The Wife He Sacrificed

to pick me up. He sent a driver. He was at home, doting on E

lancing at me as he fluffed a pillow beh

word was a shard o

clearing out my past. I opened the closet and pulled out the expensive gowns David had

e could give it to Emily. I didn't care. The only thing I t

I was going, Olivia Clark's

t testament to the life I was leaving behind. The driv

ght-iron bridge over a creek, its railings covered in padlocks. "Love locks." D

With a sharp, satisfying snap, the lock broke and fell into my hand. I didn'

r flow, feeling the cold metal in my hand. I whi

I said to the win

n their tiny, unmarked graves. I couldn't bear to go there. I went to the gra

was left of it. I had cut it into small, manageable squares. One by one, I took them ou

and disappearing into smoke. It was the physical manifestatio

se of release. The smoke drifted up into the sky,

ment. They were laughing about something, their heads close together. Emily was

in the doorway and

ith an annoyance he didn't bother to hi

at Emily, who was staring at me with a smug

ortable. "Emily wasn't feeling wel

d. I walked past t

the bedroom holding a small, ve

thing," he said

e it. "I don

know the past wee

ping my lips. "You forced me to kill our c

y it like that. It was

I corrected him.

ering with malice. She saw her moment. She walked

whimpered, "m

s act. She fell against a side table, knock

d yelled, rushing to Emily's si

uch her," I

bbed into his chest. "She said..

," I stated, my he

thy of an Oscar. "She's angry about t

. He looked at me over her shoulder, his eyes filled with rag

a liar,

her," he com

m the safety of David's arms, her tears mira

w, cold smile that d

," I said, my voic

ed at me, her nails out, and slapped me hard acro

red to the pain in my soul. It was the last time she would e