Only After Divorce, He Realized I Was His World

###Chapter 1

“Does your offer still count? I’ve decided to join Centineo Law Firm.”

I stood quietly before the window, my fingers absentmindedly rubbing against the fabric of a neatly ironed men’s shirt.

“If you’re certain, I can grant you the title of partner. But what about Cody Partridge? Twentyfive years ago, you refused the lucrative offer of a New York law firm for his sake. And your children, don’t they oppose you leaving for abroad?”

At his calm inquiry through the headset, I gave a low, mocking laugh.

“Cody doesn’t care where I end up.”

If I disappeared, would Cody feel even the slightest sadness? No, I could already see the relief shining in his smile.

That night at the last family gathering, when I placed the divorce papers in front of him, he didn’t so much as lift his eyes. He signed immediately, then drove off into the endless darkness.

It was then I finally understood: no matter how much youth I had wasted, no matter how much I had sacrificed, until the day I died, I could never melt a heart that had never belonged to me.

The children I had raised with my own hands could hardly wait for me to step down as his wife and hand it to the woman they called Aunt.

There was a pause, then the calm male voice came again through. “Then, in ten days, at the law firm’s anniversary banquet, you may attend.”

Ten days later, the exact day the divorce agreement would come into effect.

“Fine. I will attend on time.”

The evening sun slanted across the bedroom, trapping my shadow on the floor, long and unmoving.

“Attend? Where exactly are you going?”

The cold question struck from behind. Turning, I saw Cody standing at the door, suspicion written in his gaze.

Even at fifty, he remained tall, handsome, his figure carrying an air of unshakable dominance.

“Ester’s kindergarten will hold an event soon, and our son asked me to attend in his place.”

I lifted my lips into a faint smile, quickly ended the call, picked up Cody’s suit jacket, and knelt to change his shoes, my movements so familiar, they felt like the silent routine of a lifetime.

The last trace of evening glow disappeared, and the room fell into heavy silence.

Cody loosened his tie and opened his mouth a few times before finally speaking. “By the way, what were those papers you asked me to sign?”

“It was your 50th birthday gift.”

Ten days later, you realized it was the greatest surprise I had given you, freeing me to a new future, and freeing you to half a lifetime of release.

1

Hearing my words, Cody gave a faint nod. “Then I look forward to unwrapping the gift.”

“Okay.”

Since the night he signed the divorce papers, Cody had not returned home for ten days. When he saw me lower my head to massage his feet, a flicker of guilt passed through his eyes, and the stern lines of his brows softened.

“Karina, the company has been too busy lately. Tonight, I’ll stay with you…”

His long arms pulled me into his embrace, his warm breath wrapping around me in an instant.

I knew it was a lie; these days, he had been drowning in another woman’s tenderness, yet when his lips brushed against my neck, the hand that wanted to push him away only clutched his shirt tighter, unwilling to let go of that fleeting warmth.

At that moment, a distinct ringtone suddenly cut through the air.

It was the exclusive tone Cody had set for my cousin, Freya Dalton, who was five years older than I was.

“Don’t answer.” My pleading gaze met his, but the warmth of his embrace vanished in an instant.

My heart turned cold.

“Cody, my angina is acting up again… I feel so terrible…”

By mistake, Cody had pressed the speakerphone, and Freya’s frail voice spilled into the room.

His grip tightened around the phone as he cursed impatiently. “Do you know what time it is?! If you’re sick, then go to the hospital. I told you, don’t disturb my life again.”

A heavy silence followed before Freya’s choked voice returned, laced with tears. “Cody, I know you hate me for leaving you back then. If you don’t want to see me, then I’ll go and die.”

“Don’t you dare! Freya!”

The words burst from his teeth, his voice raw and unfamiliar. For twenty years, since taking charge of the family, Cody had always been calm, composed, untouchable. Never once had I seen him lose control like this, for anyone.

“Stay home and behave. I’m coming over right now.”

He ended the call in a rush, grabbed his jacket, and bolted for the door.

Only when he reached the stairway did he pause, turning back with a flicker of guilt in his eyes. “Freya’s illness can’t be delayed. I’ll take her to the hospital first.”

Before his words had even faded, he was already gone around the corner.

I stood frozen, staring into the thickening night, until tears finally slipped free, mingling with the hollow sound of my silent laughter.

