To Love and Ruin

The night was warm, heavy with the weight of unspoken truths. Bryce sat at the edge of their sprawling bed, his head in his hands, while Kristy stood by the window, her silhouette framed by the soft glow of moonlight filtering through the curtains. Midnight hung in the air like a silent witness to the collapse of something they both once thought unbreakable.

“Do you love her?” Kristy’s voice was barely a whisper, trembling as though the words themselves were too fragile to survive the weight of her devastation.

Bryce looked up; his face etched with exhaustion. His throat tightened, and he swallowed hard. “I… I don’t know,” he admitted, his voice rough and uneven, a stark contrast to the confident man he usually was.

Kristy turned slowly to face him; her arms crossed tightly as if holding herself together. “You don’t know?” she echoed, her voice gaining strength, though it quivered with a mix of disbelief and pain. “Or you don’t think I can handle the fucking truth?”

Bryce didn’t respond, his silence louder than any words he could have offered.

“You’ve been honest with me about everything else,” she pressed, her gaze locking onto his with a sharp intensity. “What do you have to lose now?”

Bryce shifted uncomfortably, unable to meet her eyes. The room seemed smaller, the walls closing in as his guilt pressed down on him like a weight he couldn’t escape.

Kristy took a shaky breath, her voice softening but no less cutting. “If you love her, that’s fair,” she said, her tone resigned yet bitter. “She’s probably so many things I’m not. Taller, cuter, sexier. She doesn’t have kids, or maybe she’s younger, so she looks like she doesn’t. I bet she wasn’t doing great in life when you found her—that’s your type, isn’t it? Broken. Needing you.”

“She’s… she’s a lot of things,” he murmured, his voice barely audible. “But she’s not you.”

Kristy laughed bitterly, the sound hollow and sharp. “You’re right. She’s not.”

For a moment, the room fell silent again, save for the distant hum of the city outside. Then Kristy took a step closer, her eyes narrowing. “What’s her name?”

Bryce hesitated, his jaw tightening. “Mya.”

Kristy nodded slowly, as if testing the name on her tongue. “Is it one of the Myas who works for you?”

“No.” Bryce’s response was quick, too quick. He raised a hand to stop her. “I’m sure you don’t know her.”

“Sure?” Kristy’s brow arched. “How come you’re so sure?”

“Because,” Bryce admitted, his voice low and steady, “I made very sure you two never crossed paths.”

Kristy let out a short, mocking laugh. “Of course you did. Always a man with a fucking plan. You had this all figured out, didn’t you?”

Bryce exhaled sharply, his composure slipping further. “What do you want from me, Kristy?” he snapped, though his frustration was laced with regret. Her tone had shifted—no longer heartbroken and fragile, but cold and biting. She was in control now, and he hated how powerless he felt.

Kristy tilted her head, studying him with an unnerving calmness. “Oh, I know you feel like shit,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “But you still need to answer my question.”

Bryce’s silence stretched between them, heavy and suffocating. Kristy stared at him, her gaze unwavering, as if daring him to finally speak. The seconds ticked by, and the only sound in the room was the faint rustle of the curtains swaying in the night breeze.

“Well?” Kristy prompted, her tone sharp, cutting through the stillness like a blade. “Do you love her, Bryce?”

Bryce closed his eyes, rubbing his temples as if trying to massage an answer out of his conflicted thoughts. He felt trapped, caught between the weight of his guilt and the truth he wasn’t ready to face. “I… don’t know,” he said again, his voice barely above a whisper.

Kristy let out a dry laugh, one that carried no warmth. “You don’t know,” she repeated, shaking her head. “What a convenient answer. It’s not yes, so you can pretend this isn’t serious. And it’s not no, so you don’t have to feel like a complete liar.”

“Kristy, please,” Bryce began, his voice soft, almost pleading. “I never wanted this to happen.”

“Oh, that’s rich,” she snapped, cutting him off. “What exactly didn’t you want to happen? Falling for her? Fucking her? Or me finding out?”

Bryce flinched at her words, each one hitting him like a physical blow. “I didn’t plan any of this,” he said quietly. “It just… happened.”

Kristy’s eyes narrowed, her lips curving into a bitter smile. “It just happened,” she echoed. “Is that what you’re looking for, Bryce? Absolution for your crimes?” she mocked, her tone razor-sharp. “Should I just nod and accept that you fell into her bed?”

“Stop it,” Bryce said sharply, his patience fraying. “You don’t understand—”

“I don’t?” Kristy cut in, her voice rising. “No, Bryce. I understand perfectly. You saw her, and you couldn’t help yourself. She made you feel something you thought you’d lost, or maybe something I couldn’t give you anymore. And instead of talking to me, your wife, you went running to her.”

Bryce stood, his towering frame casting a shadow over her. “This isn’t about you not being enough,” he said firmly. “Don’t you dare twist this into something it’s not.”

