Chapter 2

After we got home, Chloe and I entered a brutal cold war. I couldn't accept what she and Marcus had done, and I honestly didn't know how to look at her anymore.

In the days that followed, Chloe’s phone rang constantly. Every time she answered, she would immediately walk into another room to avoid me.

Eventually, she started putting on heavy makeup and going out late at night.

One evening, unable to take it anymore, I tried to bring it up casually over dinner.

"Chloe, you've been talking to Marcus a lot lately."

Chloe avoided my gaze, picking at her food. "Oh. He just texts me occasionally to chat."

"You know what happened between us. That 'occasional' texting seems to be taking up most of your day."

"Fine. I’ll stop talking to him."

Her response was flat, devoid of any real explanation. She shut down the conversation so fast that I couldn't even say anything else.

But I knew she was lying.

Whenever she was home and had a free moment, she would lock herself in the bedroom. The second I walked in, she would pretend to be asleep.

As time went on, her attitude toward me grew colder and colder, yet the moment her phone rang, her voice would light up with excitement.

Finally, I hit my breaking point.

I decided to do some digging. I needed to know exactly how far they had gone.

One night, while Chloe was in the shower, I snuck over and unlocked her phone.

Their Snapchat history was overflowing. The messages were incredibly intimate, filled with flirting and dirty talk.

Worse, they were actively plotting how to get her to divorce me. This entire cold-shoulder routine? It was Marcus’s idea to force me to call it quits.

My hands shook, and a raging fire burned in my chest.

I couldn't believe it. My own wife was actively conspiring against me with another man.

In a fit of blind rage, I grabbed my keys, got into my car, and drove straight to Marcus’s apartment.

When I found him, he was just about to leave his building.

I slammed him against the wall, grabbing him by the collar. "Stay the hell away from Chloe! Don't make me kill you."

Marcus didn't look scared at all. He just looked at me with pure pitiless contempt. "Ethan, you're pathetic. You can't satisfy Chloe. You can't give her real happiness."

"Shut your mouth!" I roared, throwing a hard punch right into his cheek.

He dodged the brunt of it, grabbed my arm, and twisted it back. "Ethan, you're a loser. Chloe stopped loving you a long time ago. She’s only staying with you because she pities you."

We fought like wild animals, kicking and punching our way from the lobby out onto the sidewalk.

The neighbors heard the commotion and came out to watch. Someone called the cops.

Within minutes, sirens wailed, and the police arrived, dragging both of us away—bloody, bruised, and handcuffed—to the local precinct.

Sitting in the cold holding cell, the adrenaline wore off, and a chilling calm washed over me.

I began to reflect on my marriage with Chloe.

Maybe Marcus was right. I couldn't give her the lavish lifestyle she craved. You can't keep a heart that wants to leave. Why force it? Letting go was probably the best option.

It was past midnight when Chloe finally showed up at the precinct.

She bailed me out. We didn't say a single word to each other on the drive home.

The moment we walked through our front door, the suffocating silence exploded.

"Why would you do that?" I demanded, my voice shaking with raw hurt. "Do you have any idea how much you and Marcus are destroying me?"

But Chloe was unnervingly calm. "Ethan, you've never truly understood me. Do you even know what I want? Do you have any clue what goes on in my mind? Marcus gets me. He knows what I need."

Her words felt like a knife twisting in my heart.

I had given her everything, and this was what I got. "So, you chose to betray me? To be with him?"

Chloe stayed silent. But her silence was all the answer I needed.

My devotion, my effort, my humble attempt to love her—it was all completely worthless to her.

Suddenly, I burst into a bitter, self-deprecating laugh. I walked toward the study. "Go to him then. I’m done caring."

Before shutting the door, I poked my head back out. "By the way, let's find a time to get a divorce. I’m setting you free."

Chloe gasped, staring at me with a complex mix of shock and confusion.

I slept in the study that night. Shortly after I turned off the lights, I heard the front door click shut. She had gone to him. I smiled mockingly in the dark.

Lying on the small sofa, tears silently rolled down my face.

I told myself: *Just for tonight, let me be a coward.*