Twentyfive years ago, the second young master of the family, Cody, had announced his engagement. But the very next day, his fiancée Freya vanished without a trace.

Cody went mad, pouring every resource into searching for her. A month later, he learned Freya had fled to South Africa in pursuit of freedom.

That night, drunk and reckless, he barged into my home, pressing me hard against the wall.

“Didn’t you want to marry me? Then marry me tomorrow!”

Even knowing he married me only to spite Freya, when his lips touched mine, I, who had secretly loved him since childhood, was still overjoyed.

I believed that as long as I gave him my true heart, one day Cody would finally fall in love with me.

So, I gave up my career and became a housewife who went unnoticed.

He disliked strangers in the house, so I dismissed the servants and shouldered every chore myself.

He was particular about food, so I rose early each day to prepare his breakfast.

When he returned drunk from social gatherings, even on stormy nights, I went out personally to bring him home.

I managed everything for him and raised our two children.

Gradually, he began to hold me gently as we watched the stars from the terrace. On special days, he would choose gifts with care. In winter, he pressed his warmth against my cold hands and feet.

From my twentyfourth year until I was fortynine, I thought that was happiness.

But just over two months ago, Freya returned from South Africa. Cody grew furious, restless, yet soon enough, he returned to her side.

A stolen love, in the end, was nothing but a fleeting dream.

I picked up my phone and booked a plane ticket for ten days later.

###Chapter 2

By morning, Cody still had not come home. It wasn’t until the afternoon that his call arrived.

“A lastminute business trip. I won’t be back for the next two days. What gift do you want? I’ll bring it for you.”

At the same time, a message flashed across the tablet on the coffee table.

[I didn’t expect that after so many years, Cody still only has me in his heart. Last night he almost broke my waist. Didn’t you satisfy him at all? Do you need a cousin to teach you a few skills?]

With a flick of my finger, the photos Freya sent filled the screen.

By the pool at Oregon Suites, her makeup was flawless, her swimsuit clung to fiery curves, her wheatcolored skin glowing with sultry allure.

In each photo, a man’s broad back or slender hands appeared, never fully shown, but unmistakable.

My gaze drifted instinctively to the mirror, reflecting a woman, thin, worn, a shell of herself. My hands, once delicate, were rough and calloused from twentyfive years of housework.

She was my cousin, yet looked like a younger sister, ten years younger. Of course, he would choose her. They were the perfect match.

I lowered my eyes and said faintly into the phone, “You go on, I don’t want anything.”

After hanging up, I pulled out the long, customized dress I had buried away for years.

My friend Anne Raven knew I was about to leave, so she invited me to meet at a hot spring club.

I applied lipstick for the first time in so long, when behind me came a child’s mocking voice. “Wow, Grandma, you look like a clown in the circus!”

Ester, holding a doll, jumped onto the sofa.

At the sound, my son Carlos Partridge came out, his glance sharp as his words.“Mom, that dress looks ridiculous on you. At your age, what are you dressing up for?”

My hand, frozen in midadjustment of the dress, trembled, and my heart felt as though cut by a blade.

Then a dirty baseball uniform was thrown at my feet.

“The community game is the day after tomorrow. I need to wear this. Hurry and wash it today.”

I stood there coldly while he sat on the sofa, flipping through a magazine and snorting through his nose.

“I know you envy Aunt Freya, but no matter how you dress up, you’re nothing more than a pale imitation. If you want to win Dad’s heart, then just do your duties well. Don’t humiliate yourself.”

A sharp bitterness rose in my chest. They all knew of Freya’s secret with their father. Not only did they not care, they welcomed it. They even hoped she would take my place, stepping into their socalled happy family.

And I, trapped in that villa like a prisoner, was nothing more than a lowly maid, a ghost of a presence, serving them endlessly until death claimed me.

But twentyfive years had been more than enough.

“I don’t have time. Wash it yourself.”

I threw the baseball uniform back without hesitation, ignoring Carlos’s stunned look, then slung my bag over my shoulder and left.

As soon as I entered the hot spring club where I was to meet Anne, my gaze unexpectedly landed on Freya across the way.

She was dead drunk, collapsed against the arms of a young blond man, her lips curving into a teasing smile as she hooked her arms around his neck.

“Hi, handsome, do you have a girlfriend?”

A beautiful woman, still glowing with charm, flinging herself at him, the man blushed at once.

