I stared at the divorce papers on my laptop screen and felt something deep inside me finally crack open. Ten whole years. Ten years of my life reduced to cold legal paragraphs on a glowing screen. I read every single line slowly, my chest tight and my eyes burning. This was not just ending a marriage. This was ending the version of myself who had believed every single lie David ever told me. The version who gave up her dreams, her freedom, and her body to take care of a man who never needed caring for in the first place. I had cried for him. I had sacrificed for him. And he had laughed at me the entire time.
Marcus walked into the room carrying two cups of coffee. Steam rose from them as he set one down gently in front of me. He sat on the edge of the bed and watched me carefully, his eye