“Oh, isn’t it?” Kristy challenged, stepping closer. Her eyes gleamed with a mix of fury and hurt. “Because from where I’m standing, it sure looks like you decided I wasn’t enough. Or maybe I was too much—too much of a wife, too much of a mother, too much of a woman who gave you her entire life.”

Bryce’s shoulders slumped, the fight draining out of him as her words pierced through his defenses. “I don’t have an excuse,” he admitted, his voice barely audible. “I don’t have anything that’ll make this right.”

Kristy stared at him; her expression unreadable. For a moment, it seemed like she might cry, but instead, she let out a long, shaky breath. “You’re right,” she said softly. “You don’t.”

She turned away, crossing her arms as she stared out the window again. The city lights flickered in the distance, mocking her with their steadiness. “Do you even know what you’ve done to us?” she asked, her voice breaking. “To me? To the kids?”

Bryce stepped forward but stopped short, the invisible barrier between them stronger than ever. “Kristy…” he began, but she raised a hand to stop him.

“Don’t,” she said firmly. “You don’t get to say anything right now. You’ve done enough.”

He stood there, helpless and unsure, watching the woman he had once promised to protect crumble before him. For the first time in his life, Bryce had no plan, no escape route. Just the mess he had made and the pieces of his life that might never fit together again.

Kristy turned to face him, her expression hardening. “This isn’t over,” she said, her voice cold and steady. “But I need you to do one thing for me right now.”

“What is it?” Bryce asked, his voice tinged with desperation.

“Leave,” she said simply. “I don’t care where you go, but I need you out of this house tonight.”

Bryce hesitated, his heart sinking at her words. “Kristy—”

“Now,” she snapped, her voice like a whip. “Before I change my mind.”

Without another word, Bryce nodded and walked toward the door. He paused, his hand on the knob, and turned to look at her one last time. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice breaking.

Kristy didn’t respond. She simply turned her back to him, letting the silence answer for her.

Bryce descended the stairs in silence, his footsteps heavy as he made his way to the garage. The cold air hit him as he opened the door, a sharp contrast to the warmth of the house he had just been cast out of. He slid into his car and started the engine, the hum filling the empty space around him. He didn’t know where he was going; he only knew that he needed to drive. His mind, on autopilot, seemed to have made the decision for him.

The new highway cut through the back lands like a vein, and Bryce’s hands guided the wheel as though the car itself was seeking refuge. Less than five minutes from the road stood his cabin—prime real estate, secluded and quiet. It was a place he had always gone to think, to unwind. A place he brought Mya when he needed to lose himself between her legs, when life became too much and she was his escape.

Fuck. The word echoed in his head, relentless and unforgiving. Why had he done this to Kristy? She had shown him a side of herself tonight that he hadn’t seen in all their years together—raw, broken, yet somehow stronger than he had ever imagined. For the first time in his life, Bryce wasn’t in control, and it terrified him.

Kristy could leave. She could take half of everything he owned if she wanted to—the house, the cars, even his companies. But none of that scared him as much as the thought of losing his children. They meant the world to him. Kristy meant the world to him. And now he’d thrown it all away.

He slammed his palm against the steering wheel, the impact jarring. “Fucking idiot,” he muttered to himself. “How could I be so stupid?”

His phone vibrated in his pocket, pulling him out of his thoughts. He fished it out, glancing at the screen. Mya. Of course, it was her. She was probably calling to see if he’d managed to smooth things over with Kristy like he’d promised. The thought made him laugh bitterly.

There were plenty of reasons why he was in that hotel tonight, but Kristy had asked all the right questions. She’d backed him into a corner, threatening to make a scene if he didn’t come clean. He had faked a business trip, and it had all gone to hell. On the one day he didn’t clue his managers and execs in, Kristy had managed to swing by his office. And now here he was, unravelling, undone by too many mistakes and too many coincidences.

Bryce’s phone stopped ringing; the silence almost deafening. Right on cue. Mya always followed the rules. Never more than eight rings, never more than one call. Even in the midst of chaos, she stayed composed. That was who she was—disciplined, precise. Even when Kristy had stood in the hotel hallway, her eyes blazing through the crack in the door as Bryce frantically grabbed his things, Mya hadn’t broken. She didn’t panic. She didn’t flinch. She never lost her composure.

Bryce stared at his phone, her name still glowing faintly on the screen. He turned it over in his hand, his mind racing. He had planned everything perfectly to make sure this never happened. Kristy was right; always a man with a plan. But yet, here he was, everything crumbling around him. Someone had set him up. He was sure of it

But who?

His chest rose and fell with the weight of his thoughts. He stared out at the dark cabin ahead, the place that had been his sanctuary. And now, it felt like the walls would close in the second he stepped inside.

The phone buzzed again in his hand, a text this time. Bryce ignored it, letting his head fall back against the seat. His mind wandered, unbidden, to the first time he’d met Mya. The memory came like a flood, rushing over him, pulling him back to a time when everything seemed simpler. Back to the beginning.