Part 2Silent Goodbye To My Billionaire Husband

On my birthday last year, Liam told me he had a high-stakes client dinner. I spent the evening alone, eating a bowl of takeout noodles while the rain beat against the windows.

Just before midnight, I saw a post on a mutual friend’s Instagram story. It was a celebration for Serena Drake. In the background of the crowded bar, I saw a familiar silhouette. Liam.

I couldn't stop myself. I went to a private account I’d found months ago—a handle Serena had used back in college. She had posted for the first time in five years.

The caption read: A fifteen-year promise kept. Thank you for choosing to spend your midnight with me.

My stomach dropped. That hollow, sinking feeling... it was becoming a permanent part of my anatomy.

When Liam and I first got married, someone had anonymously sent me a link to an old digital photo album. It was a chronicle of Liam and Serena. Meeting in high school, the intensity of their first love, the repeated breakups, and finally, her move to London.

They were a grand, tragic epic—the kind of "Great Love" people write novels about. And I? I was the placeholder. The sensible, "safe" wife the protagonist settles for in the final chapter when the heroine is out of reach.

I had called him that night, clutching at a shred of hope. He answered, but the background noise was deafening. "What is it, Audrey?"

I’d rehearsed the words, but they came out small. "It’s my birthday. You haven't said it yet."

There was a countdown starting in the background. People were cheering. He didn't hear me. "Liam?"

Someone shouted in the background: "Liam! Serena’s waiting! You’re supposed to be the first one to wish her a Happy Birthday at midnight!"

"I have to go," he said into the phone. "I’ll talk to you later."

Thirty minutes past midnight, a text arrived: Happy Birthday.

I stared at it until my eyes blurred. I typed out: Thank you, but don't bother.

He never replied. He probably thought I was being dramatic about a few minutes' delay. He didn't understand that while my birthday was quietly ending in an empty house, Serena’s was being launched like a grand premiere.