Chapter 3
Elena's POV
The delicate balsa wood frame is crushed. Glass fragments from the curtain wall are scattered across the floor. The main structure, the part I was proudest of, has snapped clean in half.
It looks like a corpse torn apart.
Miles stands in the middle of the wreckage, holding that toy Sophie gave him. He's using it to bash what's left of the base.
He hears me and turns around. There's this satisfied grin on his face.
"Mommy, Sophie said this thing takes up too much room. She told me to get rid of it so we can put her LEGO here."
Something snaps inside my head.
I walk toward him, shaking. The broken pieces crunch under my feet.
Three months of work. Three months of hoping I could prove I still matter.
Gone. Destroyed by my own son for her.
"Miles." My voice comes out flat, almost hollow. "Do you even know what this is?"
He shrugs. "Just a bunch of broken sticks." He kicks at a piece. "Dad says you're always messing with useless junk. He says you should dress nice like Sophie does." Miles grins. "And Sophie said if I clean this up, she'll take me to Disney."
Broken sticks.
Useless junk.
So that's what my dreams are worth to them. That's what I amount to in their eyes.
Nothing.
"Elena, oh my god, what happened here?"
Sophie's voice comes from the doorway, sugary sweet and fake.
She's wearing a white dress today, standing there with that innocent expression she's perfected.
"I just mentioned wanting to build some sets with Miles, I had no idea he'd be so sweet about it..." She trails off, her eyes sweeping over the destruction. For just a second, I catch the smirk. "You're not going to blame Miles, are you? He's just a child."
The look in her eyes says it all. The triumph she can't quite hide.
She did this on purpose.
She knows how much this competition means to me. She wants to destroy every exit I have, trap me here so I have nowhere to go but back to Adrian. So she can keep crushing me under her heel.
Miles runs to her and wraps his arms around her legs. He screams at me:
"Don't yell at Sophie! I broke it 'cause I wanted to! I hate your stupid sticks and I hate you!"
I watch them. This perfect little picture of mother and child.
And I start laughing.
The laughter gets louder. Tears stream down my face but I can't stop.
It's so absurd.
This family I fought so hard to keep together was rotten all along.
This son I treasured has become her weapon against me.
"Elena, you're... you're scaring me." Sophie takes a step back.
I stop laughing. Wipe my eyes. Look at both of them with nothing but cold emptiness.
"I don't blame him," I say quietly. "I don't blame you either."
Because you can't blame the dead.
And right now, the wife and mother version of Elena? She just died.
I turn and walk out of the room. I don't look back at the wreckage.
Let them have it. Let them have all of it.
This building already collapsed. There's no point trying to repair it.
Time to build something new.
I go back to the bedroom and pull out the divorce papers from the bottom of my drawer, the ones Adrian had drawn up months ago.
All those brutal terms. I give up everything—no claim to assets, no custody, maybe one visit a month if I'm lucky.
When I first read these, every word felt like a blade.
Now they look like freedom.
Adrian comes home that evening.
Sophie clearly got to him first. The moment he walks in, he's ready for a fight.
"Elena, you freaked out on Miles over some stupid models? Are you out of your mind?"
He throws his briefcase onto the couch and yanks at his tie.
There's only one lamp on in the living room.
I sit in the armchair with the divorce papers on the coffee table in front of me. A pen sits next to them. My signature is already dry on the last page.
My suitcase sits beside me.
Just one small carry-on. Seven years of marriage, and this is all I can take with me.
Adrian freezes when he sees the suitcase. He lets out a sharp, mocking laugh. "What, running away again? Where to this time? A hotel? You got money for that?"
He doesn't believe I'll actually leave.
To him, I'm a parasite who can't survive without a host.
"I want a divorce, Adrian."
I push the papers toward him.
He frowns and picks them up. When he sees my signature on the last page, something flickers in his eyes.
"You signed it?" He sounds almost surprised. Then the sneer returns. "You're walking away with nothing. You get that, right? Once you leave, you won't even have a place to sleep."
"I know exactly what I'm doing." I stand. "These seven years were a nightmare. Now I'm waking up."
"What about Miles?" His voice rises. This is his trump card. "You're giving up your son? The agreement says you lose custody. You want to see him? You'll need my permission!"
