Chapter 3

3

Landon didn't come home.

On the day I was packing my things for my new job, a courier delivered a box.

Inside was a necklace.

My phone rang right as I opened it. It was Landon.

"Sorry, Jo. Things are crazy at the office. I might have to be away for a business trip for a while."

His tone was flat, with just a hint of fake guilt. He acted like nothing had happened.

I stayed silent. He kept talking to fill the void.

"Did you get the necklace? Do you like it?"

I smiled, but there was no joy in it.

I had seen that necklace months ago. It looked just like one my mother gave me before she passed.

I lost hers during our move. I wanted this one to remember her.

When I asked Landon for it back then, he looked at me with disgust.

"When did you become so materialistic?"

"I think staying home has rotted your brain. All you do is ask for money. Do you know how hard I work?"

Since that day, I never asked him for anything again.

If I hadn't seen Skylar bragging about this exact necklace on her story yesterday, I might have been touched.

It turned out I was just Skylar's trash bin. He bought her one, and when she got bored of it, he got me the same one as a peace offering.

"Why aren't you talking? You said you wanted it so bad."

He knew. He just didn't want to do it for me until it served his purpose.

I didn't call him out. I played along.

"I liked it then. I don't really care for it now."

I hung up and headed straight to the office.

Seven months of being a housewife had made my skills a bit rusty.

But Jessica and the team were amazing. They walked me through the new projects.

By the time it got dark, Landon called again.

I declined it. He called again. And again. He was persistent when he wanted something.

I finally picked up.

"Jocelyn, where the hell are you? It's late. Why aren't you home? This tantrum has gone too far."

Early in the pregnancy, Landon installed cameras in the house "for my safety."

I thought it was love. Now, I realized it was a leash.

His wife was out late, and his first instinct wasn't worry. It was an interrogation.

He still didn't think he'd done anything wrong. He was convinced I was just being a brat.

"I'm out getting some air. Don't you have your own life? Why are you obsessing over me?"

"I..."

Landon went silent.

I could imagine his face. He was shocked to hear his own words thrown back at him.

When Skylar came back, Landon started disappearing for days.

Doubt is a poison. Once it starts, it kills everything.

I used to call him, crying, asking where he was. He would shout at me.

"What is wrong with you? I didn't realize you were so needy. Don't you have anything better to do than wait for me?"

Those words had shredded my heart.

Yes, I did have a life once.

But after the wedding, he became my entire world.

Realizing his tone wasn't working, Landon tried a softer approach.

"Baby, you know I didn't mean it like that. I'm just worried about you and the baby..."

I didn't let him finish.

"Go worry about your little sister, Skylar. I'm not worth your time."

He froze on the other end. Then the impatience returned.

"I knew you were still mad. I told you, she's just a friend! I'm busy, Jocelyn. Don't make this harder. Go home and rest."

A wave of bitterness washed over me.

Even now, he was lying through his teeth.

Did he not know that Skylar had added me on social media? She posted updates every hour just to rub it in.

Landon wasn't on a business trip. He was on a romantic getaway with her.

They went to the beach, to the mountains, to all the places he promised to take me.

Every time I asked to go, he had a reason to say no.

"Try to understand me. I'm working. You're home all day, try doing something productive instead of spending money!"

In that moment, I realized my years of devotion were a total joke.

Ever since the procedure, my stomach had gone flat.

I hadn't hidden it during our video calls.

If he had looked at me for even a second, he would have noticed.

But he didn't. He didn't love me, so he didn't see me.

My silence made him explode again.

"Jocelyn! I'm a man, and I'm lowering myself to apologize! Stop being so ungrateful! It was just one damn checkup!"

"I'm out here breaking my back for this family, and you can't even try to understand me?"

He was painting me as the villain again. The ungrateful, nagging wife.

I felt nothing. No anger, no sadness. Just clarity.

I waited for him to stop breathing heavily into the phone.

"Landon, let's get a divorce."