Years ago, Catherine had despised me for my poverty. She would vent her rage on me with her cane or her sharp tongue. Back then, Evan always stood in front of me. He was my shield.
We had weathered so many storms to be together. I remembered how he used to hold me, his voice filled with a tenderness that now seemed like a hallucination.
"Alice, I'll cherish you forever. I'll protect you and give you all the warmth and happiness you deserve."
How could we have known back then? How could we have predicted that one day, Evan would hate me to the bone? A single misunderstanding had become a chasm we could no longer cross.
But the past is like smoke—it scatters with the slightest breeze.
When I looked up again, Evan was gone. He left me nothing but an empty room.
Night deepened, suffocating the house in silence. I sat on the edge of the bed, sleep eluding me until dawn.
At noon the next day, Catherine delivered the divorce certificate, just as promised. She remained true to her cruel word regarding the settlement. The cash, the jewelry, the accessories—everything stayed. Aside from the clothes on my back, she left me with nothing.