Chapter 3

The morning after his destructive purge, Liam saw Chloe' s post on social media. It was a picture of the two of them from last year' s gala, a professionally shot photo where they both looked impossibly happy. The caption read: "Counting down the minutes until my amazing husband picks me up from the airport! Five years has never felt so new. I love you more every day, Liam Miller."

The hypocrisy was so blatant it was almost sickeningly impressive. She was building a public narrative of a perfect marriage while living a completely separate life. Hundreds of their friends and acquaintances had liked the post. Comments poured in, "You two are couple goals!" and "The most beautiful love story!" Liam stared at the screen, a bitter taste in his mouth.

His phone rang. It was her.

"Honey, I' m so sorry, my flight got delayed again. The storm here is just awful," she said, her voice filled with fake exhaustion. "I' m not going to make it back today."

Liam leaned his head against the cold glass of the window, looking out at the perfectly sunny sky. "It' s okay, Chloe," he said, his voice a monotone. "Just be safe." He was playing along, for now. He needed to be clear-headed to execute his plan.

"I miss you so much," she cooed. "The bed feels so empty without you."

He hung up and went to the bathroom. He opened the medicine cabinet and stared at the bottle of sleeping pills prescribed to him after a period of intense work stress months ago. He just wanted to turn his brain off. To stop the relentless loop of memories and betrayals. He shook two pills into his palm, then another, and another. He swallowed them with a glass of water, welcoming the approaching oblivion.

He must have passed out on the couch, because the next thing he knew, he was being shaken awake. He opened his heavy eyelids to see Chloe' s face, etched with what looked like genuine terror.

"Liam! Oh my God, Liam, wake up! What did you do?" she cried, her hands fluttering over him. She was holding the empty pill bottle. "Why would you do this? Is it because I was gone for a few extra days? I told you it was for work! How could you be so selfish and scare me like this?"

Her words were a torrent of accusations and feigned concern. She was twisting his despair into a tool for emotional blackmail, painting him as the unstable one, her as the long-suffering wife. He looked past her and saw her friends, the same ones from the wedding, standing in the doorway with shocked expressions. They were her audience.

Liam just stared at her, his mind foggy from the pills but clear enough to see the performance. There was no flicker of emotion inside him. The part of him that would have been hurt or confused or angry was just... gone. It was like watching a movie about someone else' s life.

"You' re right, Chloe," he heard himself say, his voice slurring slightly. "I overreacted. I' m sorry I scared you."

Her friends rushed to her side, cooing and comforting her. "Oh, Chloe, you poor thing." "He shouldn' t put you through this." They shot Liam looks of pure disdain. He was the villain in their story.

Chloe, having secured her position as the victim, now switched to the role of doting caretaker. She fluffed his pillows, brought him a glass of water, and tucked a blanket around him, all while her friends watched admiringly. "He' s just so lost without me," she whispered to them, loud enough for him to hear. "He gets these dark moods."

While she was busy playing the role of the perfect wife, her phone, lying on the coffee table, lit up with a text. Liam' s eyes flickered to the screen. It was from Ethan.

"Is the old man okay? Don' t let him ruin our night."

Chloe glanced at the phone, then quickly at Liam. Seeing his eyes closed, she subtly angled her body away and typed a quick reply. A moment later, she leaned down and kissed Liam' s forehead.

"You rest, my love," she said, her voice dripping with fake tenderness. "I' m going to throw a small welcome-home party for myself to cheer up. You need your quiet time."

The whole scene was so absurd, so disgustingly theatrical, that all Liam felt was a deep, profound weariness. He just wanted her to leave. He wanted all of them to leave.

A few hours later, the house was filled with music and chatter. Chloe' s "small party" was in full swing. He lay on the couch, feigning sleep, listening to her hold court, telling everyone how she had heroically saved him from himself.

He couldn't stand it anymore. He needed to get out. But as he sat up, a strange, morbid curiosity took hold. He found himself getting off the couch and moving silently through the house, an uninvited ghost at his own wake. He saw Chloe by the bar, laughing with a group of people. He followed her with his eyes as she excused herself and slipped out the back door onto the patio.

He didn't know why he did it. Maybe it was a need for one final, undeniable piece of evidence. He followed her, staying in the shadows, his heart a dead weight in his chest.