Release. Return. Chapter 2

I returned to our house, a place I had considered my sanctuary just an hour ago.

Staring at the massive wedding portrait hanging in the center of the living room, the happy, radiant smile on my face felt like a cruel joke.

I took the frame down, carried it out to the garden, and lit it with a lighter.

The flames slowly consumed our smiling faces, turning my love for Nicholas into a pile of black ash.

My phone vibrated. I expected a text from Nicholas, but it was an unknown number.

Mrs. Montgomery, your sudden appearance really gave me quite a fright. But Nicholas was so worried about me that he decided to move in with me until the baby is born. Thank you for stepping aside!

My fingers trembled slightly, but the devastation I expected didn't come.

I suddenly realized that my recovery was never going to come from a bottle of pills. It was going to come from seeing Nicholas for what he truly was, and leaving him.

Before I could delete the message, my mother's call came through.

"Fiona, how did the checkup go? Did the doctor say when you can stop taking those meds?"

Without waiting for my answer, she hurried on. "You've been in such a good mood lately, so you should probably stop taking them anyway. I heard those psychiatric drugs can affect your fertility. Nicholas's business is growing rapidly. You need to secure an heir before some other woman does. If you let someone else get ahead of you, you'll be left with nothing but tears."

"He might say he's not in a hurry, but what successful man doesn't want a son to inherit his hard work?"

In the three years since my miscarriage, I had brought up the idea of trying for another baby multiple times. But every single time, Nicholas had shut it down.

He told me pregnancy was too hard on my body, that we needed to wait until I was fully healed. He said he couldn't bear the thought of replacing our first child so quickly.

I had believed every word.

I had let myself drown in his tender care, even harboring a quiet sense of guilt. I had wondered if things would have been different if I hadn't been so impulsive, if I hadn't dragged his mother to that hotel room.

But I had forgotten a simple truth. Nicholas was the root cause of all of it. A leopard never changes its spots.

My mother was still rambling over the line, telling me that Nicholas had simply made a mistake that any man would make, urging me to let go of the past.

"Mom," I said, a faint, mocking smile touching my lips. "Nicholas is about to have a child. It's just not with me."

Before she could speak, I disconnected the call.

I scrolled through my contacts and found the number of the divorce lawyer I had consulted three years ago.

"Mr. Carter, I want to proceed with the divorce. Please draft a new agreement for me."

The line was quiet for a moment. "Mrs. Montgomery, I thought you had decided to reconcile. Why the sudden change?"

"My husband is having a baby," I replied. "With the same woman from three years ago. This time, I don't just want a divorce. I want him to leave with absolutely nothing."

After finalizing the details with the lawyer, I sent a message to my mother-in-law.

Though she had dropped hints about wanting a grandchild over the years, she had generally treated me well. When she first discovered Nicholas's affair three years ago, she had been so furious that she transferred a major portion of the family company's shares to my name, declaring she no longer had a son.

Even after I lost the baby, she had never asked for those shares back.

Mom, congratulations. You are about to become a grandmother. But the mother isn't me. I am divorcing Nicholas so they can have their family.

I set my phone down just as the sound of a car entering the garage echoed through the house.