The Wife He Lost

POV: Sophie

It was almost poetic, in a cruel, cosmic kind of way.

Two years of silence, two years of abandonment, two years of pretending my marriage still had meaning... and he chose our anniversary to show up. With her.

I stood in the living room that once belonged to both of us, the ghost of our wedding picture still hanging by the fireplace, and watched him walk in with the woman he left me for. His hand on her back. Her lipstick smeared. Her smile smug.

I hadn’t seen Aiden in over a year. And still, my body knew how to tense just right—how to feel sick at the scent of his cologne. I didn’t scream. I didn’t cry.

Instead, I asked, “Shouldn’t you sign the divorce papers?”

He blinked, like I’d slapped him.

Like he was the one betrayed.

He had the audacity to look shocked. The man who walked out of our marriage without a word. The man who let another woman fill his side of the bed while I slept alone, night after night.

Alessia—the pretty little homewrecker—smirked at me from behind him, clearly relishing every moment of my supposed humiliation.

But I didn’t break.

I stepped forward and laid the manila envelope on the table between us.

“I’ve stated my conditions and signed the paper,” I said coolly. “Sign quickly so that I can be free from this... farce.”

Aiden stared at me, his jaw tight, his knuckles white around the pen he pulled from his coat.

“Love,” he said, turning to her with a gentle smile, “I’m sorry you had to witness this. On such a special day.”

He kissed her forehead.

It broke something in me.

Not because of the act. But because in all our years of marriage, he never used that tone with me. Not even on our wedding night.

I wanted to scream. Instead, I stood still, my hands trembling at my sides.

Then—crash.

The door flew open.

“Where is he?” Lucas’s voice thundered through the room before he stormed in, rage crackling off him like lightning.

He spotted me and rushed over, pulling me into a tight embrace. “Are you okay? He didn’t touch you? Did he threaten you?”

I barely managed to answer before he was across the room, ready to plant his fist in Aiden’s jaw.

“No!” I cried, stepping between them. “I’m okay. No one hurt me.”

Lucas finally calmed, his arm protectively sliding in front of me, shielding me.

Aiden scoffed. “So that’s it? This is why you want a divorce all of a sudden? Because of him? ”His glare burned through me. “You never said a word for two years, and now suddenly you want to end everything? Answer me, Sophie. Answer me!”

I took a step back, startled.

Aiden lunged, grabbing my wrist. “Were you cheating on me with him?! Who is he?!”

Lucas didn’t wait.

He punched Aiden square in the jaw.

“Get your disgusting hands off my sister!”

Sister.

Aiden fell back against the table, the blood draining from his face.

I laughed. It started as a small, cruel chuckle, but soon I was full-on cackling.

“You thought I was cheating on you... with my brother?” I gasped between breaths. “That I wanted to be free so I could be with him?”

Aiden looked mortified.

Good.

“You didn’t just stop loving me, Aiden. You stopped knowing me.”

And with that, I picked up the signed papers and walked out.