They were all just memories now. The evening walks through Central Park, the gondola ride in Venice, Christmas in the Alps and summer vacations in the Middle East. Marcus has shown me a side of life I’d never seen before. He had opened my eyes to the beauty of this world, and for a time, he made me feel like I truly deserved it. But it was just a fleeting moment of surrealism, and now I was falling back down to earth. Emily would take my place, and I would go back to being Olivia Carson, the girl who had no idea what to do with her life, but was hoping to cruise through life winging it.
Marcus’s gaze slowly shifted to me, and he simply stared at me. Neither of us said anything, but in that silence, a thousand words were exchanged. In his eyes, I saw the mask he was wearing, and how hard he was trying to appear nonchalant.
But we both knew that wasn’t the case.
He inclined his head toward the papers in front of me, and realised that this was truly the end. This was exactly what he had been working towards, and he wanted this over as much as I did. Our entire relationship boiled down to this one moment, and it depended solely on my ability to pick up the pen and sign.
“Could I have a word with Marcus in private?” I asked, causing everyone to look at me confusedly. Ciara immediately started to explain why that was a bad idea, but I shook my head and stared him down. I needed to do this. I needed to have one final conversation with him, otherwise I would never be able to pick up that pen.
They eventually cleared out, leaving only the two of us sitting across from each other. The silence was deafening. and neither of us moved a single muscle as we simply stared at each other. No one could see him the way I saw
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Chanter Seventeen
him, and now that we were alone, he dropped the act. He wasn’t trying to hurt me anymore. Perhaps he knew he had already gotten what he wanted. Or he was just waiting to see what I wanted to talk about.
“I have just one question for you, Marcus,” I said, never breaking his gaze.
“I’m listening,” he replied icily.
“Did you ever love me, or was it all just a plot to humiliate me?”
He tilted his head to the side, and the corner of his lips twitched. I wondered what he found amusing exactly, and what he wanted to say but was holding back.
“Do I really need to answer that?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “I need to know.”
He turned and stared out the window, and when he sighed and raked his fingers through his hair, my heart broke at the sight.
“For a time, I think I loved you,” he said. “But in the beginning, it was just Infatuation. I wouldn’t have proposed to you if I didn’t love you.”
He turned to face me then, and continued, “I truly believed would spend the rest of my life with you, Liv. But I realise my mistake now. I could never be with a woman like you. The love I felt for you in the past has all but disappeared now. Now, even the sight of you disgusts me. The mere thought of having to deal with you is enough to enrage me. I just want you out of my life, so I can finally move on.”
There was nothing else to add after that. He’d summed it up perfectly, and I had gotten the answer I needed. I didn’t need to say anything else. He’d taken everything from me, and now I had nothing else to give. All he needed was my signature. And I gave it to him.
I signed the papers and slid them towards him, then I stood up and grabbed my purse. He stared at me like he didn’t expect me to actually go through with it, but I wiped the single tear that was sneaking out of the corner of my eyes and turned towards the door.
“Olivia,” he called, standing up. “I-”
I didn’t wait to hear what he was going to say. I walked out of the room without sparing him another glance, fully accepting the fact that I would never see him again.
And that was something I could finally live with.
I spent the next few days packing up. The paparazzi had long since left my apartment after the news broke that Marcus and I had gotten a settlement out of the courtroom, and the story faded out. I tried to call my parents a few times, but the calls always went to voicemail. I finally accepted that they didn’t want to talk to me anymore, and as painful as that was to accept, I had to force myself to adapt.
After six years of marriage, all I had to show for it were my battle scars, my memories, and the souvenirs of a life I could never go back to.
And a million dollars in my bank account, of course.
I couldn’t even bring myself to look at my bank balance. I focused instead of packing up whichever items I could manage, and leaving the ones I couldn’t take with me. I’d already spoken with the landlord, and he was going to hold a garage sale for the items I was leaving behind. Others would be donated to charity, and that was all I really
needed to know.
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Chapter Seventeen
gs turned out, but I wasn’t
Clara came to visit the day before I left, and she kept trying to apologise for how interested in having that conversation. What’s done is done and it was time for me to look to the future. It was time to start afresh, and focus on rebuilding my life from scratch.
“Where will you go?” she asked.
I glanced over at the plane ticket on the table, and I smiled to myself. I would be okay. This wasn’t the end. It was just the beginning.
“London,” I said.
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Chapter Eighteen