And the one who was supposed to be on a business trip, Cody, appeared with a face like thunder, dragging Freya out of the man’s arms.

“Freya, are you insane? Do you even know what you’re doing?”

Freya shoved him off, her drunken eyes reddened as she roared, “Who are you to me, Cody? Whoever I want to be with, what business is it of yours?”

When she stumbled forward, nearly leaving with another man, Cody didn’t think; he just pulled her back into his embrace.

His voice, ragged and low, spilled out as he cried her name again and again, “Freya… what the hell do you want me to do?”

Freya pushed against him, sobbing bitterly. “You told me to go; you were the one who cast me aside! Don’t interfere with me now!”

“I will!” Cody’s embrace only grew firmer, his eyes brimming with pain. “I want no one but you!”

The scene blurred before my eyes, my body trembling helplessly like a leaf in the wind.

###Chapter 3

Beside me, Anne ground her teeth, spitting out, “Damn it, I’ll help you kill that pair of dogs!”

“Forget it…”

I swallowed the tearing pain in my chest, forcing a bitter smile as I caught her fist. “Very soon, I won’t have anything to do with him anymore.”

While we soaked in the hot spring, Anne suddenly brought out a birthday cake.

“The day after tomorrow is your birthday. I thought you’d want to celebrate with your family, so I prepared it in advance.”

When she urged me to make a wish, I suddenly realized that my birthday was near. Every year, Cody had quietly prepared a birthday surprise for me. And this year?

Clutching onto an expectation I shouldn’t have, my birthday arrived in the blink of an eye.

That morning, as I went downstairs, I saw workers carrying several delicate boxes inside.

My son, Carlos, walked in front, giving instructions. "These were bought at a high price. They’re for tonight’s banquet, handle with care.”

My nose stung. So they did remember.

In the yard, Cody stepped out of a black sedan. He halted in front of me, hesitated for a moment, then said slowly, “Freya lives alone outside with no one to care for her, so I’ll bring her here to stay for a while.”

From the corner of my eye, Freya’s luxurious heels touched the ground. The smile I had not even managed to form froze at the corners of my lips.

A chill coursed through my body, and into my ears came Carlos’s voice. “To celebrate Aunt Freya’s photography award, Dad invited some guests tonight to hold a banquet for her.”

It had all been me being selfindulgent.

Things that never belonged to me, foolish fantasies, in the end, were never meant to be awaited.

I forced out a hum, swallowing back the tears that threatened to escape.

“I still have something to do, I’ll go back to my room first.”

Rushing into my room, I began packing my luggage in haste. Not another moment could I bear to stay.

The echo of high heels closed in; Freya’s voice carried arrogance and provocation.

“Karina Hawke, all these years you shamelessly clung to Cody, cherishing the trash I once discarded.”

“Oh, isn’t this the photo I threw away in high school? How did he pick it up and even print it to hang on the wall?”

“This vase wasn’t it the one we made while traveling? Our names carved beneath it—thirty years, and he still couldn’t let it go.”

“Oh my, this watch, just a twentydollar roadside trinket I once gave him, and he preserved it in a crystal box!”

Freya lifted her hand to her mouth, deliberately letting out a loud, mocking gasp.

I remembered, when we had first married, asking Cody where these things had come from.

“They were gifts from my parents, so I kept them.”

I had believed him. But now, that complicated look in his eyes resurfaced in my memory. What had it hidden?

It was love for her carved deep into his bones, a lifetime’s unwillingness, a desire forever out of reach.

I swallowed the bitterness in my throat, so be it. At least I no longer needed to pretend, to hope that the one who never loved me might one day look back.

A sharp pain twisted my stomach, and I collapsed, curling on the floor. The medicine box was on the bedside table; I reached for it, but Freya’s hand blocked my way.

Her voice lowered, venom dripping through my veins.

“Let me tell you, I never loved Cody.”

“Then why do you hold onto him? Why destroy my family?!” My trembling voice broke through the agony as I questioned her.

"Because I simply couldn’t bear to see you doing well. I enjoyed toying with these lapdogs in my grasp, watching Cody kneel at my feet."

"For twentyfive years, Cody hadn’t forgotten you for even a single day, yet you mocked his devotion, are you still human!?"

As rage burned in my eyes, she burst into bright laughter, her tone flaunting every word.

