Rafe’s eyes sharpen. “Stop.”
“I can’t keep asking you to live in my shadows,” I say, voice breaking. “I can’t.”
The room goes still. Even the air feels like it stops moving.
Rafe’s face drains of color in slow motion. “What are you saying?” he asks, voice barely above a whisper.
My throat burns. “I’m saying we need to separate.”
He stares at me like he doesn’t understand the words. Like his brain refuses to translate them. Then the anger hits, fast and bright. “Fuck off,” he snaps. “No. No, you don’t get to do this.”
“I’m not trying to punish you,” I say desperately. “I’m trying to save you.”
“Save me?” Rafe laughs, sharp and ugly. “From what? From loving you?” His eyes flash. “Is this because of last night?”
“No,” I say. Then the truth claws up. “It’s not even that.”
He takes a step closer, voice shaking with fury. “Then what? You’ve been waiting for an excuse? A reason to finally?—”
“No,” I interrupt, voice breaking. “Stop.”
He’s breathing hard now, like he’s the one on the edge of panic. “I swear to God, that has never happened before,” he says, too fast. “I’ve never—Ollie, I would never?—”
“I know,” I whisper, because I do. I do know that.
Rafe’s anger falters, confusion slipping in. “Then why are you doing this?”
Because if it has happened before, would you even know?The thought is poisonous, so I don’t say it.I say the real thing instead, the one that hurts worse.“Because I’m ruining you.”
His eyes widen.
I swallow hard. “I’m not the reason you started drinking,” I say. “I’m not the reason you’re tired. I’m not the reason the industry chews people up. But I am—” My voice cracks. “I am the reason you can’t come home to a life that’s fully yours.”
His face twists, pain cutting through him. “You’re my life.”
“And I’m the one keeping you in the dark,” I whisper.
Silence drops again.
Rafe’s voice goes quiet. Deadly. “You don’t get to decide what ruins me.”
I stare at him through tears I didn’t feel start. “I need to do this,” I manage. “For you. And for me.”
His eyes glisten. He looks like he might break in half. Then he says it—low, absolute, and fucking heartbreaking: “I won’t divorce you.”
My breath catches.
Rafe takes another step closer. His voice shakes, but it doesn’t waver. “I won’t stop being your husband.”
I stare at him. The words hit like a vow. Like a chain. Like love turned into something heavier than love.
“Rafe…,” I whisper.
He shakes his head once, eyes shining. “No. You can leave. You can run. You can do whatever you need to do. But I’m not signing anything. I’m not letting this turn into something that didn’t matter.”
My chest collapses inward. I nod slowly because I can’t fight him. I don’t have the right. Not when he’s saying it like that.
Not when he looks at me like I’m still his home.
