Chapter 12

Chapter 12

EVA'S POINT OF VIEW 

I heard the front door shut and my stomach dropped. Max was home. Crap. I've been dreading this all day.

Max walked in like nothing was wrong. Like he hadn't just shown off Sara to the whole damn world. Like I wasn't a total joke now.

"Max," I said. My voice came out all shaky.

He stopped and looked at me. His face was blank. Cold.

"Eva," he said, sounding bored.

That did it. I lost it.

I stormed up to him, shaking all over. "How could you?" I yelled. "How could you bring her into our house? Do you even know what you've done to me? To us?"

He raised an eyebrow like I was being dramatic. "What are you talking about?"

I laughed, but it sounded more like a bark. "Don't play dumb, Max. You took Sara out in public. Everyone saw you two together. Now I'm all over the news. 'Poor Eva, the wife he left behind.' Everyone's laughing at me!"

His eyes flashed, but not with guilt. He just looked pissed off.

"That's what this is about? What people are saying?" he sneered.

"No!" I yelled, getting right in his face. "It's about you! It's about how you keep humiliating me. You're letting them tear me apart while you show off with her. You're making me look like a total idiot!"

He sighed like I was giving him a headache. "Eva, I don't have time for this crap."

"You don't have time?" I shrieked. "Don't you care that your wife is a laughingstock because of you? Don't you care about me at all?"

He finally looked me in the eye. His voice was ice cold. "You think this is all about you, Eva? Everything's always about you, isn't it?"

I stumbled back. It felt like he'd slapped me. "How can you say that? After everything-"

"After everything?" he cut me off. "Let me remind you of something. You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for my grandfather. This marriage? It was just business. You've always known that."

The room started spinning. Business. That's all I was to him.

"Max," I choked out, "We're supposed to be partners. I'm your wife, not some... thing for your family to use. I didn't want this marriage either, but we're in it now. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

For a second, I thought I saw something soften in his face. But then it was gone.

He shook his head. "Eva, you need to know your place."

Those words hit me like a punch to the gut. I couldn't breathe.

"Know my place?" I whispered. "What's that supposed to mean? That I should just shut up and let you do whatever you want?"

Max's eyes went hard. He stepped closer, towering over me. "What it means is that you need to stop playing the victim. You knew exactly what this was when you married me. Don't act like you didn't."

I felt tears coming, but I was too angry to care. "I never pretended, Max. I just... I hoped maybe you'd see me as more than just some trophy wife. I thought maybe we could make this work."

"Make what work?" he snapped. "This isn't a real marriage, Eva. It never was."

Those words felt like a knife in my chest. "So what am I to you then?" I demanded. "Just some piece of property you own?"

"You're my wife on paper," he said coldly. "That's it. Nothing more."

I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. They streamed down my face. "How can you be so cruel?" I sobbed. "I've tried so hard to make this work. I've done everything you've asked. And this is how you treat me?"

For a second, I thought I saw a flicker of something in his eyes. Regret maybe? But then it was gone.

"I never asked you to try," he said. "I never wanted this marriage any more than you did."

"Then why did you agree to it?" I shouted. "Why didn't you fight it?"

He laughed bitterly. "You think I had a choice? My grandfather made it clear - marry you or lose everything. The company, the money, all of it."

I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. "So that's all I am to you? A business deal?"

He didn't answer. He didn't have to. His silence said it all.

I wiped at my eyes, suddenly feeling very tired. "What about Sara then?" I asked quietly. "Is she just business too?"

Something flashed in his eyes. Anger? Guilt? I couldn't tell.

"Leave Sara out of this," he growled.

"Why?" I demanded. "You brought her into our home. You paraded her around in public. You made her my problem."

"Sara has nothing to do with you," he snapped.

"She has everything to do with me!" I yelled. "She's the woman my husband is cheating on me with!"

Max's face went red with anger. "I told you to leave her out of this!"

"Or what?" I challenged. "What are you going to do, Max? Hit me?"

He recoiled like I'd slapped him. "I would never hit you," he said, his voice low and dangerous.

"No," I said bitterly. "You just emotionally abuse me instead. That's so much better."

We stood there, staring at each other. The air between us felt electric, charged with anger and hurt and things we'd left unsaid for too long.

Finally, Max spoke. His voice was tired. Defeated. "What do you want from me, Eva?"

I laughed, but there was no humor in it. "What do I want? I want a husband who gives a damn about me. I want a marriage that isn't a total sham. I want to stop feeling like I'm just some prop in your perfect life."

He shook his head. "I can't give you that. I never could."

Those words hit me like a physical blow. I stumbled back, suddenly needing to put space between us.

"Then what are we doing here, Max?" I whispered. "Why are we still pretending?"

He didn't answer. He just stood there, looking lost and angry and a million other things I couldn't name.

"We're done talking," he finally said. "I'm going to bed."

I watched him walk upstairs, leaving me alone in the dark hallway. His words kept echoing in my head. Know your place.

I sank down onto the bottom step, my legs too shaky to hold me up anymore. The house felt huge and empty around me.

"Screw you, Max," I whispered into the darkness. "I'm not just going to sit here and take this anymore."

But even as I said it, I wasn't sure what I could do. I was trapped in this marriage, in this life I never wanted.

I buried my face in my hands and let the tears come. They wouldn't stop. Everything I'd been holding back for months came pouring out.

I cried because I knew this was just the beginning. Things with Max were only going to get worse from here.

I don't know how long I sat there, sobbing in the dark. But finally, the tears stopped. I took a deep, shaky breath and stood up.

"Enough," I said out loud. "No more crying. No more feeling sorry for myself."

I wiped at my eyes, trying to hold back the tears, but they kept coming. I didn’t know how much longer I could do this pretend that everything was fine when it clearly wasn’t.

And yet, as I stood there in the darkness, one thing was clear, Max didn’t care. He never had.

I was on my own.