SCORNED EX WIFE : Queen Of Ashes

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S POINT

of trying to be the perfect wife, and this wa

ve signed them this morning, probably right after I'd left that stupid handmade card on

untouched. Three years of marriage summed up in a handmade gesture he couldn't eve

how you notice small things w

d out the divorce papers like contracts at one of his meetings, sticky ta

king. "You're doing this t

f disappointment I'd heard so many times be

ts, princess cut, picked out by his mother. "Not your style, dear, but it's what a Rodriguez wife s

e someon

fan straightened his tie, Italian silk, the

took to erase three year

w l

't meet my eyes. "She c

dinners. The way he'd stopped kissing me goodbye in the mornings. "Were

want to

rsh, unfamiliar. "That

Dark liquid spread across the pristine tiles, staining the grout I'd scru

" Stefan reached fo

cked. "Just... don't

oto slipped from between the divorce pape

rld st

fectly poised expression that had haunt

tasted like poison. "Yo

lence said

g dress. Rose giving toasts at our engagement party. Rose calling every

ents' golden child. The o

ace. "She's been here the whole time, waiting. Playing the supp

is hair, that gesture I used to find endearing. "We t

at your head." My fingers tightened around the broken

"Four years. Until she got

tefan. The same time Rose had suddenly become

spered. "All of it. And

eing dramatic. Ros

ts I was too unstable for college?" The broken mug cut into my palm, but I barely felt it. "She's be

ce papers. Stefan reached fo

around my palm. "Where is she now? Waiting to comfor

re, but I thought it

hysteria. "Yes, you've both been so concerned

e'd given me on our first anniversary

e should talk abo

rfectly steady. Let them see I wasn'

s, Rose's photo. "Done pretending. Done being the good si

are you

rom everyone who thinks Camille Lewis

face lit up the screen. Right

e, Stefan called out, "You can't just leave. We need

me. "The house, the cars, the life you built on lies. I

le, pl

in my expression made him step back. "Give

r w

truth. About her, about you,

ing bloody fingerprints on the door handle. Let th

t. Three years of swallowing pain and making ex

Then my mother. Then Stefan.

to the life I tho

ection. Tears streaked my makeup, blood stained my d

polished, proper wife St