The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 39

His long fingers punched in the passcode, and Garrison pushed the door open. But the warm yellow glow he expected to see never flickered on.

The entire apartment was pitch black.

With a sharp click, Garrison hit the wall switch. The place was dead silent, stripped entirely of the feeling that someone actually lived there. In the living room, the potted pothos by the floor-to-ceiling window was already starting to wither. The beige throw blanket was missing from the sofa, and the coffee table was completely bare—not even a water glass was left behind.

Garrison's heart sank.

Was she not home?

He didn't even bother taking off his shoes as he strode straight into the bedroom. The closet doors were wide open, and Sloane's side was entirely empty, leaving only a few hangers swinging sideways. The vanity was wiped completely clean; all her bottles and jars were gone. The only thing left was their framed wedding photo, placed face-down on the surface.

It finally hit him. Sloane wasn't just not home. She had moved out.

She had packed up and left without a single word to him?!

Garrison's Adam's apple bobbed. A raging inferno of anger ignited in his chest. He spun around, his heavy footsteps echoing as he marched back into the living room, only to spot a clear plastic folder placed neatly in the center of the dining table.

He snatched it up and pulled out the document inside.

*Divorce Agreement*

It was identical to the one Sloane had shown him days ago, with one glaring difference. At the bottom right corner was a clear, fresh signature: Sloane Taylor.

Her handwriting was elegant, but the strokes carried a ruthless, decisive force.

Garrison stared at that signature for a long time, as if trying to burn a hole through the paper to find some hidden meaning. He couldn't believe she had just walked away—so quietly, so completely...

Five years of marriage, a child they had raised together, and she was just tossing it all away?

Who gave her the right?!

Back then, she was the one who used underhanded tricks to get close to him, to trap him in a scandal to force his hand... Who gave her the right to just come and go as she pleased?

Silence hung on the line for two seconds.

"Garrison, whether we're legally divorced or not makes no difference to me anymore."

Garrison's stomach dropped. There was no hatred in her voice, no bitterness. Just a smooth, flowing indifference.

But that absolute calm was exactly what drove him crazy. He couldn't comprehend how a woman who had spent years fighting tooth and nail in their marriage, constantly drowning in jealousy, had suddenly undergone such a drastic, complete transformation. It was like she was a different person entirely.

"Even if you have no feelings left for me, you are still Archie's mother." Garrison suppressed his fury, biting out every word. "Do you have any idea that tomorrow is Archie's fifth birthday?"

Another stretch of silence passed before he heard Sloane's faint, airy voice: "I'm sorry. I forgot."

Garrison froze.

He looked like he hadn't understood the words, or rather, he fundamentally refused to believe they had come out of Sloane's mouth.