Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
I wanted out.
I wanted to not spend my next years in the same space with such a monster. Such a vile person who could make great toasts, then be so callous.
I hated him.
I didn’t know I had the kind of heart that could feel hate so deeply, but Henry brought that out in me.
“This place is a disaster,” Henry said as I walked past the living room to get to the kitchen so I could grab water. He was humming vibrantly as he danced around with a bottle of champagne in his grip. He walked over to me and grabbed my wrist with his free hand. “Dance with me,” he said.
Was he truly acting as if everything was okay after what had happened? How much had he actually drunk that evening?
“Henry, not now. I’m tired.”
He didn’t listen and pulled me in to him, humming against my ear. “Dance with me, my love.”
My love.
That felt like a slap in the face.
His mouth was coated in the scent of alcohol as he forced me against his body.
“Henry, stop,” I said, slightly shoving my hands against his chest. As he stumbled back, the bottle in his hand dropped to the floor. It didn’t break, but the champagne began to spill all over the rug.
“Fuck, Kierra. Look what you did.”
“Yeah, well, spills happen.”
“Clean it up,” he ordered.
I sighed. “Not tonight. I will in the morning.”
“Fine,” he agreed. “Leave the mess and dance with me now,” he offered again, reaching out toward me.
I swatted his hand away. “What’s the matter with you?”
“I’m trying to change the damn energy of this house. The energy that you caused. We were having a great night, and you just had to go and ruin it with your attitude.”
“You were screwing another woman in our bedroom.”
“Yeah, and you made sure everyone had to suffer from you finding that out. Sending everyone off. Fuck, I even got punched in the damn face because of you.”
“Because of me?” I said, stunned by his words. A part of me wanted to argue with him. A part of me wanted to try to get through that thick skull of his. But a bigger part of me, the biggest part of me, just wanted freedom. I wanted out of the jigsaw puzzle of my life with Henry Hughes where it became more and more clear that none of our pieces were from the same puzzle. “I want a divorce,” I spat out.
He paused his movements. His head tilted. He snickered. “Go to bed, Kierra.”
I stood tall. “No. I want a divorce.”
“We’ve talked about this before. If you want out, then go.”
“I want Ava, too. She’ll stay with me, and we can work out some coparenting thing. If you take anger management courses.”
“Anger management? Oh, fuck off, Kierra.”
“I’m serious.”
“Me too. Fuck off. I don’t have anger issues. And you aren’t taking my daughter. If you want to leave, then leave. Go. But Ava stays with me.”
“She’s not only yours. She’s mine. Just like I’m hers.” If anything, I spent more time with our daughter than Henry ever had. His world was his work, and Ava received the crumbs of time that he had left after he poured all of himself into his tech company. Still, over the past few months, it seemed his anger was growing more and more intense. He seemed to snap more often, too. My greatest fear was that if I wasn’t around to be his emotional punching bag, if it was only Ava and him when he came home with his issues, that he’d take them out on her.
“Nothing about her is yours,” Henry argued. “Not her laugh, not her smile, not her DNA. And we agreed that if we ever went our separate ways, that Ava would be with me. Or do you not remember the documents we signed before we married?”
I remembered them. But when we signed them, I never imagined him becoming the creature that he had become. I thought always and forever meant exactly that when we spoke our vows—always and forever. I didn’t know it meant “always until Henry decided to become a whole different person.”
Or perhaps this was who he’d always been. Perhaps, he was just skilled in hiding his demons for a long time until they became too loud and poured out all over the place.
“Henry—”
“Go,” he ordered, gesturing toward the foyer. “Get some suitcases and get out, Kierra. Trust me, Ava doesn’t need such a weak woman around her anyway. I mean, hell. What kind of woman are you? I’ve been cheating on you for years, yelling at you, belittling you, and you just take it because you’re weak.”
“I’m not weak,” I whispered, trying to shake off his words and not let them implant in me.
I’m strong, I’m strong, I’m strong.
“No, you are. You’re fucking pathetic, too. You’re weak and pathetic, and without Ava, you’re nothing. And guess what? You just lost her forever. You’re nothing, Kierra. Nothing.”