When Evelyn woke up in the hospital again, she was met with Graham’s cold accusation.
“Evelyn! Why did you set Sophie on fire? Are you really so unable to tolerate her?” Graham demanded.
A chill ran through her. Even the pain in her wounds receded, replaced by a numb, bitter irony. “Sophie told you that? If I actually started that fire, why are my injuries worse than hers?”
Graham’s expression hardened, threaded with disappointment. “Because you got clever this time. You knew a martyr act would shift suspicion, didn’t you?”
“Evelyn, you can’t keep using your youth as an excuse to hurt Sophie again and again. I’ve tried to teach you a lesson, and you still don’t learn.”
Her heart felt as if it had been nicked by a blunt knife–too numb to bleed. She looked at him and found she had no strength left to argue.
To punish her, Graham used his influence to have her sent to a correctional facility for a week of
mandated labor.
That place was no place for anyone. Ice–cold water soaked through her thin shoes, heavy bricks
chafed her tender palms raw, and the stench from the animal pens made her gag.
She bit back tears and held on. Because she behaved well, they released her two days early.
When she walked out through those iron gates she was nearly skin and bone, but her eyes were unnervingly calm.
As she passed the County Clerk’s Office, the clerk who had helped with her paperwork caught sight of her and called out, pleasantly surprised.
“Ms. Hart! Perfect timing. Your Petition for Dissolution of Marriage was approved. I was just about to notify you.”
He handed her two copies of the Decree of Divorce.
Evelyn took the thin but impossibly heavy papers. For the first time in days, the dead stillness inside her stirred with the faintest ripple.
She returned to the family housing at Evermont Base, packed the few belongings she owned, and
left without a backward glance.
She left Graham behind as well.
Chapter 9
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From that moment on, however far she went, she only hoped she would never see him again.
Meanwhile, across town, Graham had spent the week at the hospital, tending to Sophie with
meticulous care.
Sophie watched him peel an apple for her and warm her milk, her eyes soft with something like
affection.
When he brought her another cup of warmed milk, she suddenly leaned in, trying to kiss him. Graham turned his head away, his face gone hard. “Sophie, I’m married.”
Sophie’s eyes filled immediately. “Graham, you know I-”
At that moment his aide Frank knocked and stepped in with a report. “General, your wife’s detention at the correctional facility ended today.”
Graham stood at once. “Rest. I’m going to pick her up.‘
He drove to the facility and waited all day, but Evelyn never showed.
A raw unease began to knot in his chest. Inside, staff told him, “Ms. Hart was on good behavior.
We had no reason to hold her longer–she left two days ago.”
She’d left two days earlier? Why hadn’t she told him? Why hadn’t she come home?
Panic tightened in Graham’s throat. He sped back to the family housing at Evermont Base.
He pushed open the door and found the house unnaturally quiet. The living room, the bedroom-
every trace of Evelyn was gone.
Her clothes were missing from the closet. The face cream she always used was gone from the vanity. Even the little cat–printed mug she drank from had vanished.
The house felt hollow.
On the living room table there lay a single document. He walked over, hands suddenly reluctant, and picked it up.
It was the Decree of Divorce. At the bottom, the court’s official seal glared up at him.
Chapter 9
