The Final Goodbye of a Reborn Heart

. There was no flicker of shock, no hint of

h. "Asher, I think that fall did more damage

orporation. I have access to the best private investigators in the world. When we got married, I had a full background check done on yo

shed the spark of hope in my chest. For a second, I had thought we were connected, that this w

e said, turning her back on me. "T

econd glance, leaving me alone with th

ispers following me whenever a nurse came in. They saw me as the pathetic, cast-aside husband of the great Elara Vance. I was a nuisance, a

s a

the paperwork a declaration of my surrender. I hobbled out of that hospital on crutches, m

p was my law

p," I told him, my voice flat.

m pull up the standard forms, a wave of immense pain washed over me. This was it. The fi

post was a picture of him and Elara, taken just an hour ago. They were on the hospital's private terrace. He was in a wheelchair, a blanket over his lap

knew all

for a week, and Elara had fussed over me endlessly. She' d brought me food, read to me, and sat with me on the porch. Someon

torturing me with a mirror image o

a nightmare where I couldn't tell what was

. I didn't care anymore if she was reborn

vations. The sleek, glass tower loomed over the city, a monument to her pow

in a meeting,

ttling into a chair in

was with Julian. I saw her stand up, walk over to his chair, and tenderly place a cushion behind his back. It

love for another man; it was a performance, a deliber

in. Julian was there, looking smug. Elara wa

ce papers in front

her name on the signature line without reading a single w

rgument could have been. It was a final, bru

ged to say, m

to me. "Remember, Asher, there's a mandatory 90-day cooling-off p

more months of being te

an' s voice, smooth as silk

y hand on t

re going to a charity auction in Jackson Hole this weekend. To celebrate my r

. He wanted me to watch them parad

else," I said, my voic

mask of hurt. He looked at Elar

l go, Asher. You will be there, and you will be civ

the unspoken threat of what she could do to my f

lian' s triumphant smirk. I was exhaus

ord tasting like ash