Till Death Do Us Part, Indeed

a serial cheater, and I w

y marriage; she publicly flaunte

e sculpture I made for my dead mother, laug

reezing my assets, destroying my career, a

or, but instead, he became the mon

e me a deadline a

stroying his mistress and bankrupting hims

man offering his shattered emp

e cold as the grave, "it's

pte

Turne

n when Augustine's fist slammed into the bedroom door

st the wall. Red liquid bloomed like a violent flower on the pristine white paint. He didn't even yell yet, but the silen

y own heart. He stood silhouetted against the hallway light, a towering, menacing figure.

a strange calm had settled. A chilling, almost victorious calm. My breath

shattered quiet of the room. "The kind of man who pays attention." My words were laced with

tion' when you bring a stranger into our bed, into my house?" He spat out the words, each one a sharp shard of glass. "After everything? Afte

t tight, a familiar ache starting deep behind my ribs. It wasn't just the betrayal, it was the chronic,

didn't you? All this time. You hated me." He sounded bewildered, as if

ase eating me from the inside. My body was failing, but my mind, oh, my mind was sharper than ever. It was a cold, hard diamond. "Hate?" I echoed, op

from where he' d punched the door, or perhaps mine, from the phantom pains that clawed at

istorted behind him. His knuckles were bleeding freely, dripping onto the pristine white carp

fear. It was the man from the bar, the one I'd brought home. He stood

voice low and dangerous. "Now." The young man didn't need a second invitation. He stumbled backward, fumbl

liberately, like a predator stalking its prey. Every muscle in my body tensed, an

as iron, inescapable. He dragged me across the shattered glass, ignoring the crunch beneath our feet, the shar

iolent shove, he threw me into the oversized marble bathtub. The impact rattled my teeth, and before I could even register t

flood. His eyes, still burning with fury, held a terrifying flicker of something else-a twi

tion. I thrashed, water splashing wildly, a desperate, futile attempt to escape the delu

hinking, I swung it, a wild, desperate arc aimed at his head. He didn

eyes never left mine. They were deep, fathomless pools of pain and accusati

yself invisible. But he was on me in an instant, his hands on my neck, not squeezing, not yet, but his thumbs pre

y cheek. "You ruined us, Annice! You ruined everything!" he

k, the sudden, violent assault-it was too much. I ret

mething akin to horror replacing the rage. "You disgust me," he ch

eper, more insidious tremor. My stomach burned, a fiery acid pit that had become a permanent

room, filled with self-pity and accusation. "And for what? A moment's pathetic re

still shook with suppressed emotion. "You want to erase me? Fine. Be careful what you wish for." The bathroom do