Chapter 3
The hospital room smelled of antiseptic and despair. My leg throbbed where the snake had bitten me, the bandages tight against swollen flesh. Three days had passed since Ruby's trap had nearly killed me, three days of Edgar's cold silence while I recovered from the venom that should have been my death sentence.
I should have known he wouldn't come alone.
The door opened with a soft click, and Edgar entered with Ruby close behind him. She wore a black dress that hugged her figure perfectly, her hair styled in elegant waves. Even her grief was performed with precision. The twins weren't with them—a small mercy I was grateful for.
"Feeling better?" Edgar's voice held no warmth, no concern for the woman who had once been his wife. He might as well have been inquiring about the weather.
I struggled to sit up straighter, my body still weak from the ordeal. "Edgar, we need to talk. About everything. About what Ruby did—"
"What Ruby did?" He stepped closer to the bed, his eyes cold as winter steel. "Ruby saved my children from a woman who tried to murder them with a venomous snake."
The accusation hit me like a physical blow. "You know that's not true. You know me, Edgar. I would never—"
"Do I know you?" He pulled out a manila folder from his jacket, the papers inside rustling with finality. "Because the woman I thought I married wouldn't have tried to kill innocent children out of jealousy."
Ruby moved to stand beside him, her hand finding his arm in that possessive gesture I'd grown to hate. "She's dangerous, Edgar. What if she tries again? What if next time she succeeds?"
Her voice trembled with perfectly manufactured fear, tears gathering in her eyes like dewdrops on command. The performance was flawless, and I could see Edgar's jaw tighten with protective anger.
"Sign these," he said, dropping the folder onto my lap with casual cruelty.
My hands shook as I opened it. Divorce papers. The words blurred together through my tears, but the meaning was crystal clear. "Edgar, please. Don't do this. Not like this."
"You have no choice," he said, his voice flat and emotionless. "Sign them willingly, or I'll destroy what little reputation you have left. I'll make sure everyone knows what you tried to do to my children."
I looked up at him, searching desperately for any trace of the man I had loved. "What happened to you? What happened to us?"
For just a moment, something flickered in his eyes. Regret? Pain? But Ruby's grip on his arm tightened, and the moment passed.
"Us?" His laugh was bitter. "There was never an 'us,' Novah. There was you, living in a fantasy, and me, doing what was necessary for my family's future."
Each word was a knife to my heart. I thought of our wedding day, the promises we'd made, the nights we'd held each other and talked about our dreams. Had any of it been real?
"Sign the papers," Ruby said softly, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "It's better this way. For everyone."
My hand trembled as I reached for the pen Edgar held out to me. What choice did I have? I was alone, broken, with no allies and no strength left to fight.
I signed my name on each page, the ink sealing my fate with every stroke. When I finished, Edgar gathered the papers without ceremony.
"You have until tomorrow morning to collect your things," he said. "After that, security will escort you from the premises."
"Where am I supposed to go?" The question escaped before I could stop it, revealing the depth of my desperation.
Edgar's expression didn't change. "That's no longer my concern."
As they turned to leave, Ruby paused at the door, looking back at me with triumph gleaming in her eyes. "Oh, and Novah? The tower will be renamed Foster Tower by the end of the week. We're having a celebration. A new beginning for the Crawford family."
The door closed behind them with a soft click, leaving me alone with the ruins of my life.
Hughes Tower—my family's legacy, the building that bore my maiden name—would become Foster Tower. Even my history was being erased, rewritten to accommodate Ruby's narrative.
I pressed my face into my hands and wept for everything I had lost: my marriage, my home, my body's ability to bear children, and now my very identity. Edgar hadn't just divorced me—he had systematically destroyed every trace of our life together.
Two days later, I stood in the rain outside what had once been my home, watching as workers removed the Hughes Tower sign. My belongings sat in boxes on the sidewalk, everything I owned reduced to a pathetic pile of memories.
The penthouse windows glowed warm and golden above me. I could see shadows moving inside—Ruby, Edgar, the twins. The family that should have been mine, living the life that should have been mine.
I had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. The rain soaked through my coat as I loaded my boxes into the back of a taxi, my hands numb with cold and grief.
"Where to?" the driver asked.
I stared up at the building one last time, watching as the new Foster Tower sign was lifted into place. "I don't know," I whispered.
The taxi pulled away from the curb, carrying me into an uncertain future. In the side mirror, I watched Hughes Tower—Foster Tower now—disappear into the rain and darkness.
I was driving through the storm three hours later when the truck ran the red light. The last thing I remembered was the screech of brakes and the sound of shattering glass before everything went black.
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