The Wife He Never Loved

Chapter Six

Adams’s POV

The silence of the mansion I had always craved for, became really deafening that I hated it. I had always complained about Evie’s "smothering" presence. I continuously nagged about the way she’d leave a light on for me when I didn't ask her to, the way the house always smelled for home-cooked meals when I never begged her to cook for me. I become so mad when she even tries to talk to me. I used to call it a trap because I saw it as a way of she caging me into the marriage.

Now, standing in the middle of the room that used to be her bedroom, I realized it wasn't a trap. She was just being her. Putting every effort into making this work but being so stupid and filled with rage, I couldn't see it.

"She’s really gone," I whispered to the empty walls. I opened her bedside drawer. Empty. I checked the bathroom. Her toothbrush, her scents, her silk robe…all gone. She hadn't just left; she had erased herself.

“ It's all my fault!” I shouted with so much regret. A sharp pain passing through my chest.

I grabbed my phone for the umpteenth time, my fingers trembling as I dialed her number.

“The number you have dialed is no longer in service.”

I growled, throwing the phone against the silk sheets. "Damn it, Evie! What happened to your line!"

I stormed downstairs to the study and slumped into my leather chair, the same chair where I had once sat and mocked her for trying to celebrate our first anniversary while having a make out session with Cassandra.

“s**t! Adams, You've ruined things”. I growled, shoving my hands through my hair and messing it up completely.

I pulled my laptop toward me and accessed our joint accounts. My heart hammered against my ribs, seeing she hadn't touched a single cent of my money. She hadn't even taken the settlement money I’d offered in the initial divorce draft. She had left with only what she owned before the wedding.

The realization felt like a physical blow. It became so clear. She didn't want my money nor did she want my status. She just wanted to be far away from me. I hurt her really badly…

Drowning in my regrets I heard the door slammed open. My father walked right straight to my study, his eyes filled with rage and cold fury. My mother was behind him, her eyes red from crying and her face looking so stressed.

"Where is she, Adams?" my father demanded, his voice low and dangerous.

"She left," I said, my voice sounding hollow even to my own ears.

"She left because you drove her out!" my mother sobbed uncontrollably. "We gave you a jewel, a woman who looked past your scandals and saw a man worth loving, and you treated her like trash! You treated her like she was nothing but an item!"

"I know!" I roared, standing up so fast the chair flipped over. "I know I messed up! I’m going to find her!" My eyes burned with tears and anger.

"With what reputation?" Father sneered, tossing a tablet onto my desk. I picked up the tablet and saw I was all over the news. The headlines were already swirling. ‘The Billionaire Heir’s Wife Vanishes Amidst Cheating Scandal’.

"The board is meeting tomorrow and they want your head, Adams. But frankly? I don't care about the company right now. I care about that girl. If you don't find her and make this right, don't bother calling yourself a Tyler."

They walked out, leaving me in a wreck of my own mistakes. I picked up the phone and dialed a private number, the one I only used for high-level corporate espionage.

"Leo," I said when the line picked up. "I need you to find someone. Evie Torres. No… Evie Tyler. I don't care what it costs. Use every satellite, every border crossing record, every CCTV camera in the hemisphere. Find her."

_____

Evie’s POV (The Fresh Start)

The air in the airport was cold, it was filled with the smell of jet fuel and expensive perfumes. I looked down at the passport in my hand. It was a new name. A new identity. It was a gift from a friend who knew how to make people disappear when they were in danger.

I wasn't in physical danger, but my soul was dying. If I stayed in that city one more day, there would be nothing left of Evie Torres but a hollow shell.

I caught my reflection in the glass of the terminal window and I could barely recognise myself. I had cut my long, dark hair into a sharp, blonde bob. I wore glasses and a simple trench coat. I looked like a stranger to even myself.

Good, I thought, a bitter tang in my throat. Let the girl who loved Adams Tyler stay in that mansion. She’s dead anyway.

"Flight 402 to New Zealand is now boarding," the intercom crackled.

I didn't have much. Just one suitcase and the burning resolve to never let a man make me feel small again. As I handed my ticket to the attendant, I pulled out my old sim card. I had removed it from my phone on my way to the airport. I looked at the tiny piece of plastic that held three years of unanswered texts and broken promises. I walked over to the trash can, broke the sim into two pieces and disposed it and also my phone.

"Goodbye, Adams," I whispered.

I walked down the jet bridge, not looking back. It might take me a while to stand firm on my feets again but I'm ready to start a new life and for the first time in three years, I breathed in air that didn't taste like regret. It didn't feel selfish. It felt necessary.

The billionaire could keep his towers and his flings. I was finally taking back my life and I'm going to pursue every one of my dreams without any apology!