Chapter 2What the Sea Wind Took

I pushed open the apartment door. Inside, everything was dark.

On the living room coffee table sat the pot of soup I had made that afternoon. Alex had a weak stomach and hadn't eaten before the party. Worried he'd come home in pain, I had poured the soup into a thermos to keep it warm.

I walked over, twisted off the lid, and poured every drop down the kitchen sink.

The faint smell of herbs was washed away by the cold water.

I went back to the bedroom and dragged a dust-covered suitcase from the bottom of the closet.

Ten years sounded like a long time, but the things that truly belonged to me amounted to pathetically little.

The closet was full of dresses, handbags, and coats Alex had sent over. Every time he broke a promise, denied our relationship in public, or left me sitting alone in a restaurant because of a phone call from Lillian, he would have his assistant deliver an expensive gift.

I used to read those gifts as apologies.

Now I understood they were just the price he paid for my silence.

I didn't take a single one. I packed only a few old sweaters I had bought myself, two pairs of jeans, my research notebooks, and the old watch my mother had left me.

Before I finished packing, the door lock clicked.

Alex was back.

The bedroom door swung open. He reeked of alcohol and Lillian's signature white floral perfume. His tie hung loose across his chest, and a smear of lipstick marked his collar.

Seeing me crouched on the floor packing a suitcase, he frowned slightly but showed no trace of alarm.

"Why'd you leave early tonight?" He leaned against the doorframe, his tone steady as if nothing had happened. "Didn't even say goodbye. Lillian asked if you were feeling sick."

I went on folding clothes without answering.

He walked in and looked down at me. "Lillian just went through a terrible marriage. She's been in a bad place emotionally. Everyone was there tonight, so I made a little bet using you to cheer her up. The ring was a party prop. The engagement was a joke. Don't take it seriously."

He reduced a proposal that had trampled my dignity in front of everyone to a joke.

I placed my mother's watch in the inner pocket of the suitcase and zipped it shut.

When I still didn't speak, he grew impatient but put on his usual magnanimous air. "I know you feel wronged. How about this: I'll transfer the beachfront villa on Long Island into your name tomorrow and get you a new car. Weren't you eyeing that silver sports car in the magazine last month?"

He tossed a set of keys onto the bed, his tone like someone coaxing a child who couldn't take a hint. "Be good, Evelyn. Don't ruin everyone's night over one party."

In his eyes, ten years of devotion and tonight's humiliation could all be settled with a house and a car.

I finally stood up and looked him straight in the eye.

"Alex."

"What?" He raised an eyebrow. "You're going to dig up old grudges again? Use the baby and your mother to guilt me into apologizing?"

Something roared in my head.

He knew those were my deepest wounds, and he could still throw them in my face that easily.

"You proposed to Lillian in front of everyone just to make her happy and bet on whether I'd fight back." I looked into his eyes and said every word slowly. "And now you're using my mother and my baby to shut me up?"

Alex's brow immediately furrowed, irritation flashing in his eyes. "Why bring up the past? Your mother's gone, and it's not like you have zero chance of having kids down the line. Do you really have to dig all that up right now and kill the mood?"

Kill the mood.

Ten years of blood and tears, and in his eyes, it was just killing the mood.

He seemed to realize he'd gone too far and stepped forward to hold me. "Come on, don't do this. I'll cancel my lunch tomorrow and take you car shopping. Pick whatever you want, okay?"

His hand hadn't reached my shoulder when his phone suddenly rang.

A ringtone he had set for exactly one person.

Alex froze, then immediately pulled out his phone. Lillian's name was on the screen.

When he answered, his voice softened instantly. "What's wrong?"

A woman's tearful voice came through the phone. "The hotel lost power, and there's thunder outside. I'm alone in my room, and I'm a little scared. Can you come over?"

Without looking at me, Alex turned and headed for the door. "Don't be scared. I'm on my way. Lock the door and don't open it for anyone."

He grabbed the car keys from the bed. At the doorway, as if suddenly remembering I existed, he said without turning around, "I'm going to check on her. She just got back to New York and doesn't have anyone she can trust here. Go to bed. Don't wait up."

The front door slammed shut.

I stared in the direction he had disappeared, then bent down, folded the last coat neatly, and tucked it into the suitcase.

"Fine."

I pulled the suitcase zipper closed.

"I'm done waiting."