My Husband's Affair My Anniversary Gift (Lily and David) novel Chapter 150

She pushed against his chest, and this time he let her go.

“Mr. Hardison,” she said coldly, stepping back, putting distance between them. “I have no intention of going back to that marriage. That marriage only suffocated me. It killed me a little every day.”

David stared at her, silent.

“So no matter how many times you try to act like you’ve changed, there’s no turning back.”

Her voice grew firmer, more distant, but her eyes were glossy. “For your information,” she continued, “I have an appointment with your future wife today, for your wedding jewelry.”

David’s brows drew together sharply. “What?”

“Yes,” Lily said, her tone calm, though her chest felt heavy. “She said she wanted me to handle it. So go and help her pick what she wants. Make her happy. And leave me alone.”

She turned around and began to walk away, her heels clicking hard against the ground. She didn’t look back, not even once.

David watched her, his chest rising and falling with anger and something deeper, something he couldn’t name. He didn’t call her name. He didn’t stop her this time. He just stood there, his hands slowly curling into tight fists.

His jaw clenched, his eyes darkening.

He had gotten down to his lowest point begged her to come back and she still refused.

Why? Why was she acting like this?

Didn’t she see he was trying?

Didn’t she feel anything anymore?

He raked his fingers through his hair, breathing heavily, the silence pressing against his chest. He wanted to scream. To throw something. To shake her until she looked at him again the way she used to.

But she was gone.

And all he could see now was her walking away her back straight, her head high, her steps strong. Like she’d finally found the strength to let go of him completely.

David shut his eyes tightly. He felt like he was suffocating.

Then, uninvited, another name came to his mind.

Marina.

His eyes snapped open. His anger returned like fire in his veins.

That woman she had gone to Lily about the jewelry.

He had clearly told her that he didn’t want to talk about marriage yet. Not when things were already so complicated. Not when Lily was still legally his wife.

And still, she went.

She went to Lily.

David’s hand slammed against the side of his car, the sound echoing sharply in the air. His eyes burned with fury.

Why couldn’t people just leave things alone?

Lily’s coldness, her bitterness, her refusal, all of it came from this mess. From Marina showing up. From people who didn’t know when to stop.

And yet, a small voice inside him whispered something he didn’t want to hear.

No, David… She’s not cold because of Marina. She’s cold because of you.

He clenched his teeth, trying to push that thought away. But it stayed.

He leaned against the car, his breath uneven.

He had made his choices.

He had pushed her away.

Now he’ll make sure to bring her back. There is no way he’ll let her go just like this.

David’s jaw set as he slid into the driver’s seat. The engine cough-started, then smoothed out beneath his hands. He didn’t look back. He never did.

He only stared at the road, each red light and empty stretch a small drumbeat that hammered his mind into tighter focus. He wanted her back.

Not because he was suddenly reformed or because he had finally learned how to love properly because the idea of losing her completely was unbearable.

He needed control, and she was the one thing he couldn’t control anymore. That thought set his teeth on edge until the car seemed to shake.

On the other side of the city, Lily’s day was already cracked at the edges. The headache started as a dull throb behind her eyes and swelled into a hard, pulsing pain that made the world seem thin and sharp.

The morning had been ruined before it properly began David shadowed her like an unwanted fog.

She could still feel the warmth of his palm, the familiar scent of his cologne stuck to her skin like a bad film. She hated that it affected her so easily. She hated that in one touch he could still make something inside her loosen.

She tried to shove the feelings down, to wedge them behind busyness and lists, because work was the place where she could breathe, where things had rules and deadlines and clear edges.

In the afternoon she had the appointment with Marina.

This appointment should have been simple: measurements, metal choices, a quiet, professional meeting that ended with a deposit and a smile. Lily had done these things before. She could do them again.

She prepared because she did not want Marina or anyone to find fault with her work. She did not want a finger pointed at the craftsmanship or the design choices a thin, perfect finger that would later wag around as evidence that Lily was unprofessional, weak, expendable.

That kind of gossip could ruin her reputation and give Marina more excuses to insult her. So she laid out samples, sketched alternatives, ironed the creases from the proposal.