Chapter 4

I swept every last dish off the table and into the trash.

When I looked up, the wedding decorations on the walls and glass windows caught my eye and grated at me too, so I tore them all down.

It was true what they said. Once a person straightens up, there's no stopping.

Edward was always busy with work. He couldn't even make time to take our wedding photos with me.

So in every single picture, his face had been photoshopped in afterward by the photographer.

Now those cheap wedding photos got split in two with a fruit knife, and the half that belonged to Edward went into the trash.

Then I saw the mugs lined up neatly in the cabinet.

I walked over and traced the little gilded words engraved on them with my fingertips. 【Edward Sanchez loves Anya Quinn, now and forever.】

Mine was worn down so far the glaze had nearly rubbed off.

Edward's still sat there brand new, not even out of its wrapping. He had never once used it.

Expressionless, I threw the pair into the trash.

There was a lot more I didn't want, apparently.

The apartment was full of it. Couple's toothbrushes, couple's slippers, couple's pajamas……

I threw things away until I was sweating.

All four trash cans were stuffed past the brim.

However giddy I'd been when I bought all of it, that was exactly how utterly crushed I felt clearing the junk out now.

One last thing. I dug the property deed to the apartment out of the safe.

Then I listed it for sale with an agent on my phone.

Once that was done, every last thread between me and Edward was cut clean.

I lay on the couch, opened a bottle of red wine, and sipped it slowly. Bitter first, then that sweetness coming back through, like tasting my own life over again.

Ten years spent loving a man I never should have. Bad luck in men.

Thank God the filthy business between those two came out before I sank all the way in.

Right before bed, out of nowhere, Miranda video-called me.

I picked up, and the first thing filling the screen was her face, done up in delicate makeup.

Behind her, the downtown food truck strip, usually packed shoulder to shoulder, had been cleared out empty.

"Anya, we're about to go grab some barbecue. Want to come? If not, that's fine too, Edward can box some up and bring it home for you."

She smiled at the camera, sweet and innocent, but deep in her eyes sat a thick layer of provocation.

As if to say, "All you'll ever deserve is my leftovers. Same goes for the man."

Edward walked ahead in a sharply cut suit, holding Miranda's hand with one of his, carrying her purse in the other.

At his wrist you could just make out that little pink hair tie that was hers.

The way I remembered him, he obsessed over clean living and never touched street food.

He'd even get angry if someone near him ate it.

Once I worked so late that every restaurant nearby had closed, and I had no choice but to eat a breakfast wrap standing on the sidewalk.

I got home, he smelled it on me, and he dragged me right back out and locked the door from the inside.

"That's disgusting. Go air the stink off you before you come back in."

That night I sat huddled in the corner till morning, and that was how I got the bad leg, the kind that cramps down to the bone the second it gets cold.

Looking at it now, Edward's principles bent depending on who he was dealing with.

I just wasn't the one he favored.

I let out a scoff. "If you're going to cheat, tuck your tail and take it somewhere far away. You turn my stomach."

Two seconds of surprise on the other end.

"Anya, I know you've always minded how close Edward and I are, but there's nothing shameful going on. It's nothing like what you think."

On the verge of tears, she shoved the phone into Edward's hand.

"I've ruined your wedding night. I'm sorry, Edward, I'll go now."

Edward grabbed her in a panic and turned his temper on me. "Apologize to Miranda!"

"Keep dreaming."

I moved to hang up, and he shrieked at me, out of his mind, "There's a limit to making trouble for no reason. Fine, I'll spend more time with you some other day."

"Miranda's younger than you. Aren't you ashamed, picking on her?"

The corner of my mouth curled with contempt. A man doesn't go rotten all at once.

"Got time tomorrow? Come make Miranda a cake, her birthday's almost here, and you can use the chance to apologize."

There was a threat under Edward's tone.

Not a ripple in me. "No time. I'm going to the courthouse to get my marriage license."

He gave a soft, sneering laugh. "Ha. How exactly do you get a marriage license without me? Don't be ridiculous."

"I know you want to be the rightful Mrs. Sanchez, I know you've been dying for it, but you upset Miranda today and I'm in a bad mood. I'm not going!"