Shadows Gathered Under Fading Lights by Nyx Rowan novel Chapter 3

The second I walked in, the entire room fell silent, as if time had stopped.

Tristan spoke first, and there was a flicker of surprise in his voice. “What are you doing here?”

Natalia immediately looped her arm through his and swayed a little, her voice taking on a sickly sweet tone. “Mr. Royston, wasn’t it Fiona’s birthday a few days ago? I heard you didn’t spend it with

her.”

She looked up at him with a smile, as if she were waiting for praise.

“I thought a few days late was better than never, so I used your phone to text her and invited her

over. It’s sort of a belated celebration.”

Tristan’s eyes darkened. He turned to me, speaking as if he were reprimanding a child. “Look how thoughtful Natalia is! You should learn to be considerate for once.”

I tossed the divorce petition onto the table in front of him. “I came for your signature, not a

birthday.”

He picked it up and tapped the page with his fingertip. “So this was because I didn’t pick you up that day, and you wanted a divorce?”

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He said it like it was no big deal, like he’d completely forgotten that if I hadn’t gotten away fast

enough, things could’ve gotten really ugly.

Before I could answer, he lifted his hand and tossed the petition into the trash can beside him.

“I told you I’d take responsibility for you for life,” he said, impatience lacing every word. “Stop

making a scene.”

My hand shook as I pointed at Natalia. “This was your idea of responsibility?”

Natalia’s eyes immediately welled up with tears, her face a picture of pure innocence.

“Me and Mr. Royston… nothing happened…”

“You don’t need to explain anything to her,” Tristan cut in.

When his eyes fell on me, they looked so strange, as if he were staring at a complete stranger.

Maybe he’d never considered I’d force him to lose face in front of this many people, because he let out a low laugh, almost amused. “You’d been in this circle for five years and you still weren’t used

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to it?”

He shrugged like he was talking about the weather. “Who didn’t keep one or two mistresses? I stayed clean for five years, that was more than enough for you.”

Then he hooked a finger under Natalia’s chin and kissed her hard, possessive and deliberate.

The room erupted, whistles and chants colliding, louder than before.

The drunk who’d joked earlier about “trying someone else’s wife” staggered over to me, arm lifting toward my shoulders.

I kicked him hard and sent him sprawling, then grabbed a bottle off the table and smashed it down I kicked him hard and sent him sprawling, then grabbed a on his head. Blood burst across his face in an instant.

The room dropped into silence again.

Tristan remembered that I loved him.

He forgot that I’d grown up in foster care, and I’d never been anyone’s easy target.

Back when I loved him, I’d swallowed my pride and filed down every sharp edge of myself, because I thought that was what love required.

Now that I didn’t, I refused to keep humiliating myself just to make his life comfortable.

I reached into the trash, pulled the divorce petition back out, and tossed it in front of him again.

Tristan pushed Natalia aside and stared at me, st Tristan pushed Natalia aside and stared at me, steady and intense, like he was trying to see right through me.

Finally, he said each word slowly, as if it was a verdict. “I’m not divorcing you.”

“You were,” I answered, meeting his gaze without flinching, my voice just as clear.

Then I took out my phone and dialed a number I hadn’t touched in five years, calm and absolute as

the call connected.

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