Twenty-Six receipts of betrayal Novel novel Chapter 68

Chapter 13

The moment those words hit him, Sean’s pupils contracted sharply.

He looked like he hadn’t heard me right–or couldn’t believe what he’d heard.

“What the fuck did you say?!”

I rested my hand–cigarette still between my fingers–on the steering wheel and repeated myself.

“I said, we’re done.”

He lunged forward and snatched the cigarette from my hand, crushing it violently into the ashtray.

The ember sizzled and died.

“NO FUCKING WAY!”

“Lanie, I’m telling you right now–I will NEVER agree to that.”

“We’ve made it seven years. You’re really gonna throw it all away now?”

I avoided his eyes and pulled a folded piece of paper from my bag. I held it out to him.

“Sean, we had a baby.”

He froze.

“But I got rid of it. The day I found out Charlotte was pregnant with your second child.”

“That’s right. I knew. I also knew you had a five–year–old son.”

Sean’s hand trembled as he took the medical report from me.

His fingers shook harder and harder, like that thin piece of paper was slicing into his throat.

The air inside the car was suffocating.

I couldn’t stand looking at him anymore. I turned toward the window, staring out at the endless plains.

“You know what, Sean? I think this life suits me better.”

“Being with you was glamorous. I was like a canary in a gilded cage. Everyone envied me.”

SA 406

Chapter 13

“But I hated it.”

“I hated being controlled. I hated squeezing into uncomfortable heels and suffocating gowns just to schmooze your

business associates.”

“I hated plastering on a fake smile for people I didn’t even know and saying things I didn’t mean.”

“Sean, we were never the same kind of people.”

“Even without Charlotte. Even without the kids. We were never going to last.”

I’d said everything. Every cruel, final word.

Sean sat in the passenger seat, completely silent.

It went on so long I thought he’d never speak again.

Then, slowly, he lifted his head.

What I saw in his eyes wasn’t sadness. It was something colder. Something desperate and unhinged.

“Lanie, I can’t even imagine waking up without you. I don’t know how I’d survive it.”

“Wait for me.”

Those three words.

Then he shoved the door open and walked away without looking back–just as abruptly as he’d arrived.

His tall silhouette disappeared into the dust, until there was nothing left to see.

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