Felix looked deranged, staring at ire with rabid intensity. "I waited outside the hospital for three hours today. Then I waited outside your hotel for four more. I waited seven hours for you, and you were out with another man!"


    "Did you forget what today is?!"


    He sounded like a devoted husband catching a cheating wife.


    The sound of his voice instantly killed ire''s good mood.


    She frowned, bewildered by his sudden ambush. "What is today?"


    Felix flinched as if she had struck him.


    He shot a lethal re at Wilbur before turning back to her. "It''s our anniversary."


    ire blinked in confusion. Then, mirroring the exact tone of careless disdain he had always used with her, she replied, "Is that supposed to be a big deal? We''re adults. Who still celebrates things like that?"


    Hearing his own toxic words thrown back in his face felt like a knife to the gut.


    "But you used to love celebrating it," he gritted out.


    "Key words: used to. If you hadn''t ked on mest week, the ink on our divorce papers would be dry. Hell, I could be celebrating our one-week divorce anniversary right now."


    Her words were a brutal reality check, instantly extinguishing his fiery indignation.


    In its ce, a dark, suffocating obsession took root.


    Desperate, he lunged forward, wrapping a vice grip around her wrist. "Come home with me."


    ire fought back instantly. "That''s not my home!"


    "You used to say it was! You decorated it! You nted those sulents! If you don''te water them, they''re going to die! And the closet-"


    ire tried to wrench her arm free.


    His grip was iron-d, leaving angry red marks on her skin.


    Furious, she cut him off. "So what? Everything has an expiration date. When something expires, you throw it in the trash."


    The metaphor sliced cleanly through his chest, leaving him bleeding out.


    Wilbur had seen enough. He stepped forward, effortlessly prying Felix''s fingers off ire''s wrist.


    "Use your words. Keep your hands to yourself," Wilbur warned coldly.


    Felix snapped like a cornered animal. She is my wife! This between us. Stay the hell


    belongs to swno


    Wilbur''s eyes darkened, a dangerous, mocking smirk ying on his lips.


    He gently pulled ire behind him,


    shielding herpletely. "That''sét


    II


    fine,


    Wilbur said


    "She


    won''t be your wife for much longer


    ire was utterly sick of Felix''s erratic stalking and endless broken promises.


    Her patience waspletely gone. "If you don''t back off right now, I''m calling the cops!"


    Her voice was t and dead serious, sending a chill straight down Felix''s spine.


    He knew she meant it.


    Felix wasn''t afraid of the police, but he was terrified of pushing her past the point of no return.


    He backed down.


    "Go inside," Wilbur told ire softly. "Get some rest."


    ire nodded at Wilbur, didn''t spare Felix a single nce, and marched straight into the hotel.


    That night, ire couldn''t sleep.


    Felix had thoroughly ruined her peace of mind.


    Frustrated, she grabbed her phone and fired off a massive text to Noreen.


    Best friends were the ultimate emotional trash cans, after all.


    Even though Noreen was probably ire needed to vent about


    the psycho she was trying


    divorce.


    After drafting an entire essay tearing Felix to shreds, she finally felt lighter.


    Unsurprisingly, Noreen didn''t reply.


    But getting it out of her system was enough, and ire soon drifted off to sleep.