Chapter 1

I signed my new lease and hit "send" on the email to Damian.

The wedding is off.

An auto-reply hit my inbox.

Noted.

Olivia choked on her champagne.

"That’s it? The invites go out next week!"

"A cold email?"

"My last breakup took three months of lawyers!"

I swirled the Burgundy.

"He didn't even read it. His AI filters his inbox."

I pushed my phone to her.

A sea of blue checkmarks.

Years of long texts. His only reply?

Received.

I thought I was numb.

Until last night.

I found his private iPad. Unlocked.

There was a sixty-second voice memo. Played all the way through.

In that moment, the delicate scale I had spent eight years trying to balance finally shattered.

......

Damian was asleep beside me.

The screen lit up my face.

I opened our chat.

Rows of unplayed voice notes. Red dots.

A tear slipped down my cheek.

Damian hated inefficiency.

Voice memos were a waste of time.

Long texts were too emotional.

Over the years, I learned to swallow it.

But that sixty-second memo? It was from Chloe Vance.

It cut me straight to the bone.

His so-called "top-tier business partner."

They talked market trends.

They chased the next big thing.

Wrapped in Wall Street jargon.

Their chat history was a hundred times longer than ours.

He didn't hate texting.

He just didn't love me.

Damian shifted in the dark.

His heavy arm pulled me against his chest.

"Baby..."

"Come here."