Chapter 11
The room was a graveyard of memories and what remained was only a handwritten letter on the
bed.
Beside them sat a strip of contraceptive pills…half–used, half–forced, the same ones Alexander instructed the housekeeper to crush and mix into my morning juice or often fed me himsel calling them ‘vitamins‘.
His stomach twisted violently.
He remembered how I used to look at him with hope in my eyes, glowing whenever I spoke about babies, names, nursery paint and he would nod absentmindedly, all the while ensuring remained unknowingly barren under his roof.
There was something else, a small envelope, tucked beneath the letter.
[DIVORCE AGREEMENT]
“She…she left me? No… No! Not possible! Lavina loves me so fucking much…how can she?!”
His hand shook as he first picked up the letter and he instantly recognized my handwriting with the scent of lavender clinging faintly to the paper.
[Mr.Hamilton if you are reading this letter then I must already be gone.
I don’t expect you to remember but when I turned seventeen, my biological mother slapped me at my birthday party in front of everyone just because I showed up in a dress like Stephanie’s. I rar to the garden in tears, and you were the only one who followed.]
Alexander’s throat tightened.
[You brought a different dress. A cake. Even lit the candles.
Said that I shouldn’t cry on my special day.
That was the first time I saw you as something more than Stephanie’s friend.
That’s when I fell in love with you.]
He stumbled back a step, legs giving way until he sat heavily on the edge of the bed.
The memory burst to life with painful clarity.
Yes, he recalled the garden. That trembling girl in torn satin and her sobs.
And yes, he had brought her another dress. A cake from the staff kitchen. Even candles he lit or
a whim.
But not out of compassion.
He was angry that I had unintentionally outshone Stephanie. Now that he recalled it, he thought | looked so beautiful- almost taking his breath away so he wanted to prevent me from taking Stephanie’s place.
The dress he gave me that night was purposely plain. One size too big.
The cake? Smeared and lopsided.
The candles? A clever excuse to keep me in the garden just a little longer, so I would not returr to the party. So the spotlight would shift back to Stephanie.
Chapter 10.
23
DAKS
2:35 pm
“All these years…Lavina had fallen in love… with a lie?”
[I loved you for three long years, Alexander.
Even when you forgot our anniversary.
Even when I found lipstick that wasn’t mine on your collar.
Even when you told me I wasn’t ‘ready‘ to be a mother…when I blamed my body for what I didn‘ know you were stealing from me.]
His fingers gripped the edge of the paper, knuckles white.
[I stayed when you had nothing, almost drank myself to death to impress your investors. Worker tirelessly like a slave even when I was sick for Hamilton enterprise just to make you happy…tc lessen your burden.
I thought if I waited long enough, you would look at me the way you used to look at her.
But I was a fool.]
He blinked rapidly. The words blurred making Alexander’s chest ache.
The room felt suffocating.
[I am done, Alexander.
You both deserve each other.
She was always your choice.
And I… was only ever the mistake you dressed in white to cover your guilt.]
He dropped the paper.
His hands were shaking.
But there was still one last line, written below the ink–smudged paragraph, barely legible:
[For you new marriage in two days…congratulations. Now even if you celebrate Stephanie’s birthday with fireworks and drones or take her to our special resort, I would not feel sad.]
“She……………She… knew?”
Alexander buried his face in his hands, the letter trembling in his grip as his heart ached.
‘How many other lies had she held on to, believing they were fragments of love?
And how many times had he shattered her, without ever even looking?‘
He was going to announce our separation tonight and his wedding to Stephanie was in two days. Ideally he must have felt relived because there were no tears, no sobs.
Hell the woman he thought would beg him to stay just turned around leaving quietly and did not even demand a penny in alimony.
He should have been satisfied but Alexander sat motionless.
The room was too quiet.
No scent of my perfume. No soft rustle of my slippers. No humming from the bathroom.
I was gone.
