I slept for a long time.
Somewhere in the middle of it, my phone rang.
When I answered, I heard Sean’s voice on the other end.
“Megan.”
I smiled without meaning to.
Softly, almost sweetly, I called him by his old name.
“Sean… it’s snowing. I want cake.”
Before he could say anything, I rolled over and sank back into sleep.
I didn’t wake again until after midnight.
I got up, hungry, and walked into the living room looking for food.
That was when I saw him.
Sean was home.
That surprised me more than it should have.
He had already bought Chloe a luxury apartment.
They lived there together most of the time.
She cooked for him.
Waited for him.
Cheered him up.
He had been doing very well without me.
He hadn’t come back in so long that this house barely felt like his anymore.
He was leaning lazily against the floor-to-ceiling window, a cigarette between his lips, staring straight at me.
I lowered my head and walked past him.
He reached out and grabbed my wrist.
His voice was quiet.
“Why have you lost so much weight?”
For a second, his tone was so gentle that it almost sounded like love.
I stared at him.
Then I shook his hand off hard.
“Sean York, what the hell is wrong with you?”
He looked down at his empty palm.
His face cooled.
When I got to the dining table, I stopped.
There was a cake there.
Candles. Frosting. Carefully arranged fruit.
So that phone call hadn’t been a dream after all.
I had said I wanted cake.
He had actually bought one.
Was this supposed to mean something?
A peace offering?
A truce?
An apology?
I looked at the cake for a long time.
Then I picked it up and threw it into the trash.
Sean’s jaw tightened.
In two long steps, he was in front of me.
He slammed me back against the wall, one hand braced beside my head.
“Megan, are you screwing with me?”
I smiled.
“Yes.”
“I am.”
“If I say I want cake, you buy cake. You’re still the same as before, Sean.”
“Still that pathetic.”
I knew exactly where to stab.
Exactly which words would hurt him most.
And I said them on purpose.
His expression went completely cold.
He crushed out his cigarette, grabbed my wrist, and dragged me into the bedroom.
He threw me onto the bed.
He looked furious.
Completely out of control.
Like a beast that had been chained too long and finally snapped.
He yanked at my nightdress.
I panicked instantly and started hitting him with my fists.
“Don’t touch me!”
“You bastard, don’t touch me!”
“I think you’re filthy!”
He pinned my legs, stopping me from struggling.
Then he lowered his head and bit down hard at the side of my neck.
Pain shot through me.
My eyes filled with tears.
At my ear, he hissed, “Megan, will it kill you to just give in once?”
“Do you even know how long I waited for you to come coax me?”
“How many years I waited?”
“Do you know how happy I was when you said you wanted cake?”
“And then you made a fool out of me.”
He lifted his head.
His eyes were red.
I swallowed my tears and glared back at him.
The room was dark.
Neither of us spoke.
Neither of us was willing to lose first.
He lowered himself slowly, inch by inch, closer to my mouth—
And then his phone rang.
Chloe.
He paused.
Then he answered.
I could hear her crying through the receiver.
“Mr. York, did you really choose Megan over me?”
“You like me, don’t you?”
“I’m at a bar. I drank too much. Some guy keeps bothering me. I’m scared. Please come get me.”
Sean stared at me while she cried.
Then he smiled.
Cold. Sharp.
“Beg me to stay,” he said softly.
“Beg me, Megan.”
“As long as you ask, I won’t go.”
He had forgotten, maybe.
Or maybe he remembered and just didn’t care.
A long time ago, I had begged him too.
Sean, can we sit down and talk?
Sean, can we stop hurting each other?
Sean, can we please try to be good to each other again?
Can you be a little kinder to me?
Back then, he had looked at me and said only three words.
You’re not worthy.
Those words had stayed lodged in my heart for years.
So I reached up, grabbed his collar, and said to his face, one word at a time—
“You’re not worthy either.”
Sean went still.
For a moment, he looked almost amused.
Then he laughed at himself.
Turned the phone back to his ear.
And said to Chloe, “Wait for me. I’m coming.”
He left without looking back.
The next morning, pictures of Sean fighting another man over Chloe spread through every social circle in the city.
That was the first time his affair had become public.
Reporters were waiting outside the house by noon.