Chapter Three

Rosalie's POV

Silas didn't touch the papers on his desk. Instead, he laughed, like he'd finally seen through my little game.

"Okay, that's enough of the act. I don't have the patience to keep playing along."

"You're only making this whole scene because you can't stand Tessa. Just because you're petty doesn't mean everyone else is."

He looked down and smoothed out the sleeve of his coat where I'd wrinkled it. His tone softened, like he was giving a little ground.

"Tomorrow I'll have the hospital bring in their best doctors to look at your mother. Tessa will send you the codes for the closet and the safe later. I'll get you a new keycard too."

"From now on, your monthly allowance comes straight out of my account. You won't have to go through Tessa anymore."

After five years as his wife, I knew him too well.

For Silas Crane, saying that much was the biggest concession he'd ever make. The old me would have taken the win and gone to make him a cup of coffee.

But I was just too tired. Too tired to keep squeezing myself into a marriage with three people in it.

Maybe from the very start, I was the one who never fit.

He'd promised me all that, and he didn't say a single word about what Tessa had done.

That whole approval system started with one comment at a family dinner. Tessa had smiled and said, "The Donna should learn how to manage money too." He'd agreed on the spot.

Now he was dropping it like it was nothing. He could let it go that easily because it had never mattered to him in the first place.

If I said yes and stayed, Tessa would be right back at his side soon enough. She'd be the one deciding what I could wear and how much I could spend.

"I don't want anything. Just sign."

The smile on Silas's face finally slipped.

It probably just hit him that I wasn't bargaining. He'd handed me a way out, and I wouldn't take it. I was still set on leaving.

His irritation flared into anger.

"Rosalie, you signed the prenup yourself. You divorce me, you don't get a single cent!"

"And what about your mother? Without me, who are you going to count on? That dad of yours with his brand-new family?"

Of course I couldn't count on him.

If my dad hadn't walked out on Mom and left me with nowhere to turn, I never would have agreed to marry into the Crane family.

Silas and I were never from the same world. These five years were borrowed, and now I was just giving them back.

I bent down, zipped the bag shut again, and grabbed it. "Suit yourself."

Silas froze.

Before, all he had to do was bring up Mom, and I'd swallow whatever hurt I was feeling. He couldn't figure out why it wasn't working today.

But asking me to stay? He couldn't bring himself to do that.

He just stood in the closet doorway without a word and watched me carry the bag downstairs.

It wasn't until I turned the knob on the front door that his chest suddenly felt hollow. He almost called out my name.

But then again, Mom was still in the Crane hospital. Without the doctors he'd arranged, how long could I really hold out?

He remembered what Tessa had said in the car earlier. She'd watched his calls go unanswered one after another, and her voice had been so gentle.

"The Donna's just bored out of her mind at home. She wants some attention."

"I've seen plenty of spoiled wives like her. The more you coddle her, the worse she gets."

"Leave her alone for a few days and she'll come back on her own, bag and all. She might even apologize to you first."

Once he looked at it that way, he felt a lot better.

But he still couldn't shake the irritation. Out of habit, he reached into his pocket for a cigarette. After digging around for a while, all he came up with was a throat lozenge.

His throat had bothered him ever since he quit smoking. I'd tried honey, then herbal tea, then whatever else I could think of. Finally, I found this brand of lozenges.

Then I tucked a few into the pocket of every coat he owned.

Silas thought I wasn't completely useless after all.

When I came back, he'd make sure I apologized properly. He'd make sure I never dared to threaten him with divorce again.

With that, the little bit of panic he felt was quickly pushed back down.