Chapter 1

The launch clock on my monitor ticked down. Five minutes left. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic, unsteady rhythm. This was it. Years of coding, of drawing, of pouring every spare second of my life into this game, all came down to tonight.

The apartment was silent. The space next to me on the worn-out couch was empty. Chloe should have been here. She promised.

My phone buzzed on the coffee table. A text from her.

"So sorry, honey. The dinner with the board is running long. Liam says this is the final push we need for the merger. This is for us! Break a leg! Love you!"

I stared at the screen. The words blurred. "For us." The phrase felt like a joke. For years, everything had been for "us," which really meant for her company, for her ambition. My dreams were just the fuel that kept her engine running.

The clock hit zero. My game, "Echoes of Starlight," went live. A small notification popped up on my screen. Congratulations.

I was alone.

I didn't feel joy. I didn't feel excitement. Just a hollow, echoing silence in my chest. I turned off the monitor.

Hours later, the front door clicked open. Chloe walked in, her face flushed with victory and expensive wine. She was still wearing her power suit, looking sharp and successful. Liam's cologne, a scent I had come to despise, clung to her.

She saw me sitting in the dark and flicked on a lamp, her smile bright and unapologetic.

"Ethan! How did it go? Did it launch okay?"

I didn't answer. I just looked at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her smile faltering slightly. "Are you mad? I told you, this dinner was critical. Liam specifically arranged it. We couldn't miss it."

"You promised," I said, my voice flat.

"I know, but things change. This is the big leagues, Ethan. You have to be flexible. This merger secures our future. Your little game is a hobby, but this is real life."

"My little game," I repeated slowly. The words tasted like poison. This "little game" was what I had sacrificed sleep for, what I had worked a soul-crushing corporate job for nine years to fund, so she could build her startup without worrying about rent.

"Don't be like that," she said, her tone shifting to annoyance. "I support your passion, you know I do. But you have to be realistic."

"Realistic," I said. "This is my reality, Chloe. Tonight was everything to me. And you weren't here. You were with him."

"It was business!" she snapped, her voice rising. "Why do you always have to make this about Liam? He's my partner! He's helping us succeed!"

"He's helping you succeed," I corrected her. "I'm just the guy who pays the bills and keeps the house from falling apart while you do it."

A deep, painful crack opened up in my chest. It had been there for years, a hairline fracture I kept patching over. But tonight, it shattered completely.

"This isn't working," I said, the words coming out before I could stop them.

Chloe froze. "What are you talking about?"

I stood up, the exhaustion of the last decade weighing me down. I felt a hundred years old.

"Us," I said. "This marriage. It's over."

Her face went from angry to shocked. "You can't be serious. Over one dinner? Over a stupid game launch?"

"It was never about the dinner, Chloe. It was never about the game. It was about you choosing them over me, again and again. Tonight was just the last time."

I walked past her towards our bedroom, the room that had felt more like a stranger's than my own for a long time.

I felt nothing. Not anger, not sadness. Just a profound, chilling emptiness. The part of me that had loved her, that had held on to hope for so long, had finally died tonight. Alone. In the dark.