorce,” she said quietly, “then you’re going to have to earn it.”
Blake stared at her like he didn’t recognize her at all. “This is a mistake.”
“Maybe,” Brianna said with a small shrug. “But if it is, it’ll be my mistake.”
He clenched his jaw. “You think this changes anything?”
“I think it changes everything.”
She took a step closer and didn’t look away. “You don’t get to break me and then walk away like I never mattered.”
For a second he didn’t say anything.
And then the mask came back.
“You’re being emotional,” he said.
Brianna laughed under her breath. “No, Blake. I’m done.”
She grabbed her bag and walked past him to the door. She stopped with her hand on the handle and looked back over her shoulder one last time.
No tears.
No begging.
Just her.
“If you want me gone,” she said quietly, “then you’re going to have to face me first.”
And then she left.
And for the first time since she’d known him, Blake didn’t follow.
He just stood there holding divorce papers he was sure she would sign, realizing that the woman he thought he’d buried was still standing.
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