Chapter 9 - THE NIGHT MARCUS CAME BACK
Marcus found me outside the courthouse.
I had just finished meeting with investigators.
Elena was beside me.
We were walking toward a waiting car when I heard his voice.
“Mia.”
My body froze.
He stood near the steps wearing a wrinkled coat.
His eyes were bloodshot.
He looked thinner.
Older.
For a moment, I remembered the man I had married.
The one who brought me coffee in bed.
The one who danced with me in our kitchen.
Then I remembered the bathroom floor.
The blood.
The fear.
“Mia, please.”
Elena stepped slightly closer.
“Mr. Vale, you need to leave.”
Marcus ignored her.
“Sweetheart, they're making me look like a monster.”
I stared.
“You hurt me.”
His face tightened.
“We both made mistakes.”
“No.”
The word came out clearly.
Marcus blinked.
I took a breath.
“You hurt me. You lied to me. You used my name.”
He glanced toward the courthouse.
“Keep your voice down.”
I almost laughed.
Even now.
Even here.
He was more worried about appearances than what he'd done.
“You don't get to tell me how loudly I can speak.”
His expression changed.
For one second, I saw the familiar anger.
Then he noticed the courthouse security officer approaching.
He stepped back.
“Mia, we can fix this.”
I shook my head.
“No, Marcus.”
His face went pale.
Not because Dante Castellano was standing behind me.
Not because someone powerful had threatened him.
Because I wasn't afraid to say no anymore.
I looked directly at him.
“I'm divorcing you.”
Marcus was arrested later that day on charges connected to the financial investigation.
The allegations would have to be proven in court.
I knew the process could take months.
Maybe longer.
But I was no longer waiting for him to decide whether I deserved freedom.
That evening, I called my mother.
We hadn't spoken properly in nearly a year.
Marcus had convinced me she disliked him.
Then he convinced me she disliked me.
When she answered, her voice trembled.
“Mia?”
I began crying.
“Mom.”
“Oh, sweetheart.”
I couldn't speak.
She waited.
Then said, “You can come home whenever you want.”
I closed my eyes.
For years, I'd believed I had nowhere to go.
Now I understood that isolation had been part of Marcus's control.
May you like
I wasn't alone.
I had simply been kept from seeing the people who still loved me.
