Chapter 1

I called Alexander Griffin a week after our fight, which resulted in us not speaking to each other. "Come home tonight. We need to talk."

I heard his breath hitch on the other end, followed by an impassive word, "Sure. I'll get off work early tonight."

I nodded and said nothing before hanging up. It was 5:30 pm, and Alexander wouldn't get off work for another hour.

After some thought, I left the suitcase I'd packed by the staircase and headed out on a grocery run. I figured I would cook tonight; it would be my last dinner with Alexander.

I had planned on going home to cool off after my recent fight with Alexander, but he beat me to it. It had been a week since he'd moved out to stay in his office.

Now that I had packed my suitcase, I could make a clean exit.

On my way to the supermarket, I ran into some of Alexander's friends. They dragged me to a bar against my protest and attempted to hold an intervention.

"Come on, Isabelle. We grew up with Sasha. She and Alex are just childhood friends. It's unreasonable for you to keep picking fights with Alex over this," one of his friends said.

"Yeah. If Alex had any feelings for her, they would be dating by now, and he wouldn't have married you in the first place. As a woman, you ought to be more open-minded about these things. You could lose Alex if you keep up this nonsense," another one pointed out warningly.

"We just think it's unfair for Alex to be treated this way. We watched Sasha grow up. It upsets her that you're picking fights with Alex like this, and he doesn't like seeing her upset. The cycle goes on, but to what end?"

I knew Alexander's friends were warning me in the guise of offering me sage advice. They wanted me to back off Sasha Whitmore and Alexander.

They had been smoking since we entered the lounge, and the air was thick with the intoxicating stench of tobacco. I kept to the furthest corner, putting distance between us to avoid breathing in all that second-hand smoke.

I didn't speak after they took turns disparaging me, but they weren't satisfied and insisted that I say something. But the last thing I wanted was to discuss my private matters with them, so I said coldly, "This is between me and Alexander. We'll take care of it, so don't worry about us."

With that, I stood up and made to leave.

However, Caleb Henderson stretched out his leg to keep me from going anywhere. He eyed me as if I were a pest and pointed out gravely, "You should be grateful, Isabelle. With your background, it's a miracle Alexander chose to be with you at all.

"Why do you go around throwing tantrums and seeking attention? Alexander might fall for it, but not us."