Chapter 3

3

I watched her hurried figure vanish into the night, then decided it was time for me to leave as well.

I had been holding an umbrella in my hand the entire time, but she never even noticed.

Her heart was entirely consumed by Cole.

I let out a heavy sigh and called my buddy for a drink.

When Leo Evans arrived at the bar, he took one look at me and joked, "Kicked out by the missus again?"

I pointed at the divorce papers on the table.

"I am getting a divorce."

Leo blew his lid on the spot. "You built that company from scratch with her, and now that she's made it big, she wants to dump her day-one man?!"

"If you hadn't given up your own career path to back her up, she wouldn't even be close to running a business!"

Leo kept venting, his tone dripping with fury on my behalf.

"We warned you back then, but you wouldn't listen. Now look at you, discarded the second you outlived your usefulness!"

I forced a self-deprecating smile and pointed to a specific clause.

"Well, she did leave the company under my name."

Leo glared at me, frustrated by my lack of rage.

"Yeah, after siphoning off two whole years of profit dividends, leaving you with an empty shell!"

I shook my head, feeling nothing but a profound, bitter numbness.

"It doesn't matter anymore."

Money mattered, but what mattered more were the ten years Zoe and I had spent together.

From college sweethearts to building a life in the real world, from strangers to soulmates, and finally to husband and wife.

If those feelings were completely dead, what was the point of clinging to money?

When I woke up the next morning, my phone was blowing up with notifications.

Some from Cole, and some from Zoe.

Out of curiosity, I opened Cole's messages first.

"Brother Ray, I am so sorry about last night. It was just a mild cold, but Zoe insisted on staying by my side all night."

"I told her to go home, but she was just too worried about me."

"I want to apologize on her behalf. For my sake, please don't give Zoe a hard time, okay?"

Reading his manipulative, passive-aggressive texts made me want to throw up.

Then I opened Zoe's messages, and a wall of pure anger hit me.

"Ray Dawson, whatever issues we have, stop taking it out on innocent people."

"Cole was sick, yet he was still worrying about your feelings!"

"And what did you do? You ignored him completely and let him worry all night!"

Before I could even finish skimming, Zoe's call came through.

"Cole booked a private room at The Swan Club tonight. Make sure you show up. And right after dinner, we are going to the courthouse. I need that property transferred!"