The Dice Said Divorce, but He Thought I’d Stay Chapter 08

The Dice Said Divorce, but He Thought I’d Stay Chapter 08

A laugh escaped before I could stop it. Julian — somehow, he always knew how to make me smile.

He’d been that way when we were kids. He was still that way now. Not like Harrison, who only ever made me cry.

I stepped forward and caught Julian’s arm. “Harrison. Let him go.”

Harrison went still. Something emptied out behind his eyes, and his grip on Julian’s collar went slack.

Julian’s mouth curved. He laced his fingers through mine and held on tight. “Audrey and I have somewhere to be. So if you’ll excuse us, Mr. Vance.”

Harrison’s eyes were bloodshot. “It’s barely been days, Audrey. Hardly any time at all and you’ve already moved on?”

“We’re divorced. Who I’m with is none of your business.” My voice didn’t waver.

“We signed the papers, didn’t we?”

The words landed like a blade between his ribs.

It was ridiculous, all of it. Julian and I walked past Harrison, hand in hand.

He just stood there — that hollow, gutted look on his face — and didn’t say a word to stop me. He probably never believed I’d actually walk away.

Neither did the girl I used to be. But people change.

My grandfather and Julian helped me open my studio. A photography studio — the dream I’d carried with me since Silverwood.

Harrison never supported it. “Is my money not enough for you?”

“Why do you need to mess around with this?” That was his answer, every single time.

After hearing it enough times, I stopped asking.

Julian found out about it by accident — and lit up like I’d handed him a project. In a matter of days, he’d locked down a location.

He pulled strings, called in favors, and lined up models and up-and-coming photographers. There was still a mountain of prep work, and most of it had to be done by hand.

I was exhausted every single day — running from morning until night — and I had never been happier.

Happier than I’d ever been orbiting Harrison’s world, waiting for scraps of his attention. When you’re busy building something, the heartbreak doesn’t hit as hard.

I wasn’t lying awake anymore, aching over a man who didn’t deserve the sleepless nights.

But the moment I stopped being trapped in Harrison’s orbit, he came chasing after me. He tracked me down again to tell me the hospitalization report was fake — that he’d had no idea.

But real or fake, it didn’t matter anymore. Not then, not now.

I looked at him steadily. “Harrison, I never cared what other people thought.”

“If I were that kind of person, I never would’ve married you.”

The meaning hit him. His eyes swam with unshed tears.

“So no matter what Chloe did to me — whether she’d faked it or not — she was never the one who could break me.”

“It was me.” Harrison’s voice cracked. He lifted his hand, and a tear hit the back of it. “I’m the one who broke you.”

“I’m the one who left you out in the cold. I used your love against you — took advantage of it, over and over — because I knew you’d let me.”

“I was arrogant enough to think you’d never walk away.”

He looked up at me, tears running down his face.

I used to love his eyes more than anything — those soft, downturned corners, warm and clear.

Now they couldn’t reach me at all.

“Audrey, I know I was wrong. Just give me one more chance. I’ll love you the way I should have from the start.”

He reached for my hand — the same way he had all those years ago. I pulled my hand back before his fingers could close.

“Harrison, you’re right.”

His eyes lit up for half a second.

“You shouldn’t have used the way I loved you as a weapon against me.”

“Respect matters more than love. You taught me that.”

“The fact that it took so much pain to make me leave? That’s on me. I didn’t respect myself enough. I won’t make that mistake again.”

“Don’t — Audrey, please —” He kept trying to speak, but nothing came.

“My parents’ locket is gone. My baby is gone. Those don’t come back, Harrison.”

The memories rushed through me all at once. I closed my eyes.

Harrison’s voice was wrecked. “The locket — I can fix it. I already found the best restorer in the country. And we can — we can try again, for another baby, I—”

“It’s not the same thing, Harrison. You and me — we can’t go back. No matter what you do.”

His fists clenched at his sides. “Audrey, do you hate me?”

I gave him the truth. “I don’t hate you. I just have my own life now. And you’re not in it anymore.”