บททั้งหมดของ The wife I forgot to love: บทที่ 1 - บทที่ 10

Helena could not stop looking at the photo.She knew she should put the phone down. She knew standing in her own kitchen at eight in the evening staring at a stranger's face on a screen was not going to change anything or explain anything or make the tightness in her chest go anywhere useful.She looked anyway.Camila Calloway was the kind of beautiful that didn't need to try. Not the kind that came from effort and early mornings and the right lighting. The kind that just existed, easy and uncomplicated, like it had never once been a question. Dark hair. Strong face. The relaxed posture of a woman completely comfortable in whatever room she walked into.And Damian...Helena zoomed in slowly on his face.She had been looking at that face across a dinner table for two years. She knew every version of it. The distracted one he wore when work was loud in his head. The tired one that settled in around the eyes on Thursday nights. The almost-smile he gave her when she said something that ca

Helena shook her hand.That was the thing she would think about later. Lying in the dark. Replaying it. Of all the things she could have done in that moment, she shook Camila Calloway’s hand like they were meeting at a networking event and everything was perfectly fine.“Helena.” She said her own name back like a confirmation. Kept her voice even. Kept her face even. Kept everything even. “Nice to meet you.”Camila’s hand was warm. Firm handshake. The kind that said she’d introduced herself to a lot of important people and knew exactly how to do it. She held the shake one second longer than necessary and then let go.“I’ve been hoping we’d run into each other,” Camila said. “Damian talks about you.”Helena looked at her husband.Damian had stood up from the table. He was doing that thing where his face was very still and very careful, which on another day she might have mistaken for calm. She knew better now. That stillness was him calculating. Figuring out what this moment needed fro

Cassidy went silent for exactly one second. Then she said a word. One word. The kind that came from a place so deep and so furious that Helena had never once heard it leave her sister's mouth in thirty years. It landed in Helena's ear and somehow that single word, more than the phone call and the rooftop photo and the hand across the restaurant table, was the thing that finally made Helena's eyes sting. "I know," Helena said quietly. "She went into his phone," Cassidy said. Her voice had gone to that flat, dangerous place. "She went into your husband's phone, found your number and called you. At work. To tell you about their history." "Yes." "And she said it like she was doing you a favor." "Yes." A long pause. Helena could hear Cassidy breathing on the other end. "What are you going to do?" Cassidy asked. "I'm going home," Helena said. "And I'm going to talk to my husband." "Helena, " "Not to fall apart. Not to beg." Her voice was very steady. "I'm going to look him in the

The lawyer's office was on the fourteenth floor of a building downtown that looked like it had been designed to make people feel small. Helena arrived five minutes early. She sat in the waiting area with her coat in her lap and her back straight and her hands folded and she looked at the city through the floor to ceiling window and thought about nothing in particular. That was something she had learned in the last few days. How to think about nothing. It was harder than it sounded but she was getting better at it. Damian arrived two minutes later. He saw her the moment he walked in. She watched him adjust. Watched him decide what his face was going to do. He chose neutral. She respected that. Helena. He said. Damian. She said. They sat on opposite sides of the waiting area until the lawyer called them in. The room was the kind of quiet that had carpet and heavy furniture and no windows. The lawyer said things. Helena listened and said yes in the right places and kept her

Helena picked up on the fourth ring.She almost did not."Helena." A pause. Like he was relieved she answered and nervous about it at the same time. "It is Marcus. Damian's Marcus. I know. I know this is weird. Just." Another pause. "Please don't hang up."Cassidy had gone very still across the counter.Helena turned toward the window. "Marcus.""Yeah." He exhaled. "Hi. I have been sitting with my phone for about forty minutes trying to figure out how to start this and I still do not have a good answer so I am just going to say it." A beat. "I am sorry, Helena. For not calling sooner. For staying quiet through all of it. I kept telling myself it was not my place and I think I was just being a coward."Helena said nothing."I watched what happened," Marcus said. "I was right there. I saw how he was treating you those last few months and I did not say anything to him the way I should have and I definitely did not say anything to you and that was wrong." His voice was genuine. A little r