Three Years Protecting His Secret Love… Until His Wife Finally Disappeared Chapter 06

Three Years Protecting His Secret Love… Until His Wife Finally Disappeared Chapter 06

It had been a month since I moved to the Inland Northwest.

Compared with Northbridge, the air here was drier and crisper, and everything felt more open.

The sky seemed bigger, the land more open, and everything about the place felt free.

I rented a furnished place, and my biggest daily concern was what groceries to buy and what to cook.

I had no job tying me down and no awful people hounding me.

Everything felt simpler and slower.

But even in a new place, I still woke in the middle of the night, unable to stop reliving the day they tried to

save my father.

Graham’s dismissive scoff over the phone and the silence after he hung up haunted me every night.

Before leaving Northbridge, I had gone back to the hospital one last time to finish the paperwork after my

father’s death.

Near the stairwell, I ran into the same staff member who had gone over Graham’s pre–op questions.

She recognized me immediately and smiled.

“Ms. Bennett, when your husband was coming out of anesthesia after his last procedure, he kept saying your

name over and over.”

“Funny how the men who seem the coldest are often the most devoted to their wives.”

I stood there for a long moment and said nothing.

It was bitterly ironic.

Graham started texting me day and night from one new number after another.

He said he had searched every place I might be staying and still couldn’t find me.

He said he had bought a prime burial plot for my father and was planning a grand memorial service for him.

He also said he still hadn’t signed the divorce papers and never would.

Every message carried the same implication: he wanted us to start over.

I found the whole thing both baffling and ridiculous.

He had been the one to put the divorce papers in my hands, yet now he was the one refusing to sign them.

But our marriage was no longer something he got to decide.

After moving to the Inland Northwest, I stayed in close contact with my attorney back in Northbridge.

I sent over everything I had collected over the past few years documenting Graham’s affair.

My attorney replied soon after.

My attorney: [We have everything we need. I’m filing for divorce right away.]

I also asked my attorney to challenge the transfer of the house.

There was office security footage showing me signing those blank pages, and coworkers who had been

there could confirm that the pages were supposed to be used for company business only.

Graham would probably be served with the court papers soon.

Camille also kept bombarding me with texts.

When I ignored them, she started calling instead.

“Elise, don’t get too smug. That whole playing–hard–to–get routine won’t work on Graham.”

“Besides, I’m carrying his baby. He would never leave me.”

Her childish attempt to provoke me only made me laugh.

“Camille, even now, you still don’t understand what kind of man Graham is.”

“Two years ago, I was pregnant with his child too. He cheated anyway.”

“A baby was never going to keep Graham. The only person he has ever loved is himself.”

Camille grew agitated, her voice rising.

“But he said I’m different!”

“You’re not.”

“If it weren’t you, there’d always be someone else just like you.”

“Once he gets bored, he’ll move on to the next one.”

She hung up.

I put my phone away and closed my hand around the pendant at my neck.

Whenever I was hurting or upset, touching it made me feel as though my father were still beside me,

comforting me.

I was about to head out for groceries when I spotted a familiar figure at the end of the street.

The moment our eyes met, Graham lit up.

He strode toward me. He looked exhausted, but the joy on his face was unmistakable.

“Elise… I finally found you.”

A gust of wind swept past, and he coughed twice.

“The weather here is harsher than back in Northbridge. It’s not good for you.”

“Come back with me. Let’s start over, okay?”