"What? Jealous of me? That’s right, even someone as proud as Cody spoiled me alone. Believe me, he would do even more for me."

Before I could stop her, she seized my medicine and hurled it out the window.

###Chapter 4

“No!”

I instinctively lunged for the medicine, grabbing onto Freya’s foot.

There was no strength left in my hand, yet Freya screamed and toppled onto the ground.

A tall figure stormed in.

“Freya!”

Cody darted toward her. His cold leather shoe trampled down on my fingers, pain exploding through me like shattering bones, and darkness clouded my vision.

He gathered the sobbing Freya into his arms. “Freya has only stayed here for a few days, and you dared to use such a heavy hand on her?!”

Freya’s face glistened with tears. “Karina scolded me for destroying your happiness and told me to leave. Forget it, I know she’s angry. I’ll move out, don’t blame her.”

“I didn’t…”

“Shut up! Look at you, like some jealous shrew. So ugly.”

Cody’s cold voice sliced through my words, his face like iron.

Sweat chilled my body, and my vision blurred. The last thing I saw was him walking away with Freya in his arms.

That was fine too; what he trampled was not only my fingers, but also my most genuine heart.

“Mrs. Karina!”

The butler’s anxious cry shattered the last thread of my fading consciousness.

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on a hospital bed. The window outside showed nothing but darkness; it was already night.

The doctor’s respectful voice drifted in. “Karina not only has a gastric perforation, but also two fractured fingers, and she is still running a fever.”

“Get the best specialists,” Cody ordered. “Use the finest medicine, don’t let her suffer.”

“Please rest assured, we have already used the best resources.”

Cody turned back and saw that I was awake. A fleeting trace of guilt crossed his eyes. “Does it still hurt?”

I shifted slightly; my stomach felt as though pierced by ten thousand arrows, and the fingers wrapped in gauze burned with searing pain.

But no matter how much my body ached, it was nothing compared to the pain tearing through my heart.

I lowered my gaze, my voice faint. “Isn’t there a banquet tonight? You should go.”

To my surprise, Cody did not leave. His eyes lingered on me with a complicated look. “I forgot today is your birthday. Why didn’t you tell me?”

I thought of the way his gaze never strayed from Freya, and a bitter smile tugged at my lips. “Would telling you have mattered?”

“Of course. No matter what I was doing, I would come right away to accompany you.”

“Happy birthday, darling.”

He slipped a diamond bracelet onto my uninjured hand, his gaze tender yet resolute.

I froze.

Darling? Cody, how long had it been since he last called me that?

He kissed my forehead softly. “Freya isn’t angry anymore. After all, you two are sisters. Get along well from now on.”

At his words, I lowered my lashes. “Hmm. You should go back and accompany the guests.”

“Why are you always driving me away?” Cody asked, his tone inexplicably tinged with irritation, though still gentle.

I was caught off guard. “But isn’t tonight’s banquet significant?”

That banquet was held especially for Freya, with the purpose of opening more doors for her. The guests must all have been wealthy and powerful, people even Cody could not afford to offend lightly.

Yet, unexpectedly, Cody smiled. “Everything has already been arranged. Tonight I’ll stay with you. I won’t leave.”

After a while, Cody got up and stepped onto the balcony to take a work call. Soon, footsteps followed.

Carlos came in carrying a fruit basket, and his wife walked in behind him with a bowl of oatmeal.

Blame clouded my son’s eyes. “Honestly, such a rare chance to spend time with Aunt, and you just had to fall sick now, making the whole family revolve around you to find happiness?”

Gigi Cameron tugged at his sleeve lightly, then opened the lunch box with a practiced smile.

“This is oatmeal Aunt made herself for you, Mom. It’s good for your stomach, please eat more.”

The moment I spotted the yam in the oatmeal, I knew it was Freya’s doing. I pushed the lunch box aside.

“I’m allergic to yams. I won’t eat it. Take it away.”

At that, even my daughterinlaw, Gigi’s smile faltered, her face darkening slightly. “Then, Mom, you should rest early.”

She closed the lunch box, then left the ward with my son.

Their whispers carried back to me as the door closed.

“Never once in all these years did she mention being allergic to yams, but suddenly now she is. What drama.”

“If only Aunt Freya had been your real mother, then Mrs. Partridge wouldn’t have just been a wornout, tiredlooking woman.”

