Chapter 2

A few days later, I was scrolling through Instagram. Force of habit.

Then I saw it.

Ethan' s story.

Champagne flutes clinking. A pristine beach. Ava, laughing, beside him.

The location tag: "Maui, Hawaii."

Not San Francisco.

The betrayal wasn't a shock. It was a confirmation. The final one.

Ava had no idea.

She had no idea that weeks ago, I' d submitted my resignation.

She' d approved it, of course. Part of a batch of digital documents she signed with a single click, too preoccupied with Ethan' s latest "brilliant idea" to read anything.

She also had no idea she' d signed our divorce papers.

I' d slipped them into a thick stack of "urgent Q3 financial reports."

She' d scrawled her signature on those too, without a glance.

Her obsession with Ethan, her blind trust in him, had made her careless.

It made my plan almost too easy.

I felt nothing. No anger, no sadness. Just a quiet, cold resolve.

The groundwork was laid.

My departure was already in motion.