---- Chapter 10 "We're divorced, Ignatz," | said, my voice as cold and hard as the stone path beneath my feet. "You signed the papers. It's over." He stared up at me, his face a mask of disbelief. "No... that was a mistake. | was worried about Everleigh, | didn't know what | was signing..." "You were always worried about Everleigh," | interrupted, my voice rising with every word of betrayal | listed. "You defended her when she moved into my apartment. You chose her when she faked a fall in my kitchen and you pushed me. You let her humiliate me at that press conference. You wanted me to take the fall for her crime, Ignatz. You wanted me to go to jail for her." | took a shaky breath, the memories a fresh wave of pain. "You even wanted me to kill our baby to protect her." | instinctively touched my flat stomach, a single, hot tear finally escaping and tracing a path down my cold cheek. "But | didn't do it, Ignatz," | whispered, and the confession seemed to suck all the air from the garden. "I left the clinic. | was going to keep our baby." His head snapped up, a flicker of insane hope in his bloodshot ---- eyes. "The baby..." he started, his voice a hoarse whisper. "Is gone," | finished for him, my voice breaking. "Your mother and her thugs dragged me out of a hospital. They locked me in a warehouse and left me to bleed all night on a concrete floor. Your family killed your child, Ignatz. While you were busy promising to 'make it up to me later'. The hope in his eyes died, replaced by a horror so profound it was almost inhuman. He let out a strangled sound and collapsed, a broken puppet with its strings cut. My father's security guards appeared and dragged him away. He was still screaming my name as they hauled him out of the gates, his cries echoing in the night air. After that, he became a fixture outside our gates. Some days he would kneel for hours, crying and begging for forgiveness. Other days he would show up drunk, trying to climb the walls, only to be beaten back by the guards. He always came back, his face bruised and swollen, his eyes hollow with a grief that was devouring him from the inside out. Then one day, the news reported that his mother, Meredith, had suffered a massive stroke. The camera showed Ignatz outside the hospital, looking like he had aged twenty years overnight. He stopped coming to the gates. | heard later he was spending his days in bars, drinking himself into oblivion. ---- One night, Everleigh, recently released from jail on bail, found him in one of those bars. There was a fight. She smashed a bottle over his head. The attack cost him the sight in his right eye. It cost her five years in prison for aggravated assault. Not long after, what was left of his company finally declared bankruptcy. As Ignatz's world crumbled, mine was being rebuilt. | started working at my father's company, rediscovering the passion for architecture | had set aside for my marriage. * A year later, | stood on stage at the company's annual gala, accepting an award for a landmark new building | had designed. | was poised, confident, and whole again. In the front row, Kaleb watched me, his dark eyes shining with a pride that was so intense it was almost a physical touch. When | finished my speech, he was the first on his feet, meeting me at the edge of the stage with my coat. As we walked out of the crowded ballroom, | saw a hunched figure standing in the shadows of a far corridor. He wore sunglasses, even at night, but | could see the sunken socket where his right eye used to be. It was Ignatz. He saw me. His mouth opened, as if to say my name, but no ---- sound came out. He just stared, a ghost from a past | had buried. Kaleb's hand suddenly tightened on mine. "Don't look," he murmured, his voice a low growl of possession. | smiled, a real, genuine smile. | reached up and smoothed the worried frown from his brow with my thumb. "Are you afraid I'll run away with him?" His expression softened, but he didn't let go of my hand, his fingers lacing through mine. | thought of the night, a few days ago, when he had taken me to the garden where Ignatz had last knelt. Kaleb had been the one to go down on one knee. He told me that when he heard | was getting married, he had exiled himself to Europe, buried himself in work, convinced he had lost his only chance at happiness. He said my phone call from the hospital was the first time he'd felt alive in five years. "I let you go once, Genevieve," he had said, pressing my hand against his chest so | could feel his heart thumping, strong and steady. "I will not make that mistake again." | had leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. Now, in the hallway, | gave his hand a gentle squeeze and turned my back on the shadow in the corner. | walked away with Kaleb, toward the bright lights of the exit and the future that was waiting for us. ---- In the distance, the sun was setting, painting the sky in brilliant shades of orange and gold. It was beautiful.