Going Back to His First Love

My phone screen lit up with more than a dozen missed calls."Laurent?" I checked the call log and found they were all from his younger brother, Hunter Maddox.I let out a bitter laugh, realizing I had overestimated my place in Laurent's heart. In our three years of marriage, he had never phoned me that many times.Right on cue, the phone began to ring again. The moment I swiped to answer, Hunter's abrasive voice came through the receiver."Where are you?" he demanded. I've been looking for you all afternoon!"I rolled my eyes at his blatant lie. Given the timestamps, those 13 missed calls had all been made within a tight ten-minute window, meaning he hadn't spent a second searching for me before that.Laurent had likely ordered him to track me down in the morning, and Hunter, who had never shown me an ounce of respect, had only just remembered the chore now in the late afternoon.He was simply trying to cover his tracks with a frantic, last-minute phone bombardment. It was ironi

The contrast in how he addressed us was glaring.He used my full name with icy detachment, yet he spoke to Serena with a familiar warmth that anyone could decode in an instant.Serena's sudden concern was nothing more than a performance for his benefit, and Laurent bought every second of it. We were love rivals who had only met a handful of times; there was no way she'd actually care about me."Debbie!" Laurent snapped, his eyes flickering with anger.He was clearly annoyed that I, who had always been so obedient, was suddenly standing my ground and blowing up at him.Out of habit, my muscles tensed on autopilot, triggering a familiar wave of panic that urged me to apologize. I hated that muscle memory.Shaking off the urge to cave, I hardened my expression."I've signed the divorce agreement and left it on the table," I stated impatiently, sick of rehashing the same argument. "If you don't return it signed within a week, I'm filing for a contested divorce."To drive the point

Only then did I realize that Laurent wasn't averse to relationships at all. He just didn't want to be with me.Serena was his childhood sweetheart and his first love since they were 16. They had dated until they turned 20, when Serena was selected by a Paris dance troupe and chose to break up with him to pursue her career.Laurent hadn't tried to stop her, but everyone said he spent a full year in a miserable slump before his personality turned cold.That was until Serena returned when he was 23, and his life was filled with color once more. A smile would grace his icy face. The affection in his deep-set eyes was far more tender than what I'd seen.That was true gentleness. The version I had seen in the infirmary years ago was just a figment of my imagination.The three months after Serena's return felt like a dark cloud hanging over me, suffocating me until I finally gave up and stopped chasing him entirely.People offered superficial comfort while mocking me behind my back, cal

The Maddox family didn't care about my background at all. They simply arranged for us to get the marriage certificate, and Laurent never once asked about my life before him.After we tied the knot, his attitude was freezing. He hated having servants in the house, so I transformed myself from a kitchen novice into a master chef, cooking his meals and managing his household day after day just to earn a shred of warmth.Yet, I never fully trusted him. I bombarded him with daily texts and called to check on his whereabouts whenever I felt insecure. Every time he ignored me, I would threaten divorce, hoping he would coax me to stay.He never did. I would always swallow my pride and crawl back to him. I had been such a lovesick fool, genuinely believing time would spark love.But Serena's return shattered that delusion. I finally realized his coldness wasn't a personality trait; he simply didn't like me.Aronespire held nothing but heartbreak for me now. My plan was simple: finalize the

Honestly, that was the least of my concerns right now. I just wanted to escape this city and go to my hometown.I stared at Hunter, unyielding. The message in my eyes was simple: "Do exactly what I say."My flight was scheduled for nine o'clock tonight. If we left immediately, I could still make it.Hunter glared back at me for a long, tense moment before waving his hand in exasperated defeat. He stepped forward and gripped my arm to steady me. "Fine. I'll take you there right now."I looked absurd—hobbling on one leg with a crutch in one hand, while my other hand protectively shielded my belly.Hunter didn't say a word during the entire drive to the airport. Neither of us broke the silence until I had finished checking in at the counter.He looked down at me with a rare, complicated expression, his eyes flickering uncomfortably toward my midsection. "You're pregnant, and you're still leaving? Are you... planning on ever coming back?"It was probably the first time he had ever s