Get Down On Your Knees And Beg, Ex-Husband

Let Her Go

**Caspian's Point of View**

Mrs. Richardson looked at me for a long moment, her perfectly composed face absolutely still. Then she started laughing.

It wasn't a polite chuckle or a soft giggle. It was a full, genuine laugh that seemed to fill the entire sitting room, bouncing off the high ceilings and expensive artwork on the walls.

"I'm sorry," she managed between laughs, pressing a hand to her chest. "Are you here to make jokes, Caspian?"

I felt my jaw tighten. "No. I'm serious."

She was still smiling, shaking her head like I'd just told her the funniest thing she'd heard all week.

I took a deep breath, trying to keep my voice steady and calm.

"Nia has been missing for days now. I've looked everywhere I can think of, and I just... I thought since she doesn't really have anywhere else to go, maybe she came here. Maybe she's staying with you and your husband."

The smile on Mrs. Richardson's face faded slightly, replaced by something that looked almost like curiosity. She tilted her head to one side, studying me with those cool blue eyes.

"Why would she leave?"

I froze.

I never mentioned that Nia left. I'd said she was missing, not that she'd left on her own.

Yet, I still answered.

"I don't know why she left," I said carefully, watching her face for any reaction.

"That's part of why I'm trying to find her. I need to talk to her."

Mrs. Richardson's expression changed. The amusement was completely gone now, replaced by something colder. She reached over to the side table next to the sofa and picked up a tablet that had been lying there.

She tapped the screen a few times, her perfectly manicured nails clicking against the glass. Then she turned it around to face me.

"Here," she spoke, her voice flat. "Let me help you understand."

On the screen was a video. The video. The same one that had been broadcast at my company event just hours ago. The same footage that was probably still trending all over the internet right now.

Me and Isla in that hotel room. In bed. Half naked. The intimacy captured in vivid, unmistakable detail.

I felt my stomach drop. My face went hot, then cold, then hot again.

Mrs. Richardson let the video play for a few more seconds before tapping the screen to pause it. She set the tablet back down on the side table and looked at me with an expression that was somehow both pitying and disgusted at the same time.

"So," she continued, her voice dripping with sarcasm now. "You still don't know why your wife left you?"

I wanted to say something. Anything. But the words stuck in my throat.

I put my head in my hands, pressing my palms against my eyes until I saw spots. The frustration, the shame, the f*****g humiliation of it all was crushing down on me from every direction.

She already knew. Of course she knew. Everyone f*****g knew by now.

"It's funny, isn't it?" Mrs. Richardson's voice cut through my thoughts.

"How you're going around searching for her now. Running all over the city, showing up at people's houses unannounced, asking questions."

I dropped my hands and looked up at her.

She was leaning back against the sofa now, completely relaxed, like we were having a casual conversation instead of discussing the complete destruction of my marriage and my reputation.

"What exactly are you planning to do when you find her, Caspian?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Beg for forgiveness? Get down on your knees and plead with her to take you back? After what you did?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but she kept going.

"You should be organizing a press conference right now. Getting your PR team together, crafting a statement, trying to salvage what's left of your company's reputation. You should be claiming the video is fake, that it's been doctored or manipulated somehow. That's what you should be doing. If it's possible, you could even frame Nia for it. Tell the world that your wife was trying to damage your reputation because you asked for divorce. Come on, you're better than this.”

She shook her head slowly, like she was disappointed in a child who'd failed to follow simple instructions.

"You should be protecting your business, not running around the city chasing after her like some lovesick fool."

She was right to an extent. My company was in crisis. My investors had walked out. The scandal was everywhere. I should be doing damage control.

But I couldn't stop. I couldn't let this go. Not until I knew the truth. Part of me couldn't believe she also meant the part about framing Nia.

"Besides," Mrs. Richardson continued, a strange smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Won't you use this opportunity to free yourself from her?"

I blinked. "What?"

"From Nia." She gestured vaguely with one hand.

"Aren't you tired of her by now? Five years is a long time to be married to someone you don't love. Someone who was forced on you by a business arrangement. Now you have the perfect excuse to walk away, to move on with your life with that girl you actually want."

The way she said it, so casual and matter-of-fact, made my skin crawl.

I stared at her, trying to process what she'd just suggested. That I should just... give up. Accept the divorce, move on with Isla, and forget Nia ever existed.

But that wasn't what I wanted. Was it?

I didn't even know anymore. Everything was so f*****g confused and tangled up in my head that I couldn't separate one thought from another.

"I don't know what to say to that," I finally managed, my voice coming out with all the frustration I was feeling.

Mrs. Richardson just smiled that same cold smile.

I stood up abruptly, the chair scraping against the floor.

"Thank you for having me, Mrs. Richardson. But I should leave now."

She nodded, rising gracefully from the sofa. "Of course. I'll walk you out."

We moved through the house in silence. My footsteps echoed loudly in the massive space.

When we reached the front door, she opened it for me. I stepped out onto the front steps, already turning toward where I'd parked my car.

"Caspian."

Her voice stopped me. I glanced back.

"A piece of advice," she offered, her voice quieter now.

"You shouldn't feel guilty just because Nia loved you. These things happen. People fall out of love, or they never were in love to begin with. It's not your fault that she developed feelings you couldn't return."

I felt like I'd been punched in the chest.

"You should rather seize this opportunity," she continued, each word landing like a stone. "Take the divorce, take your freedom, and build the life you actually want. Don't waste more years trying to fix something that was broken from the start."

She paused, giving me one last meaningful look.

"Let her go, Caspian. For both your sakes."

Then she stepped back and closed the door, leaving me standing alone on the steps.

I walked to my car in a daze, barely aware of my own movements. My hand fumbled with the door handle before I managed to pull it open and slide into the driver's seat.

I just sat there for a while, staring blankly at the mansion in front of me.

That talk about Nia loving me. Again.

First Jenny, screaming it at me in her office with so much rage and conviction that I'd almost believed her despite everything I thought I knew.

Now Mrs. Richardson, saying it so casually, like it was just an accepted fact that everyone knew except me.

"Because Nia loved you."

Why did they keep saying that? Why did everyone seem to think it was true?