Chapter 5
Jarren stood frozen, eyes fixed on the divorce papers in his hand, his mind struggling to comprehend the weight of what he’d just been told.
“Sir,” the butler repeated, voice low and hesitant, “they’ve been finalized. As her dying wish.”
Whispers broke out like a ripple across the grand hall. The staff, guards, and even distan relatives murmured among themselves. Rumors traveled faster than the truth ever could.
“She filed for divorce?”
“Did he sign them?”
“No one survives a wreck like that…”
Jarren’s breathing grew shallow. His legs felt hollow beneath him. And still, he couldn’t lool away from that paper–as if it might vanish if he stared long enough. As if this was some
Suddenly, the crowd parted.
Aurora. Jarren’s grandmother stepped forward, regal in her black silk gown, her cane striking the marble floor like a gavel demanding order. She paused before him, her sharp eyes–clouded with age but still as piercing as steel–locking onto the paper trembling in his hand.
Without a word, she snatched it and read it.
Her face darkened.
‘What the hell is the meaning of this?” she hissed, holding up the divorce papers like they were poison. The room fell silent.
Jarren didn’t answer.
The slap came before anyone could blink. A clean, unforgiving crack across his cheek.
Gasps rippled through the staff, but Aurora didn’t flinch.
‘Did you hurt her?” she barked. “Did you betray her, humiliate her, drive her to this?”
‘No!” Jarren choked, rubbing his face. “Of course not!”
But he didn’t meet her eyes.
Aurora’s voice dropped, low and dangerous. “Then why is my granddaughter–in–law filing a divorce while you stand here doing nothing?”
One of the butlers stepped forward timidly. “She’s… she’s dead, madam. There was a crash. Mis Hayley didn’t survive.”
Aurora stared at Jarren as if seeing him for the first time. “What did you do?” she whispered What the hell did you do? This is your fault! Why would you not even be with her… and be that Elisa?”
She already knew. She had heard Hayley’s voice tremble on the phone. She had seen the bruises he silence in her eyes. She had helped Hayley disappear–because even though Jarren carried her blood, she would never condone cruelty. Never condone a man who destroyed the womar who loved him.
And now?
Now he would suffer for it.
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10 4
Because he had lost Hayley forever
That was when it sank in. Not in words. Not in thought.
But in silence. Jarren’s chest tightened. He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t speak.
She was really gone?
Just like that? Without a word… without a last look?
A few hours later, he arrived at the crash site.
The air still smelled like metal and gasoline. The wreckage of the 12–wheeler sat slanted across the embankment, black smoke rising from its twisted cab. Hayley’s car or what was left of it- was barely recognizable. Crushed. Torn in half.
His heart pounded, blood rushing in his ears.
“This can’t be it,” he muttered, pacing toward the wreck. “Where is she? Where’s the body? Why hasn’t anyone found her?”
The responders gave him hesitant glances.
“There was… nothing to recover, sir. The impact, the fire-
“Find her!” he snapped. “I don’t care how! Dig up the damn ground if you have to. Find her!”
The lead officer stepped forward quietly and held out a clear evidence bag.
“Sir… this is all we found.”
Inside were her things. Her pearl hair clip. A charm bracelet he’d tossed at her years ago when she asked for something nice. The engraved silver lighter she kept in her drawer–his, once upon
a time.
Things he never thought twice about. Things she carried. They were her identity now. Proof she had existed. That she was here.
He stared at the bag, the air around him thickening.
Somewhere in his chest, something cracked.
“Hayley…” he murmured.
He never said her name aloud anymore.
He couldn’t remember the last time he did.
But now, it spilled out in a breath that felt like it might be his last.
From behind him, a delicate hand reached out and rested on his shoulder.
Elisa.
She pressed her cheek to his arm, her voice sweet and soft. “Come on… enough with the drama. Isn’t this what we wanted? For her to disappear?”
She smiled. “And now, she has.”
Jarren didn’t move.
Didn’t speak.
And for the first time, there was no relief in Elisa’s words.
Only silence.
Chapter 5
7:16 pm
The weight in his chest didn’t lift–it deepened. Not guilt. Not yet.
But loss.
And confusion.
Why did it hurt?
Why did it feel like the world had tilted beneath him?
Hayley was gone.
And somehow, the victory felt like a funeral.
7:16 pm G ODD
Just like that, Hayley was gone.
