He Said One Kneel Bought Forever Love, but Finally Begged Me Back Chapter 05

He Said One Kneel Bought Forever Love, but Finally Begged Me Back Chapter 05

Graham picked it up. He read [Laurel Whitlock voluntarily relinquishes all claims to marital assets] and ripped it in half. The pages drifted to the floor. Sloane leaned against the doorframe. “Wow. She really went through with it. Cleared the whole place out.” Graham didn’t blink. “She’ll come back.” Sloane crouched and picked up a page from the floor. “Right. Didn’t she pull this same thing two years ago?” It was my birthday. Sloane got drunk and crashed her car into a guardrail. Graham left right as I was about to blow out the candles. He spent the whole night with Sloane at the police station. The next day, I moved back into the house my mother left me. I didn’t answer Graham’s calls for seven days. On the eighth day, Graham ended up in the hospital. His stomach ulcer flared up. I couldn’t stay away. I went back. I sat by his bed for two nights straight without sleeping. Sloane patted Graham on the shoulder. “She made it seven days last time. This time? Two weeks, tops.” Graham loosened his tie. “Three days. She won’t even make it three days.” He sounded sure. But his phone was already in his hand.

He called me. The number was disconnected. His message failed to send. An alert popped up: Not Delivered. He tried from his assistant’s number. One ring. Then nothing. He tried again. Blocked. He hurled the phone at the wall. “She thinks this is going to work on me?” The screen splintered into a web of cracks. For once, Sloane didn’t laugh. Every other time I’d been angry, I’d left him a way to reach me. This time, there was nothing. Graham picked up the cracked phone and called his mother. “Is she at your place?” His mother sounded confused. “No. Isn’t she with you, throwing her little fit?” “She used to come every week to manage your father’s meds and take me to my appointments. Hayen’t heard from her in days.” Graham’s father scoffed in the background. “She got married and immediately started with the attitude.” “Sloane’s got ten times the class. She saved the reception and even went on that trip with you so the tickets didn’t go to waste.” Sloane grinned and leaned toward the phone. “Mr. Whitlock, that’s what best friends are for!” Graham’s mother softened right away. “See? Sloane never gives us trouble.” Graham’s irritation was building with every word. Sloane didn’t know which blood pressure pills his father took or when his mother’s next appointment was. Seven years of doing everything for them, and none of it had ever registered. Sloane threw back a few beers with their son, and that made her the saint. Graham hung up. An unfamiliar number came through almost immediately. “Mr. Whitlock, I’m the attorney representing your wife in the divorce proceedings.” “She’s filed for divorce.” “The document you destroyed was a copy. You’ll be receiving the originals.” Graham’s voice went flat. “Tell her to come say that to my face.” “Mrs. Whitlock has declined any further direct communication.” “Where is she?” “I’m not authorized to share that.” The line went dead. Graham stared at the black screen. The unease he’d been pushing down finally caught up. He called his assistant and told him to pull up my travel records. Half an hour later, the call came back. “Three days ago, the same night you and Miss Mercer left for the trip, your wife boarded a separate flight.” “She flew to Westbridge. The Hawthorne Manuscript Institute. It’s a three-year position.” The room went dead silent. Sloane’s smile dropped. “Should I try calling her?” Graham turned on her. “Why would she pick up for you?” Sloane’s face hardened. “Don’t take it out on me.” “You’re the one who humiliated her at the wedding. You’re the one who destroyed the recording.” “Yeah, I run my mouth. But don’t put your mess on me.” Graham had nothing to say. He told his assistant to book the first flight out. The earliest one left the next evening. That night, he sat alone in the nursery. The star-shaped lights on the wall were off. The fetal doppler sat silent on the shelf. Every time before, I’d told him when I was coming back. This time, I hadn’t.