Chapter 3

"Besides, Nora and I are already divorced." Ethan dropped another bomb on Jake and Madison.

"Divorced!" they gasped. "You split with Nora?"

Ethan glanced at her, his face cold, and tightened his grip on Lilah. "I never loved her. So what?"

Nora found her voice. "You honestly felt nothing for me?"

He let out a short laugh. "Not a shred. You don't deserve it."

The words stabbed her like an ice pick.

The ring slipped from her fingers and clinked on the tiles.

Ethan led Lilah upstairs without a backward glance.

Nora stood hollow, unseeing.

Madison dropped all courtesy. "Good riddance. Three years and no child, nothing but noise. We were cursed with you."

Jake scowled. "Enough sulking. Fix your temper or the next family will send you back."

Their sudden scorn chilled her.

She clenched her fists. "He cheated and got that woman pregnant, yet you blame me? Where's your shame?"

The older pair flushed, speechless.

"I've done nothing wrong," Nora snapped, and strode to her room.

Behind the closed door she slid to the floor, arms wrapped around herself.

Her father Rodrick Payne rang. "You always stopped short of divorce. Why not endure this time? The Stanleys just funded my project. Charm him back."

Nora gripped the phone. "You call only to tell me to swallow it?"

Rodrick barked, "Can't hold your man, so you swallow. Your mother raised a rebel."

The mention of her mother burned. "Don't speak of her. Your affairs drove her to her grave!"

She cut the call and sobbed into the quilt.

Three years ago, her mother's heart failed after Rodrick's infidelity came out.

Nora cried until she fainted several times, but her father remained indifferent.

It was Ethan who accompanied her through the darkness. Ethan held Nora then. "I'll stay with you for the rest of my life," he whispered.

That promise had felt like forever.

Now it lay in shards.

He didn't love her, and she didn't want anything from him anymore.

She opened the e-mail from a university in Maren, clicked every box, and sent her acceptance.

It was a dream she had set aside for fear of parting with Ethan.

When the divorce process was done, she would leave everything behind.