Chapter 12 Let Me Go
Mia’s POV
In the haze between consciousness and darkness, memories floated like scattered photographs, each one more painful than the last. The sedatives coursing through my veins turned my mind into a kaleidoscope of moments I’d tried so hard to forget.
“Mr. Branson will see you now.”
The first time I saw Kyle in his office, tall and imposing behind that mahogany desk. I’d straightened my simple black dress, trying to look professional despite my racing heart. He hadn’t recognized me from high school, of course. To him, I was just another candidate for the secretary position.
“Your references are impressive, Miss Williams.”
His voice had been cold even then, clinical. I should have known. Should have seen the signs.
The scene shifted, blurred, reformed.
“The board needs me married.” Kyle’s voice echoed through my drug–induced dreams. “Someone quiet. Someone who won’t cause problems.” The contract had sat between us on his desk, stark black text on white paper. A business arrangement, nothing more. “I hope you don’t have any other ideas.”
But I had. God help me, I’d had so many ideas. Dreams of love growing slowly, of ice melting to reveal warmth beneath. Such a fool I’d been
And then I saw our wedding day. No white dress, no flowers. Just a registry office and Linda as our witness. Kyle had checked his phone throughout the ceremony, probably texting Taylor. I’d worn a pale blue dress I’d saved three months to buy, hoping he might notice. He hadn’t.
The ring is just for appearances,” he’d said, sliding the platinum band onto my finger. “Don’t read too much into it.”
Three years of moments that had slowly killed my heart.
Kyle working late, his desk lamp casting shadows across papers I now knew were just excuses to meet Taylor.
Dinners alone in our beautiful house, waiting for a husband who never came home.
The way he’d touch me in the darkness, passionate but empty, never staying until morning.
“This is just physical,” he’d remind me afterward. “Don’t confuse it with something else.”
But I had confused it, hadn’t I? Confused duty with desire, obligation with love. Every cold word, every distant look–I’d explained them all away, building castles on foundations of sand.
The scene changed again. I was standing in our bedroom, staring at the pregnancy test. Two lines. Two lives. Hope had bloomed then, fragile and desperate. Maybe this would change everything. Maybe babies–our babies–would finally make him see me
“Children would be inconvenient ”
His words at dinner echoed through my mind, cutting deeper now than they had before. In my dream, I watched my stomach swell, grow round with the precious lives we’d created. But Kyle wasn’t there. He was with Taylor, their silhouettes dark against a setting sun. 2
Then pain Sharp, tearing pain. My belly deflated like a balloon, emptiness replacing fullness. “No!” I screamed in my dream Please, God, not my babies! Please!”
But God wasn’t listening No one was listening.
The darkness swirled, and I was fifteen again, watching my father carry Taylor across our threshold “This is your new sister,
he’d said, while my mother’s pictures were still wann on the walls. Taylor had smiled then, the same smile she’d worn
YA
Chapter 12 Let Me Go
+25 BONUS
tonight at the top of the stairs.
“Everything you have will be mine,” she’d whispered later, when Dad couldn’t hear. “Everything you love, everything you are-
I’ll take it all.”
And she had, hadn’t she? My father’s love. My inheritance. My home. And now Kyle. Always Kyle.
Everything was twisted, distorted. Kyle’s face morphed into Taylor’s and back again. Their laughter echoed through my mind, mocking my pain, my loss, my foolish dreams of love.
“You knew what this was,” Kyle’s voice reminded me. “It was all in the contract.”
Yes, it had been. Every cold clause, every loveless provision. A marriage of convenience that had become my prison.
“Mia?” A distant voice penetrated the fog. “Mia, can you hea
me?”
My eyes felt heavy, weighted with tears I couldn’t shed. The hospital room slowly came into focus, its sterile whiteness a stark contrast to the darkness of my dreams. Scarlett sat beside my bed, her red hair wild, her eyes swollen from crying.
“Oh, thank God,” she whispered, grabbing my, hand. “You’ve been out for hours. I was so worried…”
I tried to speak, but my throat was raw. Scarlett quickly held a cup of water to my lips.
“The babies,” I managed finally. “My babies…”
Scarlett’s face crumpled. Her grip on my hand tightened, and I knew. I knew before she spoke, before she could form the words that would shatter what was left of my world.
“I’m so sorry, Mia,” she whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks. “The doctors… they tried everything, but…”
The emptiness inside me suddenly had a name. A finality I couldn’t escape. My babies were gone. The only real thing in my fake marriage, the only pure thing to come from all the lies–gone. 1
“Kyle?” I asked, though I already knew the answer. The empty chair beside my bed spoke volumes.
Scarlett’s expression hardened. “He’s not here. He’s been with ” She stopped herself, but she didn’t need to finish. We both
knew where he was. Who he was with.
Something broke inside me then. The last thread of hope, the final illusion I’d clung to–it all crumbled to dust. Three years of pretending, of making excuses, of loving a man who had never loved me back.
I turned my face to the wall, away from Scarlett’s concerned gaze. “It’s over,” I whispered, more to myself than to her. Everything’s over.”
“Mia-”
“I want a divorce”
The words hung in the air, heavy with finality. Scarlett squeezed my hand, but said nothing. She didn’t need to. We both knew this was the end
Kyle had won his freedom. Taylor had won her prize. And I? I had finally won the truth.
Some dreams aren’t meant to come true. Some loves aren’t meant to be returned. And some contracts–no matter how carefully worded–can’t protect your heart from breaking.
I closed my eyes, letting the tears fall silently
It was time to let them both go.
Chapter 131 Want A Divorce
