Chapter 2

The next morning, a generic-looking social media request popped up on my phone: "Billie Thomas wants to be your friend." My thumb hovered over the screen, torn between morbid curiosity and the instinct to delete. Curiosity won. I accepted.

My heart hammered as I scrolled through her profile. It was a carefully curated highlight reel of opulence and glamour. Pictures of lavish parties, designer clothes, exotic vacations. Then I saw it. A picture of Alec and Billie, arm in arm, laughing, their faces close, bathed in the soft glow of candlelight. The caption read: "My favorite kind of date night. So grateful for this man."

My eyes darted to the date beneath the photo. October 15th. My birthday. Alec had told me he was flying to Tokyo for an urgent business meeting that day, a critical negotiation he couldn't miss. He'd even sent me a perfunctory text message later that evening, wishing me a happy birthday and promising to make it up to me when he returned.

I remembered that birthday. I'd spent it alone, eating takeout, trying to convince myself that his absence was a sign of his dedication to our shared future, to the empire we were supposedly building together. I remembered the year before, when we'd celebrated my birthday with cheap champagne on our tiny apartment balcony, laughing so hard we almost fell over. He'd promised me forever then, a lifetime of shared simple joys.

Did he even remember those promises now? Did any of it matter to him? I felt a wave of nausea wash over me. I couldn't look anymore. I closed the app, the sickening feeling of betrayal a cold knot in my stomach.

I tossed my phone onto the passenger seat and sped towards the hospital. I needed answers about my father. I burst through the doors, heading straight for the nurses' station on his floor. The head nurse, an older woman named Martha who had known my father for years, looked up, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Cydney? I haven't seen you here in ages. Is everything alright?"

"Martha, I need to know about my father's condition," I said, my voice tight. "He was supposed to have surgery. Has it happened yet?"

Martha's brow furrowed. "Oh, Cydney, didn't Alec tell you? The hospital changed ownership last month. We're under new management now, and there have been some... changes."

My head snapped up. "Changed ownership? No, I wasn't informed." Alec was responsible for everything, our finances, my father' s care. He never mentioned this.

"Your father's condition," I pressed again, ignoring the unsettling news. "Was the surgery performed?"

Martha hesitated, glancing around nervously. "Well, Ms. Frazier, the good news is, he's stable. The new doctors decided against the immediate surgery. They put him on a new, experimental medication. It's supposed to be very promising, but it has... side effects."

"Side effects?" I cut her off, a prickle of unease spreading through me. "What kind of side effects? And who authorized this change? I'm his next of kin!"

Martha wrung her hands. "It was Alec's assistant, Billie Thomas. She came in yesterday morning, right after your father was admitted. She said Alec was too busy to come himself, but that he wanted to explore every option for your father. She authorized the new treatment."

My vision blurred. Billie. Of course. The woman who had meticulously planned my public humiliation was now playing doctor with my father' s life.

"She authorized it?" I repeated, my voice barely a whisper. "Why wasn't I informed? I'm his daughter!"

"We assumed Alec had told you," Martha said, her voice full of genuine concern. "Billie was very insistent. She said you were... indisposed. And quite frankly, dear, she was rather unpleasant. Demanding, really. Said if we didn't follow her instructions, Alec would pull all funding from the hospital."

The world tilted on its axis. Alec. Billie. My father. It was all connected in a web of deceit and malice. My father, who had lived his life with such integrity, was now a pawn in their twisted game.

I stumbled out of the hospital, the bright afternoon sun feeling like a punch to the gut. The antiseptic smell clung to my clothes, a constant reminder of the sterile betrayal. My mind raced, piecing together the fragments. Billie changed his treatment. Alec knew. He had allowed it. Was this his way of punishing me? Or was it something far more sinister?

I couldn't go home. Not to the house that was no longer a home, filled with the ghosts of a life I no longer recognized. I walked aimlessly, the city a blur around me, until I found myself standing in front of our first apartment building, the rented walk-up where Alec and I had started our lives together.

It looked smaller, shabbier than I remembered. A faded red brick building, windows streaked with grime, a lone potted plant struggling for life on a fire escape. I remembered the endless nights we'd spent there, the cheap takeout, the dreams we'd whispered to each other in the dark. We had been so poor, so full of hope. Alec had promised that one day, we'd have a home big enough for all our dreams. He'd promised me forever.

I reached for the doorknob, a desperate need to reclaim a piece of that innocent past. But as my hand touched the cold metal, I heard it. A low, throaty moan, followed by a woman's breathless giggle. My blood ran cold. The sounds were unmistakable, intimate, raw.

I froze, my hand still on the knob. The giggling stopped, replaced by a male voice, Alec's voice, husky and satisfied. He murmured something I couldn't quite make out, but the tone was clear enough. It was a voice I hadn' t heard directed at me in years. Then, another giggle, closer this time.

My mind went blank. I stood there, a statue carved from ice, listening to the horrifying symphony of my husband's betrayal, playing out in the very place where our love had once blossomed. A small, almost imperceptible click echoed through the building as my hand, still clutching the knob, shifted slightly.

The intimate sounds inside ceased abruptly. A woman's voice, Billie's voice, sharp with suspicion, sliced through the sudden silence. "Did you hear that, Alec? Someone's out there."

Alec's voice, laced with annoyance, followed. "It's probably just the neighbors, Billie. Don't be so paranoid."

My heart shattered, piece by agonizing piece. The last vestiges of love, of hope, of any shred of dignity I thought I still possessed, crumbled into dust. I wanted to scream, to rage, to break down the door and confront them both. But a strange calm settled over me. There was nothing left to fight for. Nothing left to save.

I realized then that I wasn't that young, impulsive girl anymore. I was a woman, stripped bare by betrayal, but not broken. Not yet. I would not give them the satisfaction of seeing my pain.

The door creaked open slightly. I heard a gasp from inside, then Alec's voice, sharper now. "Who's there?"

I turned and fled. I ran down the dingy staircase, my feet pounding, my lungs burning, the sounds of my own ragged breathing echoing in my ears. The tears came then, hot and stinging, blurring the already dim hallway. I didn't care who saw me. I just ran.

A man on the street looked at me, bewildered. "Is it raining?" he mumbled, shielding his face.

No, it wasn't raining. It was just me. My world was falling apart.

That night, I found myself in the dimly lit office of a renowned divorce attorney, a stark contrast to my own brightly lit studio. I sat across from him, my face a mask of exhaustion. "I want a divorce," I stated, my voice devoid of emotion.

He asked about assets, about alimony, about the years I' d poured into Alec' s company. I listed Alec' s infidelities, his neglect, the cold indifference that had hollowed out our marriage. But when he asked about the depth of our connection, the why of it all, I faltered. The words caught in my throat. The pain was too raw, too profound.

"Just... just get me out," I finally whispered, my voice breaking. "I don't want anything. Just the divorce. I just want out."

He looked at me, a flicker of pity in his eyes. "Are you sure, Ms. Frazier? You're entitled to half of everything."

"I'm sure," I said, my voice firm despite the tremor in my hands. The thought of fighting for a share of their spoils revolted me. I just wanted it all to end. I wanted to be free.

The next morning, armed with a freshly signed divorce petition, I walked back into the gleaming skyscraper that housed Johns Development, the empire I had helped build.