Chapter 7

Graves left me in the sterile white room and didn't come back. The nurses told me he was spending every waking moment at Alex's bedside. He paid for the best care for me, but it was an afterthought, a duty performed without feeling.

A week later, I was discharged. I went back to the penthouse to collect the last of my things. The place already felt different, tainted by Alex's presence. Her clothes were in my closet, her perfume lingered in the air.

I was packing a box of old photos when she appeared in the doorway. She was in a wheelchair, looking pale and fragile, but her eyes held a triumphant gleam. She held out a small, velvet box.

"A gift," she said. "From Graves. To celebrate my recovery."

She opened it. Inside was a diamond necklace, a design I had sketched myself years ago, a dream I had shared with Graves. He had had it made for her.

"He loves me so much," Alex said, her voice a soft taunt. "He knows I'm the one for him. He told me he never really loved you. You were just a business arrangement."

I didn't say a word. I simply closed my box of photos and turned to leave.

Her face twisted in anger at my lack of reaction. "Don't you walk away from me!"

She wheeled herself forward, blocking my path, and in her rage, she grabbed my arm. The sudden movement sent her off balance. Her wheelchair tipped, and she tumbled out of it, pulling me down with her. We both landed on the floor with a hard thud.

We were near the indoor swimming pool. Her fall had sent her rolling towards the edge, and with a splash, she was in the water.

"Help!" she screamed, thrashing wildly. "I can't swim! I'm drowning!"

It was another act. I knew she was a competitive swimmer in college.

But Graves, who had just walked in, didn't know that. He saw his fragile, recovering love struggling in the water and me standing on the edge.

Without a second's hesitation, he dove in and pulled her to the side. He didn't even glance at me. He cradled Alex in his arms, whispering soothing words.

"She pushed me!" Alex coughed, clinging to him. "She tried to drown me!"

Suddenly, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she went limp. "Oh god, she's fainted!" Graves cried out. He scooped her up in his arms and ran out of the room, shouting for someone to call a doctor.

He left me there, soaking wet and shivering on the edge of the pool where he had almost let me drown in my past life. The memory was so strong, I could feel the water filling my lungs again.

A maid, who had been with our family for years, rushed to my side with a towel, her eyes full of pity.

"Mrs. Kramer... he... he didn't even look back," she whispered, her voice choked with tears.

"I know," I said, my voice strangely calm. I was beyond tears. Beyond pain. I was in a place of cold, hard clarity.

I stood up, wrapped the towel around me, and walked out of that house for the last time.

I went to the secret garden Graves had built for me years ago, a place that was supposed to be our sanctuary. It was filled with my favorite flowers, rare orchids we had collected from our travels around the world.

I took a pair of garden shears and, one by one, I cut down every single orchid. I destroyed the entire garden, leaving a trail of broken stems and crushed petals in my wake.

Then I went back to my new, empty apartment and systematically erased him from my life. I burned the photos, deleted his number from every device, and threw away every gift he had ever given me.

The last thing to go was a large, ancient oak tree in the front yard of the penthouse, a tree he had climbed as a boy to sneak into my bedroom window. He had always said it was a symbol of our love, strong and enduring.

I hired a team of lumberjacks. I stood and watched as they cut it down, the roar of the chainsaws a fitting soundtrack to the end of my love story.

A few days later, Graves and Alex returned to the penthouse from the hospital. I imagined their shock as they saw the barren garden and the massive stump where our tree used to be. I imagined their confusion as they walked into a home that had been stripped of every memory of me.

Let them have the house. I had my freedom. And my revenge was just beginning.