A Perfect Lie

“The house was eerily silent, the kind of quiet that sinks into your bones. Ethan searched every empty room, calling her name, but only the silence echoed back. Then he saw it on the kitchen island: a divorce agreement, her elegant signature a final, chilling statement. He raced to all their special spots-the bookstore, the café, the park where he proposed-but she was nowhere. Finally, he arrived at the art studio he' d built for her, a sanctuary poured out of his millions, only to find it as desolate as his heart. Her drafting table was bare, canvases gone-everything that made it hers, vanished. He remembered her warning, words brushed off as a lover's insecurity: "I don't tolerate betrayal. Even once, and I'll vanish completely." He' d laughed then, sure he' d never give her cause. But the words now echoed, a haunting judgment. Thousands of miles away, the woman who was once Ava whispered, "From now on, there is no Ava. Only Olivia." A news article flashed on her phone: "Real Estate Mogul Ethan and Architect Wife Ava: A Perfect Partnership." Perfect, she scoffed, a bitter laugh in the quiet taxi. It had all been a perfect lie, and she, the architect who built dreams, was about to meticulously dismantle his.”