The morning felt like any other—quiet, gray, already tired.
Chloe Redgrave stirred her coffee with the same hand that had silenced her alarm five times before getting up. The kitchen was too cold. The debt notice on the counter too red. And Kevin still hadn't come home last night.
She didn't cry about it. She didn't even blink anymore.
Carter padded in, all cheeks and messy curls, dragging his green dinosaur plush behind him. "Is it a class day, Mommy?"
"Yep. Miss Belle's waiting." She smiled, practiced and warm, and handed him his breakfast plate like she hadn't just spent the night imagining how far a mother could stretch a grocery budget across two weeks.
While Carter hummed to himself and poked at his eggs, Chloe reached for her phone. Not to snoop—just to check Kevin's messages. Maybe he'd finally replied about dropping off Carter's backpack or the utility bill she'd begged him to cover.
Instead, the screen lit up with WhatsApp—still open, unintentionally or not.
Sophia 💋
Her thumb froze.
The preview alone was damning:
"Missed you last night. Still thinking about what you said…"
Chloe clicked the thread open.
Flirty replies. Late-night voice notes. A picture—her dress, Chloe's favorite navy blue, hanging from the back of a hotel chair.
Her breath left slowly.
Not from pain. From realization.
It wasn't heartbreak. It wasn't even anger. It was betrayal—a dull, hollow kind that made all her sacrifices feel like wasted currency.
All the nights she chose understanding over confrontation. All the times she told herself Kevin was still trying, still hurting, still hers.
He wasn't. Not for a long time.
She turned off the screen. Poured more milk in Carter's cup. And pressed a kiss to his forehead because the day still needed to happen.
There would be time to fall apart later. For now, she had a little boy to raise, a job to show up for, and a marriage to silently mourn.
Outside, the rain began tapping on the windows. Soft. Unrelenting.