Chapter 3
Rain had started falling by the time Katherine stepped out of the house. She didn’t have an umbrella, didn’t even care if she got soaked. The cold drops hitting her skin felt like tiny needles, but they helped keep her numb—just enough to stop her from breaking down right there on the sidewalk.
She didn’t take anything with her. No suitcase, no jewelry, no goodbye letter. Just her phone, her ID, and a heart so battered it barely beat anymore.
She walked for a while, not knowing where she was going. She passed by coffee shops, strangers with umbrellas, couples laughing under awnings. The world was still spinning like nothing had happened.
Like she hadn’t been used. Betrayed. Tossed aside.
After some time, she ended up at a small apartment building she hadn’t visited in years. The building looked old and faded, but it felt like the only safe place left. She stood at the door and hesitated before finally knocking.
It opened a few seconds later.
The woman behind the door blinked in surprise. “Katherine?”
Katherine tried to smile, but it came out weak. “Hi, Ivy. I know it’s sudden…”
Ivy didn’t let her finish. She pulled her in without a word and wrapped her arms around her. “You don’t have to explain. You’re always welcome here.”
That hug was the first warmth Katherine had felt in a long time.
Ivy had been her best friend in college before life pulled them in different directions. She had always warned Katherine about marrying into the Nash family, but Katherine was young, foolish, and in love. She believed she could fix a man like Julian. That her love would be enough.
She had never been more wrong.
Inside the apartment, Ivy handed her a towel and some dry clothes. The moment Katherine touched the soft fabric, something in her finally cracked.
She cried.
Not the soft, hidden tears she’d trained herself to shed in the bathroom of a cold mansion, but the kind of sobs that shook her whole body.
Ivy didn’t say anything. She just sat beside her and held her hand.
Katherine cried until her chest felt hollow.
When the tears dried, she whispered, “I think Julian knew.”
Ivy looked at her. “Knew what?”
Katherine swallowed hard. “About the hotel. The man. The trap. I think… he was part of it. Or at least, he didn’t care enough to stop it.”
Ivy’s eyes darkened. “That bastard.”
Katherine didn’t argue. For once, she didn’t make excuses for him. She just sat there, staring at the wall, letting the silence fill the room.
Later that night, after Ivy went to bed, Katherine sat alone with her phone.
She stared at the blank screen, at the number she’d called so many times before.
Julian Nash.
Her husband. At least on paper—for now.
She didn’t know who he was anymore. Or maybe she never knew at all.
She opened the contact list, found his name, and hovered her finger over it.
Then she pressed “delete.”
Just like that, he was gone.
Or at least, she wished it were that simple.