Chapter 3

"You had no choice?"

"I mean it, Liam! You're the only one in my heart. He and I have zero feelings between us. It's just a marriage on paper. Once things settle down with my parents, I will divorce him. Just give me some time, please?"

I looked at her face, her eyes.

Seven years.

"You’ve been married to him for three years," I said.

Her face stiffened.

"Three years, Chloe. Not three months, not three days. Three years. During this time, you had countless opportunities to tell me the truth, but you chose not to."

"Liam..."

"Does he even know I exist?"

She fell silent. She reached out, trying to grab my hand.

I pulled away.

"Liam, please, just give me one more chance. I swear I'll handle it. I'll go talk to him about the divorce tomorrow."

"Chloe," I interrupted, "do you love him?"

She froze.

"When you posted those photos on Instagram, when you wrote those captions, what were you thinking? When you dined with him, traveled with him, and celebrated birthdays with him, were you happy? How did it feel when you called him 'hubby'?"

Her lips parted, but she couldn't say a word.

I stood up, grabbed a suitcase from the closet, and walked into the bedroom.

Chloe rushed in after me, blocking my path.

"Liam, don't leave!"

"I'm not leaving."

She blinked, a glint of hope rising in her eyes.

"Really? Liam, I knew you still—"

"You're the one who is leaving."

Her expression completely froze.

I bypassed her and began pulling her clothes out of the closet, throwing them onto the bed one by one.

She stood by the door, her face turning paper-white.

"Liam, what are you doing?"

"Seven years of clothes. That's quite a lot."

"Are you going to pack them, or should I do it for you?"

"Liam!"

She rushed over and grabbed my wrist.

"Can you please calm down? Can't we just talk about this?"

I looked down at her hand.

The hand that had made me breakfast, the hand that had held me and comforted me.

It had probably slipped a wedding ring onto another man's finger too.

"Let go," I said.

She didn't.

"Liam, I know you're furious, but you can't just end this. We've been together for seven years! Are you seriously throwing our relationship away just like that?"

Seven years of relationship.

I looked at her face and suddenly wanted to laugh.

"Chloe, do you have any idea how I lived through these seven years?"

Her grip loosened slightly.

"Every time my dad asked when we were getting married, I told him to wait, that you weren't ready.

Every time my friends asked why we never posted pictures of us together, I told them you just didn't like social media.

Every time I saw other people getting married, celebrating anniversaries, or posting cute photos on Instagram, I told myself it was fine. I told myself you just valued privacy, and that your love for me in real life was enough."

I couldn't hold it in anymore. My eyes burned, and tears began to blur my vision.

"I made excuses for you for seven years. And what did you do?"

"You married someone else. You posted hundreds of updates on Instagram, blocking me from every single one of them.

You called him your husband. What about me? What was I to you? Just some side guy?"

"Liam, I swear I don't love him!"

"Whether you love him or not has nothing to do with me anymore!"

I barked, shaking her hand off my wrist.

"Pack your things. Get your stuff out of here before tonight."

"Liam!"

"Or I'll throw everything out on the street."