Divorced the CEO After His Mistress Killed My FatherChapter 1
Five years after Ryan Stephens came back to me, we went to visit my father's grave.
On our way out, I ran into Sandra Henson—the woman who'd wrecked my marriage and killed my father.
She stood hunched against the bitter wind, a few bundles of white chrysanthemums strapped to her back, hawking them to passersby.
Ryan's steps faltered for just a moment before he steered me away, his expression carefully blank.
But halfway home, he said he'd dropped something at the cemetery.
"It's freezing out there," he insisted. "Stay in the car. I'll go alone."
I followed him anyway.
I watched him unlock a bike-share with almost frantic haste, pedaling so fast the wheels practically sparked against the pavement.
I watched him run toward that hunched figure without a second's hesitation.
I watched him wrap the cashmere coat I'd just bought him around her shoulders.
And then they kissed—desperate, hungry, like two people trying to crawl inside each other's skin.
In that moment, I understood: a dog never changes its nature.
The marriage my father traded his life for had finally reached its end.
1.
It was the coldest day Northbridge had seen all winter.
I learned something new that day—when pain reaches its peak, you go numb.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. A message from Ryan.
"Found it. On my way back."
I stood there, watching the two figures clutching each other in the distance.
"No rush. I bought hot drinks. Waiting in the car."
I hit send, then lifted my gaze to take in the performance unfolding before me—star-crossed lovers reunited at last, a tragedy worthy of the stage.
"Ryan, I knew you'd come..."
His voice came out wrecked, barely a rasp. He reached up to brush the tears from her cheek.
"How did you get so thin?"
Sandra only cried harder.
"These five years... I've thought about you every single day..."
Ryan pulled out a bank card and pressed it into her palm.
"Stop being stubborn. If you need anything—anything at all—come to me."
"Ryan, you're all I care about." Her voice trembled. "I tried to forget you. I really did. But I couldn't..."
She tilted her face up to his, eyes glistening.
"What about you? Don't you think about me at all?"
The wind whipped her hair across her face.
Ryan stared at her for three long seconds.
Then his head dipped down, and he kissed her.
His fingers tangled in her hair. Her arms wound around his neck.