Augustus sat at his desk, his eyes fixed on the window, though he wasn’t really looking at anything. The view of the bustling city below seemed blurred, distant—just like everything else in his life at the moment. His head rested in his hand, his fingers pressing into his temples as if to stop the relentless pounding in his skull. His heart felt heavier than it ever had before. The divorce papers, still sprawled out on his desk, seemed to taunt him, each word on the page a cruel reminder of how much he’d lost.

For the first time in years, Augustus didn’t know what to do. His confidence, the very thing that had defined him, had evaporated. His world, his carefully curated life, was unraveling, and it was all his fault. He couldn’t stop replaying the moment in Evelyn’s office, the look on her face when she had calmly told him to leave, the sound of her voice as she said Justin’s name with that casual ease. It haunted him. He felt like a stranger in his own life.

He hadn’t even heard the door open, hadn’t noticed Evelyn step into his office until her voice cut through his thoughts like a blade.

“What the hell was that back there?” she snapped, her voice sharp and filled with frustration.

Augustus blinked, his head jerking toward her as if waking from a trance. She stood there in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest, her expression a mixture of annoyance and exasperation. She was still so beautiful, even when she was angry. Her presence filled the room, but her tone carried an air of finality that made his chest tighten.

“I’m talking to you, Augustus,” she continued, stepping farther into the room. “You stormed into my office, interrupted a perfectly professional meeting, and made a complete fool of yourself. What were you thinking?”

He didn’t respond. He just stared at her, his eyes dark and unreadable. His silence only seemed to infuriate her more.

“This is your company,” she went on, her voice rising. “Do you have any idea how unprofessional that was? People are going to talk, and I can’t—”

“Did you really sign the papers?” Augustus interrupted, his voice low but steady, cutting through her words.

Evelyn froze mid-sentence, her breath catching in her throat. The shift in his tone startled her. She hadn’t expected him to ask that—not like this, not with such raw vulnerability laced into his words. For a moment, she didn’t know what to say. She stared at him, her heart pounding in her chest, but she forced herself to maintain her composure.

“Yes,” she said finally, her voice quieter now but firm. “I signed them.”

Augustus’s jaw tightened, and he looked away, his gaze falling to the papers on his desk. He picked them up, his fingers gripping the edges tightly as if he could somehow crush the reality they represented. His voice was almost a whisper when he spoke again.

“Why?” he asked, his tone laced with pain, his eyes still fixed on the papers. “Why, Evelyn? Why are you doing this?”

Evelyn felt a surge of anger rise in her chest at his question. She had been holding everything in for so long—her frustration, her exhaustion, her pain—but now, hearing him ask why as if he didn’t know, as if he hadn’t pushed her to this point, it was too much. She couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“Why?” she repeated, her voice trembling slightly as she stepped closer to his desk. “You’re really asking me why, Augustus? After everything?”

He looked up at her then, his eyes meeting hers, but she didn’t give him a chance to speak. She let it all out, the words tumbling from her lips in a rush of pent-up emotion.

“You’ve been impossible to deal with,” she said, her voice rising with every word. “You behave any which way you want, as if I’m just...just some punching bag for you to take your anger out on. I try to help you, to be there for you, to do something—anything—to make you happy, but no. You twist it all around and make it look like I’m doing it for some selfish reason, like I’m trying to manipulate you. Do you have any idea how much that hurt? Do you?”

Her voice cracked, but she pressed on, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I didn’t ask for this marriage, Augustus. Neither of us did. But I tried. I really tried. And all you’ve done is push me away, over and over again. You’ve treated me like I’m some kind of replacement, a placeholder for someone else. Well, guess what? I’m not. I’m not her, and I never will be. And I can’t—I won’t—keep putting myself through this. I’m exhausted. Do you understand that? I’m exhausted. And this—this is what you wanted anyway, isn’t it? For me to stay out of your life? Fine. That’s what I’m giving you.”

She stopped then, breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling as she glared at him, her eyes filled with a mixture of anger and pain. Her words hung in the air between them, sharp and cutting, and Augustus felt each one like a blow to his chest.

He stared at her, too stunned to speak. He had known he had hurt her, but hearing her say it out loud—hearing the depth of her pain—was like a slap to the face. He wanted to say something, anything, but the words wouldn’t come.

“I’m sorry,” he said finally, his voice barely above a whisper. “Evelyn, I’m...I’m so sorry.”

She scoffed, shaking her head as she turned away from him. “Sorry doesn’t fix this, Augustus. Sorry doesn’t erase everything you’ve done.”

“I know,” he said quickly, standing up from his chair. “I know it doesn’t. But please, Evelyn, just...give me a chance. Let me fix this.”

She turned back to him, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. “Why?” she demanded, her voice filled with disbelief. “Why should I? Why do you even care? This marriage was nothing but a forced arrangement. Why do you suddenly want to fix it?”

Augustus hesitated for a moment, his throat tightening as he searched for the right words. He looked at her, really looked at her, and for the first time, he let himself be completely honest.

“Because I started wanting you,” he said, his voice raw with emotion. “I don’t know when it happened, or how, but I started wanting you in my life, Evelyn. I started wanting to see you every day, to hear your voice, to feel your presence. And now that you’re gone, it’s like there’s this...this hole in my chest, and I can’t breathe. I don’t know what this feeling is. I don’t know, but I know that I don’t want to lose you. I can’t lose you. I will change, give me 6 months, if it doesn't work out, you're free to live. I want to make this marriage work and I'll give it my all. Give me a chance, Evelyn.”

Evelyn’s breath caught in her throat at his words. She felt something stir inside her, something she hadn’t expected. But she didn’t let it show. She couldn’t. Not yet.

“I need time,” she said finally, her voice quiet but firm. “I need time to think about this. Until then, I’m staying with Hazel.”

Augustus nodded slowly, his heart sinking but understanding her need for space. “Take all the time you need,” he said softly. “But please don’t give up on us.”

Without another word, Evelyn turned and walked out of his office, leaving him standing there alone, the weight of her words and his own filling the silence.