The Other Woman in Our Marriage

a titan of industry, felt less like a part

f his attention, I found him on the floor o

child's drawing, a pressed flower, and a faded pho

d never once given me, confirmed the crushing truth: h

een for his lifelong obsession, culminating in him abando

her minor burn for a top surgeon, and offered obscene diamonds to

his consistent disregard for my pain made me realize the devastating r

those flames, a cold, hard

determination: I would reclaim my life, expose his dece

pte

felt heavy

m filing fo

as flat, a

n line, then his sig

Cole is a monument. You c

. God,

That's what it felt lik

ered in New York, a titan of indus

hus

ck echoing in the

y door w

He often re

is month, the sight inside twi

t his massive

ng reports or on

oor, cross-legge

, intricately carve

astically dubbed his obsessive

asn't a p

velvet, were not sc

Vance's

of two stick figures hold

ed gardenia, br

, laughing, her arm slung possessively

gant, traced the outline

wasn't stoic. It wa

d never on

ty wasn't a general state; it was specific to me. Because all his emotion

hed. He didn't

A charity gala, glittering an

ux, polite, a cool, steady presence

t, had leaned in, his voic

No substance where it

of fire. I saw a challenge, a man

I could b

ried. F

seventeenth-century maritime history,

m into my world, m

subdued greys and navies he seemed

Abrupt. Devoid of romance. Delivered ov

l arrangement for us both. It would solidify

. No whispered

tringent, almost puritanical moral code. Or perhaps, I saw no

kissed my forehead, a

t work, Mia. Please, mak

ated to

vast, cold bedroom, th

ia's box, the pieces clicke

ance. The years of try

uldn't feel. He just

clearing slowly, that brief flick

n't hear yo

ways, calm, cont

small, bri

ng your devo

nderstanding. He

. I'm goin

ox, from the ghost of Olivia that had haunt

ow until the p

ce the cracks until the gr