CHAPTER 2 — The Table That Ended Their Illusion
CHAPTER 2 — The Table That Ended Their Illusion
"No."
The word barely rose above a whisper.
Yet it struck the room harder than Preston's hand ever had.
Nobody breathed.
I slowly reached for my wedding ring.
Not to remove it.
Just to remind myself why I still wore it.
Less than twenty-four hours.
That was how long this marriage had survived.
Preston's face darkened.
"You don't get to say no."
I looked at him steadily.
"I just did."
Eleanor pushed her chair back with deliberate elegance.
"This attitude is exactly why modern women ruin marriages."
Morgan laughed under her breath.
"I told you she wasn't wife material."
Richard still refused to look at me.
Not once.
Not even after his son had struck me.
The silence of decent people is louder than the cruelty of bad ones.
I finally understood that.
Without another word, I walked toward the center of the dining room.
Every expensive breakfast dish I had prepared sat untouched.
The spinach quiche.
Fresh fruit.
Bacon.
Coffee.
Everything I had cooked before sunrise for people who believed gratitude was beneath them.
Preston frowned.
"What are you doing?"
I placed both hands on the edge of the oak dining table.
Eleanor frowned.
"Maya..."
I met every pair of eyes in the room.
"You wanted a servant."
"You married a woman."
Then I flipped the table.
The heavy oak crashed onto the hardwood floor with an explosion of porcelain and shattered glass.
Coffee splashed across Eleanor's cream sweater.
Orange juice drenched Morgan's silk pajamas.
Bacon, eggs, fruit, and broken china scattered in every direction.
Eleanor screamed.
"My table!"
Morgan jumped backward.
"What is wrong with you?"
For the first time that morning...
Richard finally looked up.
His face had turned white.
Preston stared at me as if he had never seen me before.
His mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
I picked up my handbag from the kitchen counter.
"You've mistaken kindness for weakness."
Then I walked toward the front door.
Preston finally found his voice.
"If you leave..."
"Our marriage is over."
I paused with my hand on the doorknob.
Without turning around, I answered calmly.
"No."
"It ended the moment you raised your hand."
The front door closed behind me.
May you like
None of them realized...
The destruction had only begun.
