Some people think love is about holding on, no matter what. But sometimes, the real story begins the moment you stop fighting for someone who was never truly yours to begin with.
At my boyfriend’s poorest moment, I suddenly broke up with him.
Later, he became a Don in the Mafia and married me by any means necessary.
Everyone said he loved me to the bone.
But every night, he brought different women home, deliberately trying to provoke me.
I asked no questions, shed no tears, and never disturbed his trysts with his mistresses.
He went crazy with rage instead, kissing me fiercely and demanding, “Why aren’t you jealous?”
What he didn’t know was that I was sick.
While he was busy punishing me day after day, I was quietly counting how many days I had left to live.
In the third year of my marriage to Sean York, he started keeping a young college girl by his side.
Her name was Chloe Reed.
Fresh-faced. Sweet-looking. Soft voice. Bright eyes.
Exactly the kind of girl Sean used to like.
He kept her around for more than half a year.
Other than me, she was the woman who lasted the longest.
People around me started warning me.
“Be careful. Sean looks different with this one.”
“He might actually mean it this time.”
The first time I met Chloe was on my birthday.
That morning, I’d started getting nosebleeds again.
At the hospital, after another round of tests, the doctor looked at me with concern and said, “You’ll probably make it to next spring. Maybe.”
I nodded.
Quietly.
“It’s okay,” I told him. “I’m not afraid of dying. I’m just a little afraid of pain.”
Then I asked him about a very expensive medication.
The kind that wouldn’t save me, but might make the end easier.
He told me the price.
I checked my bank balance.
It wasn’t enough.
So I went to Sean’s company.
I hadn’t gone there in a long time.
Back then, whenever I showed up, no matter how busy he was, he would come out to see me first.
He used to tell everyone I was the most important person in his life.
That day, he was in a meeting.
So I sat outside and waited.
Chloe was there too.
She had just graduated and was now working as his secretary.
She kept staring at me.
Then she leaned toward the other employees and whispered loudly enough for me to hear.
“So that’s the boss’s wife?”
“She looks so plain… almost like she’s unwell.”
“You all said I looked like her. How? I’m way prettier.”
Her words weren’t wrong.
Reflected in the polished glass, I looked terrible.
No makeup.
Swallowed inside a bulky winter coat.
Thin. Pale. Worn out.
Like someone already halfway gone.
One of the employees tugged on Chloe’s sleeve and murmured, “That’s only because she didn’t dress up today. If she actually tried, ten of you together still wouldn’t outshine her.”
“And don’t get too comfortable just because the boss spoils you. You have no idea how much he cares about his wife.”
“If you make Mrs. York unhappy, the boss will ruin you.”
I heard all of it.
Chloe rolled her eyes.
Then she came over with a cup of tea and set it in front of me with a sweet little smile.
“Megan,” she said softly, “why would Mr. York make you wait this long? That’s so strange.”
“Whenever I look for him, no matter how busy he is, he always makes time for me first.”
“I thought maybe he treated every woman so gently.”
She smiled when she spoke.
The way she curved her lips looked painfully familiar.
Like a younger version of me.
And in that instant, I understood.
Sean really was different with her.
He took her shopping. Ate with her. Watched movies with her.
He gave her money.
And something worse than money.
He gave her tenderness.
I smiled faintly and looked at her.
“If you’re that important to him, then why would he let you stay the hidden woman?”
“You should talk him into divorcing me and marrying you already.”
Her expression changed instantly.
She lowered her voice, her tone sharp now.
“The unloved one is the outsider.”
“You’re the extra one.”
“You only got to him a few years before I did. But now? You’re old, tired, and unwell. What exactly are you using to compete with me?”
I didn’t answer.
I had long ago promised myself something.
I would never get angry for Sean York again.
Never cry because of him again.
And definitely never fight another woman over a man like him.
He wasn’t worth it.