Golden Cage Mommy Mutiny (Elyse) novel Chapter 63

Chapter 1

It had been seven years since my divorce from Adrian Vale when I ran into him by chance.

He was at Bloom & Vine Floral Studio, picking out flowers for his pregnant wife, while I’d only ducked in to escape the rain.

For a brief, awkward moment, neither of us spoke. Then politeness won.

He smiled–the same polite, well–rehearsed expression I still remembered–and asked how I’d been all these years.

I gave him the same practiced politeness in return, telling him that everything was fine.

We were about to part when he added quietly, “You seem… different from before.”

I just smiled again and said nothing. There wasn’t anything different about me–except that I no longer loved him.

***

The damp wind slipped through the crack of the door, carrying the sound of rain against the window ledge.

The shop was silent until the florist emerged with an armful of blue irises, breaking the stillness.

“Mr. Vale, you and your wife must be very close,” she said warmly. “Coming out in this weather just to buy her flowers.”

He accepted the bouquet and, almost reflexively, glanced at me before replying. “Nora’s been moody lately. Flowers calm her down a little.”

I nodded, murmuring something polite, then picked up my bag as the rain began to ease.

When I reached the door, he suddenly caught my wrist. “Let me drive you home.”

“That’s not necessary.”

I stepped back, keeping a careful distance between us. My voice was calm. “I wouldn’t want your

wife to misunderstand.”

As I turned to leave, he said something, but the wing swallowed his words.

The breakfast sandwich in my hand had gotten soaled through. I tossed it into the nearest trash can and watched the soggy paper collapse.

A gust of wind lifted my sleeve, revealing the faint rars on my wrist–remnants of another life.

For a second, I stared at them blankly before remembering what day it was. Seven years since the divorce. Three years since I’d truly let go.

Chapter 1

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There was no sorrow left, none of the hysteria that used to consume me. Just calm, detached peace, as if I were watching a stranger’s story.

The rain stopped, sunlight filtering through the glass.

I pulled down my sleeve and walked toward my little bakery, Lillian’s Deli, where Stella, the young girl who helped out, greeted me with a wide grin.

“You’re here! While I was cleaning, I found this box”

She pointed to a dusty cardboard crate. “Do you still want it? If not, I’ll toss it so we can make space for the new dough press.

I brushed off the dust, and the first thing I saw was Adrian’s familiar, bold handwriting on the lid:

For Lillian.

Stella’s eyes lit up instantly. “Whoa, someone gave you a gift? It’s wrapped so nicely–it must be

from someone special.”

She leaned closer, curious about the signature. When she saw the name, her expression froze.

Her voice stuttered with disbelief. “Adrian Vale? You mean the Dr. Adrian Vale? The astrophysics

genius who discovered a new exoplanet?”

Her admiration was almost childlike. “You actually know him?”

I opened the box, my voice steady. “I’m his ex–wife.‘

The one he’d once called brilliant, then mad.

The woman he sent to a psychiatric ward when she stopped believing in his version of love.

The one he still calls the greatest embarrassment of his life.

Chapter 1