Chapter 2

I got home and the silence was a relief. I walked through the rooms, a stranger in my own house.

The first call was to my lawyer.

"I want a divorce," I said, no preamble. "I want it done quietly and quickly. He can have the house, the company shares, everything. I only want what's mine, what I had before the marriage."

The lawyer was surprised but efficient. He promised to draw up the papers.

Next, I went to my study. I started liquidating my personal assets. Stocks, bonds, properties I'd owned long before Ben. I was a wealthy woman in my own right, a fact Ben had always found convenient and had taken for granted.

I sold everything. The money, millions of it, went into an account he couldn't touch. I donated a large portion to a veteran's charity, a cause my old mentor had supported.

Then I started on the house. I took down our wedding photos. I packed up every gift he had ever given me. Jewelry, clothes, art. I put them in boxes for another charity donation.

I found the photo albums. Six years of a life that felt like a lie. I fed them into the office shredder, one by one. The machine whirred, destroying the smiling faces, the fake happiness.

My phone rang. It was Ben.

I let it ring for a moment before answering.

"Where the hell are you?" he demanded.

"Home," I replied calmly.

"You have some nerve! Leah fell on the way down. She hurt her ankle because you distracted her! She's at the emergency room right now. You need to come here and apologize."

I almost laughed. "Apologize for what?"

"For ruining the day! For upsetting her!" he sputtered. "Leo is crying. He's saying you don't love him anymore."

Then, I heard Leo's voice in the background, a high-pitched wail. "Daddy, is Mommy coming? I hate her! She hurt Auntie Leah!"

The words hit me. A sharp, physical pain in my chest. My own son. My baby. They had turned him against me completely.

For a second, my resolve wavered. The instinct to soothe him, to tell him I loved him, rose up in me.

But then I remembered his face at the rock wall, looking at me with disappointment. I remembered Ben's coldness, Leah's smug smile.

The pain hardened into something else. Something cold and unbreakable.

"Ben," I said, my voice a flat line. "Since Leo has Auntie Leah to take care of him, he doesn't need me anymore. I'm giving up my parental rights. You can have full custody."

There was a stunned silence on the other end of the line.

"What did you just say?" he finally managed to ask, his voice a disbelieving whisper.

"You heard me."

I hung up the phone before he could respond. I blocked his number.

I sank into my chair, the silence of the empty house pressing in on me. Tears I hadn't allowed myself to cry for years finally fell. But they weren't tears of sadness. They were tears of rage. Of release.

Leo's words echoed in my head. "I hate her."

He wouldn't understand now. But maybe one day, he would. Maybe one day he would see that I left to save myself, and in a way, to save him from a mother who was slowly being erased.

The next day, a black, unmarked car picked me up. Commander Davis had been true to his word.

The training base was an isolated island, a world away from my old life. The air smelled of salt and discipline.

I threw myself into the training. The physical exertion was a welcome distraction. I ran until my lungs burned, I sparred until my muscles ached, I shot until my hands were steady as a rock.

This was the woman I used to be. The woman I had buried under years of domesticity and heartbreak.

She was still there. And she was strong.

A few days later, my phone, a new burner phone, buzzed with a message. It was from Sarah, the friend from the rock-climbing trip.

"Ava, I don't know what's going on, but Ben just posted pictures from Leo's school play. Leah is there, sitting in the front row with him. She's wearing the necklace you love, the one Ben gave you for your anniversary."

Attached was a picture. Ben, Leo, and Leah, smiling for the camera. A perfect little family. Leah's hand was on Leo's shoulder, a proprietary gesture. And around her neck was my necklace.

My heart, which I thought had turned to stone, clenched.

He didn't even wait for me to be gone. He was replacing me, piece by piece.

My phone rang. An unknown number. I knew it was him.

I answered.

"Ava, what the hell is this? You left a note saying you're leaving? You emptied your closets? You think you can just walk out on your family?"

"You replaced me already, Ben," I said, my voice devoid of any emotion. "It seems you don't need me."

"Leah is just helping out! She's been a rock for me and Leo while you've been having your little tantrum. He needed a mother figure at his play."

A mother figure. The words were a slap in the face.

I didn't argue. I didn't scream.

I simply went to the parent group chat for Leo's class, the one I had been a part of for years. I saw the picture Ben had posted. I saw the fawning comments from other parents.

"What a lovely family."

"Leah is so good with Leo."

I typed a single message. "I am no longer part of this family. Please remove me from the group."

Then I exited the group and blocked every number in it.

The last thread connecting me to that life was cut.

And I felt nothing but relief.