Chapter 4Gone with the Broken Wind

"You asked for this, Stella. Let's see how you manage with the baby all by yourself." A cruel smile twisted his lips as he picked up the suitcase and walked out the door.

Silence descended on the apartment. I collapsed to the floor as if all the strength had been siphoned out of me, hugging my knees and crying without a sound.

It wasn't until Penny started crying again that I forced myself up, finished making her bottle, and carried it back to the room. I held her tiny body close, my eyes wide open all night.

I was the one being pushed to the edge.

By him and Lily.

On the surface, our life over the past year had been… tolerable. But inside, I was breaking. I became someone I didn't recognize.

I started having nightmares of two pale bodies writhing on a hotel bed. I'd wake up crying for no reason, my body wracked with uncontrollable tremors. I screamed. I threw things. I started cutting my own arm with a kitchen knife.

If Alex came home even a little late, I would pick a fight, my words laced with suspicion and acid. I was constantly convinced he was with another woman. At first, he would patiently explain himself. Eventually, he just started sleeping in the guest room. The warmth between us slowly froze over.

The day I found myself on the balcony, holding Penny and thinking about jumping from the eighteenth floor, was my wake-up call.

I almost died.

I had become one of those "oversensitive," "hysterical" new mothers he read about. I had postpartum depression.

Standing on that balcony, the cold wind shocked me back to my senses. I started trying to save myself. I saw doctors. I took medication.

But tonight, Alex, the very source of my sickness, had shoved me right back towards the abyss.

This disgusting, shattered marriage had to end. Now.

I stayed up all night. Alex didn't come back. Instead, his parents showed up first thing in the morning.

Alex's father looked me up and down with disdain. "Fighting with Alex again? Stella, if Alex really loved that… Lily-whatever-her-name-is, you would have never been our daughter-in-law in the first place."

"And don't take this the wrong way, but you've always been petty and shortsighted. If you had just looked the other way back then, Alex wouldn't have been fired, and he'd be collecting easy dividends every month. He wouldn't have to work so hard now."

His mother took out her phone, feigning a sigh. "Stella, our Alex is such an exceptional man. It's normal for him to have admirers. You need to hurry up and have a son to secure his heart, or you'll be crying a lot more in the future!"

She then thrust the phone in my face. It was a social media post Alex had made after he left last night.

In the photo, he was holding Lily tightly, gently wiping away her tears, his face filled with affection.

The caption read: [Drove for miles, just to see you one last time.]

I opened my phone, but the post wasn't on my feed. I realized he had blocked me.

I tried calling him several times, but each call was rejected. After the last one, I asked quietly, "Are you sure he went to see Lily?"

His mother's face was smug. She dialed Alex's number right in front of me. He picked up instantly. "Mom? What's up?"

"Honey, where are you?" she cooed. "Did you and Stella have another fight?"

Through the phone, Alex's voice was flat, tinged with contempt. "Not really a fight. She just had one of her episodes. Probably bored from being stuck at home all day."

"I'm in Port Crest right now. Mom, don't tell Stella. I'll be back soon, just after I see Lily one last time."

The call lasted less than a minute.

So he really had driven through the night to be with her.

My chest felt hollowed out, yet strangely, a sense of relief washed over me.

Seeing my lack of reaction, his mother clucked her tongue. "Did you hear that? Alex is always complaining to me about how dull and stupid you are, how you do nothing but fight with him. If it weren't for the baby, he would have left you long ago!"

"You know, this Lily girl doesn't seem so bad. I hear her parents are teachers. She's more than good enough for our Alex. Not like some people, with no parents to speak of. Probably a jinx!"

"Like father, like son. Since some people have a taste for spoiled goods, I'm happy to let them have her." I delivered the line calmly, then picked up my daughter and walked out, leaving the two of them sputtering curses behind me.

I knew they never liked me. After marrying Alex, I had tolerated them time and time again. Not anymore.

Since Alex wasn't in town, I would go find him myself.

I stopped by a lawyer's office to pick up divorce papers, then hailed a cab to Port Crest.

Using the photo from his mother's phone as a guide, I went straight to the hotel where they were meeting.