Chapter 5
1119 Words
AVELYN
Weekends used to mean something.
Before Selene.
Before the distance.
Before the quiet ache that lived in my chest.
Saturday was supposed to be family day — the one day Jeremy promised would be just us. No meetings. No clients. No Selene.
But promises in this house had a short lifespan.
At five o’clock, Jeremy texted.
We’re having dinner at my parents’. Scarlett wants to stay the night.
No do you want to come.
Or are you okay with that.
Just a statement. I was just being told and I am not in a position to object.
I stared at the message for a long moment, the silence of the house pressing in around me. I typed a reply, deleted it, typed again, deleted again.
Finally, I sent:
Okay. Tell her goodnight for me.
He didn’t respond.
I tried to distract myself — cleaned the kitchen, folded laundry, reorganized Scarlett’s bookshelf — but the house felt too big, too empty, too quiet.
At 9:17 PM, my phone buzzed again.
Scarlett.
A voice message.
I pressed play.
“Mommy… I can’t sleep. I forgot Pinky.”
Her pink teddy bear. The one she’d had since she was a baby. The one she couldn’t sleep without.
My heart squeezed.
I grabbed my keys, slipped on a sweater, and picked up Pinky from her bed. The house felt colder as I left, like it knew I wouldn’t be back the same.
The Voss estate glowed like a palace in the dark — tall windows, manicured hedges, a driveway lined with lights. I parked near the side entrance, the one staff used.
I wasn’t staff.
But I wasn’t family either.
Not really.
I walked up the steps, Pinky clutched in my hand. Before I could knock, laughter drifted through the door — light, feminine, familiar.
Selene.
My stomach dropped.
I opened the door quietly.
Scarlett was curled up on the couch, watching a movie. Jeremy sat beside her, arm draped casually along the backrest.
And Selene…
Selene was sitting on the floor in front of them, wearing soft pink pajamas — silk, expensive, intimate.
Pajamas.
In my husband’s family home.
On family night.
With my daughter.
My breath caught.
Scarlett saw me first. “Mommy!”
She ran over, grabbing Pinky from my hand. “Thank you! Selene said she would cuddle me if I couldn’t sleep.”
Selene turned, smiling sweetly. “Oh, Avelyn. You didn’t have to come all the way here. We had it handled.”
Handled.
Like I was an inconvenience.
Jeremy stood, rubbing the back of his neck. “Selene was already here. She stayed to help with Scarlett.”
I swallowed. “In pajamas?”
Selene laughed lightly. “Oh, these? I always keep a spare set here. Just in case.”
I felt something inside me twist — not jealousy, not anger.
Something colder.
Something final.
I nodded once. “Goodnight, Scarlett.”
She hugged Pinky, already turning back to Selene. “Goodnight, Mommy.”
Not I love you.
Or stay.
Just goodnight.
I left before anyone could see the crack forming in my chest.
The house felt different when I returned — hollow, echoing, like a place waiting to be abandoned.
I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the wall until the sun began to rise.
I didn’t cry.
I was past crying.
**
It was Sunday morning — family day.
I made pancakes.
I set the table.
I reheated the syrup the way Scarlett liked.
I waited.
At 10:03 AM, my phone buzzed.
Jeremy.
We’re going to Paris. Selene has a fashion show. Scarlett’s excited. She’ll miss school this week. We’ll be back Friday.
Paris.
Without me.
My hands went numb.
Scarlett sent a voice message next.
“Mommy! I get to go to Paris with Daddy and Selene! She said I can sit backstage and watch her models. Isn’t that cool? She’s my mama now!”
My vision blurred.
My daughter — my baby — calling another woman mama.
I sank into a chair, the phone slipping from my hand.
Then the notifications started.
The Headlines
VOSS HEIR AND DESIGNER SELENE WARD SPARK ROMANCE RUMORS IN PARIS
IS A DIVORCE ON THE HORIZON?
THE PERFECT FAMILY: JEREMY, SELENE, AND LITTLE SCARLETT
SELENE WARD HINTS AT SETTLING DOWN — “I THINK I FOUND MY FOREVER”
In the interview clip, Selene leaned into Jeremy, touching his arm.
“I’m ready to settle down,” she said softly.
Jeremy didn’t deny it.
He didn’t correct her.
He just smiled — small, private, intimate.
Something inside me shattered.
Not cracked.
Not bruised.
I stood up slowly, like someone moving underwater, and walked to the living room.
I picked up the phone.
I dialed a number I hadn’t used in years.
The Beaumont family lawyer answered on the second ring.
“Avelyn,” he said gently. “We’ve been waiting for your call.”
Within an hour, a car pulled up to my house.
Not a driver or a lawyer.
My mother. Eleanor Beaumont.
She stepped inside, elegant and composed, but her eyes — her eyes were fire.
“Pack nothing,” she said. “You’re not taking a single thing from this house.”
I stared at her. “Mom…”
She held out a folder.
Divorce papers.
Already prepared.
Already waiting for my signature.
“Leave the papers on the coffee table,” she said. “And your rings. Anything he gave you.” She handed me a paper bag. "Change your clothes and throw what you're wearing in the bin."
I looked down at my hand — the wedding band Jeremy chose, and the cheap $50 engagement ring he’d won at a charity auction and never bothered to replace even when he promised he would.
My mother’s jaw tightened. “He gave you that.”
I nodded.
She closed her eyes, fury trembling beneath her calm exterior. “I’ve watched him diminish you for years. I tracked everything. Every slight. Every humiliation. Every time he replaced you with that woman.”
My breath hitched. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because you wouldn’t have listened,” she said softly. “You loved him. And I… I needed you to see it for yourself.”
She stepped closer, cupping my cheek — the first gentle touch I’d felt from her in years.
“But now,” she whispered, “you rise. Like the Beaumont you were born to be.”
I slipped off my rings.
Placed them on the coffee table.
Signed the papers. Changed my clothes and threw what I wore in the bin as my mother said.
And walked out of that house without looking back.
- Writer
