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And the fact that he doesn’t even hesitate to answer, the fact that his face has even hardened as he bites the words out⁠—

It leaves no space for doubt, and the thought has me clutching the envelope in my hands as I do my best to smile.

“O-Okay. I understand.”

“Good.”

I start biting my lip as he turns away.

I keep biting even when I’ve already closed the door behind him.

But it doesn’t work.

And I start to cry.

Chapter 13

Not the Truth

It’s over.

Ruel stood at the window of his suite, the best of which the club had to offer. Only this wasn’t where he truly was. Physically, he was there, but his soul was trapped. In those two words that had caught him like a vise since the moment Sadie sent him a photo of his wife with that boy.

The one he had seen her laughing with the first time he came to the club, the way he used to think she could only do with him.

But worse than that?

Ruel suspected that boy was also why Karyna had gone swimming at two in the morning…which she had never done in the eighteen months they were together.

That boy had his wife acting completely out of character, and so when Sadie had sent that photo of Karyna in the boy’s arms by the pool…

Ruel didn’t have to ask how or why that happened.

Everything he had seen was explanation enough.

It’s over.

And yet the moment he closed his eyes, all he kept seeing was the stricken look on Karyna’s face…when he rejected her touch.

Over an hour had already passed since he had given her the divorce papers with his signature, but he still couldn’t get her out of his mind. He didn’t even know if that was possible. Because this early on, he already knew⁠—

Why must You take her away from me, too?

Why let me love her if You know she’s going to leave me?

What is it that You really want from me?

The sound of someone knocking on his door cut into his thoughts, and Ruel had his gun out in the next moment.

“Who is it?”

“M-Mr. Ruel? It’s Gwen.”

His gaze narrowed. This was the girl who was friends with Karyna. But that didn’t explain what she had to do with him.

“I’m sorry if I’m overstepping, but may I…may I speak to you, sir?”

The urgency in her voice was unmistakable, and Ruel opened the door. “What is it?”