Chapter 3

2.

The moment I lay down on the guest bed, an email popped up in my inbox.

"Mr. Crane, congratulations on your acceptance into our university's Jewelry Design program. Please report to campus at your earliest convenience."

Reading the email, I tasted freedom. A smile crept onto my face.

My life, which had been at a standstill, was finally moving forward.

The next morning, I came out to find Lorelei's assistant waiting in the living room.

I glanced at the folder on the table.

"If you're busy, you can go. I'll make sure she signs it."

The assistant hesitated, checked her watch, then handed me the folder and left.

I slipped the divorce agreement into the middle of the stack of documents and went to make myself breakfast.

When Lorelei came downstairs, I was eating a bowl of instant ramen.

She glanced at it with disgust. "How can you eat that stuff? I want oatmeal."

I finished my last bite, then stood up and handed her the folder.

"Your assistant dropped this off this morning."

Without even a second look, she opened it and started signing.

As she did, she didn't forget to mock me. "Still trying to do the assistant's job for her?"

I took the folder back and went to put on my shoes.

"Silas, I want oatmeal!" she called out impatiently from behind me.

I turned and looked at her calmly.

"I have to drop these documents off, and then I have a hospital appointment."

Before Lorelei could say anything else, Jayden emerged from the bedroom.

"Ms. Blackwood, did I oversleep?"

As she turned to talk to him, I opened the door and left.

I didn't see the calculating look in her eyes as the door clicked shut.

Once outside, I pulled the divorce agreement from the folder.

Maybe it was because of all the years I'd spent groveling at her feet.

She hadn't even bothered to read what she was signing.

There was a thirty-day cooling-off period.

In thirty days, I would be gone for good.

When I got back from the lawyer's office, I went straight to the bedroom and started packing.

Seeing me, Lorelei’s face flashed with surprise.

"Didn't I say you didn't have to move out?"

My hands paused for a second. "Now that your secretary is living here, it's not really convenient for me to be coming and going," I said, brushing her off.

My words stuck in her throat.

She felt like something about me had changed since I got back from the hospital.

Just as she was about to press me, she heard Jayden calling her for dinner from the other room.

After she left, I closed my eyes for a moment, then continued packing.

I looked at the small, sectioned-off part of the closet with my clothes in it and laughed at myself.

Six years of marriage, and this was all I owned in this house.

After packing my clothes, I took all the gifts I'd ever given her and threw them into a trash bag.

For six years, I had prepared a gift for her for every holiday and birthday.

And now they were all just gathering dust in a corner.

There was no point in leaving them behind.

As I was dragging my suitcase to the guest room, Jayden cheerfully invited me to join them for dinner.

Lorelei was clumsily peeling shrimp for him, not even sparing me a glance.

A small smile played on my lips. "No thanks, you two enjoy."

Hearing this, she actually looked up at me.

I calmly met her gaze before turning toward the guest room.

"Wait!" she suddenly called out.

I turned back, confused.

"Come eat with us," she said, a hint of awkwardness in her tone.

I looked at her, surprised, but in the end, I refused again.

Lorelei didn't expect to be rejected. She flushed with anger.

"Fine, starve for all I care."