“She’s never contributed anything to this family, yet she still keeps up that cold front. Who is she trying to fool?”

I closed my eyes, shutting out the children’s voices as they faded into the distance.

Yet why did their words still cut me so deeply, leaving me bleeding inside?

Fever and disappointment dragged me into a heavy drowsiness. Cody returned from the balcony and saw me murmuring uneasily in my sleep.

As he gazed at my pale face, memories stirred of many years ago, when the girl he had married into the family was still young. She had once been beautiful, full of vitality. Like any girl in love, she would cling to him every night, whispering his name with devotion.

Before he had the chance to cherish that youthful face, time had already etched its traces across her brow.

A finger brushed gently against my skin, the ticklish touch stirring me awake. My eyes opened drowsily. “Cody?”

He looked at me. This was his wife, his woman. In his eyes, strands of burning emotion began to spread.

I was still dazed when his thin lips pressed against mine.

“Karina…”

His voice grew hoarse, and the sound of shattering glass suddenly came from the doorway.

###Chapter 5

When I turned, Freya stood at the doorway, tears spilling over her eyes, the ground scattered with petals and fragments of a broken vase.

“I only came to apologize to my cousin for adding yams by mistake. I didn’t know I’d be interrupting you two…”

Her voice faltered. Biting her lip, she turned and ran.

“Freya, it isn’t what you think!”

In his haste, Cody shoved me aside.

Unprepared, I tumbled from the hospital bed. The impact of my forehead against the floor sent a sharp pain bursting through me, blood instantly staining my skin.

Yet Cody didn’t even look back. He chased after her, panic written across his face.

“Karina was burning with fever and delirious, and I was only taking care of her.”

From the hallway came Freya’s choked reply. “You don’t need to explain to me. She’s your wife, stay with her!”

“Must you say this just to ease your heart? Let me see your hand, it’s bleeding!”

“I’d rather die than let you care for me! Leave me alone!”

Through the narrow crack of the door, I saw Cody at last lose all patience. He gathered the sobbing Freya into his arms and strode immediately toward the emergency room.

Blood blurred my vision, yet in my heart I mocked my foolishness.

I tore the bracelet from my wrist and hurled it to the floor, shattering it into fragments. I cried until my tears ran dry, and then, at last, I laughed.

Because of another gastric hemorrhage, along with the head injury, I remained in the hospital for several more days.

Cody never appeared again. I knew he was busy soothing Freya.

My son’s family never came either.

Only my daughter, Suzy Partridge, who is studying abroad, sent me a message to ask after me. Her final words pierced my eyes with unbearable pain.

[Don’t make Dad angry anymore. For decades, he has worked hard enough for this family. Can’t you be a little more considerate of him?]

I was the one covered in scars, yet I was expected to understand his betrayal?

Never had I thought that even my most beloved daughter would speak so cruelly.

But it no longer mattered.

I would give them all they wanted, even if it meant changing to a different wife and a different mother.

On the evening of my discharge, I returned home alone, riding in a taxi.

Walking into the house, I found the villa in complete disarray, untouched for days. Newspapers, toys, and empty snack bags littered the floor, as if they had neither eyes nor hands to care enough to clean.

Carlos lounged on the sofa, waving the luxury cruise tickets Freya had given them.

“There were only five luxury cabins left, so we didn’t book one for you. But I figured you wouldn’t be interested anyway. You like staying home all day, an old woman who’s never seen the world.”

Yet once, I had been the most promising young lawyer, courted by the world’s top ten law firms. Once, I too dreamed of traveling across the country, reaching the ends of the earth.

And after sacrificing everything, what had I gained in return?

My daughterinlaw came down from upstairs, her face lit with joy.

“This global limited LV handbag, only ten in the world! Aunt Freya helped me get one. My god, this is something money can’t even buy.”

On the sofa, my granddaughter swung her legs lazily, eyes fixed on her tablet as she cried out, “I’m hungry, Grandma! I want strawberry pancakes!”

My daughterinlaw stepped in with her bag, pushing the door open as she proudly announced to the neighbors.

“We’ve had enough of takeout these days, Mom. Tonight, I want to eat truffle risotto.”

My son complained right after.

“So annoying! The laundry is piling up in the washing machine!”

