Chapter 17
After leaving the hospital, Leonard felt like a ghost of himself-numb, disoriented, drifting through each day
in a daze.
He stopped showing up at the base. Zach ran back and forth trying to handle work matters, nearly wearing
out the soles of his boots.
“Captain, this can’t go on. People are starting to talk,” Zach said with a troubled expression, eyes fixed on the floor. “They’re considering filing a formal report against you.’
Leonard didn’t even look up. His entire body reeked of alcohol.
“Report me for what?” he asked flatly.
Zach hesitated, then said in a low voice, “They’re saying your personal life is… complicated. And that Lillian’s son is your illegitimate child.”
The air went still.
Leonard’s eyes finally lifted, dark and unreadable.
Zach immediately regretted saying anything. “Sir, I’m not saying I believe it-I just thought you should know.”
Leonard waved him off. “I got it. You can go.”
Once Zach left, the house fell into silence again.
Leonard ended up taking a long leave of absence. He stayed home for days on end, doing nothing.
One afternoon, as he stood up to pour himself a glass of water, his eyes landed on the photo frame sitting on the living room shelf. Something felt… off.
It was supposed to be a photo from his third wedding anniversary with Evelyn. In the original picture, she’d wornwedding dress, gazing up at him with a quiet smile.
But now, under the same glass, the face had changed.
Lillian Snow was smiling in Evelyn’s place-smug, radiant, with that signature cocky tilt to her lips.
Same angle. Same pose. But an entirely different energy-one that felt like a slap in the face.
Leonard touched the cool glass, and a chill ran through his spine.
This photo had been sitting there for years. No one touched it except Evelyn.
Had she changed it herself?
He slowly picked up the frame. It was one of those custom-made ones Evelyn had specially ordered. She’d treasured it-had to practically beg him to go to the photography studio that day.
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And now… she’d replaced it with this.
His chest tightened with an emotion he didn’t quite recognize. Anger? Sadness?
Was this her way of telling him she was done? That she was stepping aside, giving him and Lillian her
blessing?
He set the frame down-face-down-on the coffee table. The dull thud echoed in the quiet room.
He knew he should be happy. Lillian was everything he used to think he wanted-bold, passionate, easy to
read.
But in this moment, Leonard felt absolutely no joy.
Not even a flicker.
And he couldn’t explain why.
Not until the full truth came crashing down-that Lillian had lied. That she’d framed Evelyn. That everything
had been a careful manipulation.
It was like waking up from a long, twisted dream. And realizing everything he once believed had been an
illusion.
“Blind fool,” Leonard muttered to himself.
His hand closed around the photo frame again.
He stood. Drew back his arm-and smashed the frame straight into the trash can.
Glass shattered with a sharp crack. The sound echoed like a gunshot in the quiet night.
On the nightstand, the calendar Evelyn had carefully picked out still stood there, warm and neat. Still
perfectly in place.
Leonard sat on the edge of the bed. The mattress dipped slightly under his weight.
The left side sagged more than the right-Evelyn’s side. She’d slept there for years.
He could almost still smell her on the pillowcase.
But she was gone now.
He remembered a night, not long ago, when she’d been reading the paper before bed. Out of the blue, she’d looked up and asked softly, “Would you go with me to the hospital sometime?”
He’d been neck-deep in paperwork and barely glanced up. “We’ll see.”
She hadn’t said another word.
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At the time, he thought she’d fallen asleep. But after a long pause, he heard her whisper, “Okay.”
She must’ve been disappointed.
She never brought it up again.
Leonard had known all along that Evelyn had been going in for tests regularly. But what she didn’t know- what he’d hidden from her-was that he’d already undergone a vasectomy.
He hadn’t even told her.
The guilt dug its claws deeper.
Outside, dawn began to break. The sky brightened into a pale, washed-out blue. Leonard sat with his back
against the headboard, chain-smoking.
The ashtray was overflowing. The room stank of nicotine, but he didn’t notice.
He just stared out the window.
When he finally woke up again, sunlight was pouring through the gaps in the curtains.
He shot upright, panic twisting in his gut.
Evelyn was gone.
And the house felt hollow.
The balcony, once filled with spring blooms she’d carefully tended, now looked barren. A few withered leaves
lay curled and forgotten.
He grabbed his phone, knuckles turning Lillian.
Then he remembered.
He ran to the study.
In the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet-Evelyn had always said that’s where important things should go.
She’d laughed the day she filed their marriage certificate, patting the drawer like it was a vault.
“This way, it’ll always be safe.”
He yanked the drawer open.
There it was-a red booklet.
His heart pounded.
He pulled it out-only to feel the blood drain from his face.
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It was too thin.
His fingers trembled as he flipped it over.
Divorce Certificate.
The words were stamped in gold. But they burned like fire in his palm.
For a moment, Leonard couldn’t breathe.
His knees buckled, and he stumbled backward, slamming into the closet door behind him.
It wasn’t their marriage certificate.
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