Done Being A Shadow: The Wife's Escape

ocked drawer in Marcus's study, I did

o my father's busi

ho looked exactly l

e than an expensive lie. I wasn't his wife; I was a

when scalding soup was

didn't

shield her, leaving me to tak

pital bandaged and in agony,

d I donate a kid

who would you choose?" I as

stantly. "She has

know I was

gging me to save his mistress, the

y tears a

," I

ce papers and left

edical report dated that mor

vanished, leaving him to wake up to a world wher

pte

via

er in Marcus's study-the same day I realized my marriage w

ncial documents or family

s's sharp, architectural handwriting were stacked neatly beside sketches of a house I had never seen. The dat

y father's business partner. A woman I had admired. A

't break. It

it. Then, with a terrifying so

t six months tracking it down. In return, he had handed me a rock. A literal stone from a cons

e was forty, with the kind of silver-fox charm that made women lose their breath and their common sense. I

t that warmth wasn

smiling

ved me over. "Come here. I was just telli

y were moving through deep water. I

oking between us. "The eyes. Th

y sound. "Oh, stop it, Marcus. Oli

octave. He wasn't looking at me anymore.

se in m

aning against a pillar. I had helped him to the suite, cleaning his shoes, loosening his tie. I th

t worry about her. Marcus i

self Marcus was a gentleman. He was the man who opened

g room, the truth hit me like

s wife. I w

some air

his head. "Go ahead, d

I gripped the stone railing u

arried me because his mother wanted him to se

Not to love them. But to replace th

. Six weeks. When I suspected it yesterday, I felt j

ootsteps

y?" Marc

wine. He looked annoyed tha

headache

said, taking a sip. "Izzy never

Izzy," I

ed, that practiced, hollow smile. "I know. You're my wif

d and wa

my dress, but I didn't shiver. Whatever wa

eement for his company. He wanted me to sign it before his surgery next week. Marcus

I didn't go to the par

I found the clause about

n. My hand

rote a new term in the margins. *In the event of d

ed the

was a person. And I was done