Not one of them spared a look at the scar on my forehead. Not one of them asked how I was feeling. Instead, they barked orders, picking on me with disdain, just as they always had, crushing my identity as family, reducing me to nothing, like an ant ground into the dust.

I nearly said aloud, Do it yourselves. I won’t serve you anymore.

The phone rang. It was Cody.

“Come to the Alterio Clubhouse immediately.”

###Chapter 6

When I stepped into the clubhouse, I caught sight of Cody from afar, holding a trembling Freya on the sofa.

Never before had I seen Freya so undone, her hair tangled, her clothes in disarray, her neck and shoulders marked with hideous redpurple stains that spoke of shame.

I stood frozen, and Cody’s gaze locked on me.

There was a sinister chill in his eyes, colder than anything I had seen in over twenty years.

Freya clung to his lap, dabbing away tears as though she had endured the deepest humiliation.

“Cody, thank heavens you arrived in time. Those thugs didn’t violate me. Please, don’t be angry with Karina anymore.”

Cody’s face was dark as if drenched in ink. “Karina, apologize!”

My heart dropped, and I stammered in confusion. “What did I do? Why should I apologize?”

His cold eyes grew sharper, making me stand, frozen.

“If I hadn’t shown up, would you have let those beasts defile Freya? Since when have you become so cruel? What right do you have to be called mother and grandmother by the children?!”

At some point, my son had appeared behind me. His shocked gaze flicked from Freya to my face, then hardened into fury.

“Last time you hurt Aunt Freya, Dad forgave you, thinking you would realize your mistake and change. Who knew you would go even further, all because Aunt Freya moved into our house, all because you didn’t get a cruise ticket?!”

The injustice hammered against my skull, a metallic taste rising in my throat. I cried out at the father and son, cast from the same mold.

“I didn’t do it! Why do you believe her the moment she speaks?!”

“Because Aunt Freya is kinder than you! She would never lie!”

My heart felt as if a sharp blade had pierced straight through.

Cody frowned. “I’ve said all that needs to be said. Don’t test my bottom line. Karina, apologize!”

After twentyfive years, he knew me better than anyone. He knew I would never hurt even an ant.

Yet when it came to Freya, he couldn’t even be bothered to investigate before deciding it was me.

I raised my head, choking back my tears, my eyes locked stubbornly on father and son.

“No matter what happened, it was all Freya’s scheme. I will never apologize!”

Freya broke into sobs. “Cody, forget it… I shouldn’t have come back. I shouldn’t have interfered with your family. It’s all my fault.”

Cody released Freya and came toward me step by step. His tall, oppressive shadow swallowed me whole. I tried to shrink back, but he caught the back of my head in his grip.

“All these years, I’ve spoiled you. But if I don’t punish you this time, what will happen later?”

He leaned down, ignoring my frantic struggle, and brushed a kiss against my forehead.

“Don’t worry. I’ve already replaced the cruise ticket that Freya failed to buy. You are my wife, I won’t leave you behind.”

“You kneel and apologize to Freya, then we’ll call it even.”

In fact, he had planned to give me a surprise on that cruise.

Next month was our twentyfifth wedding anniversary, and he remembered I liked fireworks, so he had secretly arranged a milliondollar fireworks show for me.

But now, he had to give Freya an explanation, so that way, I would owe her nothing.

Cody picked up a brick from the ground. Under my terrified gaze, he brought it down hard against my right knee.

The night was so heavy it felt as though it would never clear.

I knelt on the ground, watching father and son guarding Freya as they left. My knee throbbed as if shattered, blood soaking through my skirt.

Clenching my teeth, I dragged myself home.

The villa was empty; only the butler had not yet gone to bed. I knew the whole family had gone to the hospital to keep Freya company.

“Your leg, what happened? Do you need me to take you to the doctor?”

“No need. Anyway, I’m leaving.”

“You, where are you going? Does sir Cody know?”

The tenday period had come. I was ready to roam far and wide, to step into the vast world, flying away from this dark fortress that had devoured my youth and half a lifetime of love, never to return.

I did not answer the butler. I went back to my room, slipped off my wedding ring, and tossed it into the trash along with the smiling girl in the wedding photo.

At last, I placed the signed divorce agreement on Cody’s bedside.

With my documents in hand, and under the butler’s doubtful gaze, I climbed into a taxi. I headed for the airport without once looking back.

“Happy 50th birthday, Cody.”

Goodbye, never again.