After the Last Tear: Rising from the Ashes of a Broken Marriage novel Chapter 12

Elaine was surprised this was why Alistair had shown up in the middle of the night. So he'd only just found the divorce certificate.

She didn't know whether to feel encouraged that he'd rushed over to confront her despite the hour, or disappointed that he'd only now discovered the document she'd deliberately left in plain sight in his car.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself,You signed the divorce papers yourself."

Alistair froze for a moment, instinctively wanting to argue. He had no memory of signing anything like that.

But then realization struck him like a lightning bolt. "That... document you handed me months ago?!"

After a heavy silence, he heard her barely audible laugh through the phone, followed by her confirmation.

"I never agreed to this!" he snapped. "You had no right to—it is invalid!"

Elaine hadn't expected such an intense reaction. She waited silently for his outburst to subside before responding quietly, "I tried to tell you, Alistair. You're the one who said nothing matters except Sophia and Vivian's baby."

Right. Nothing else mattered.Not Vivian. Not Elaine. Not divorce.

Alistair couldn't remember when the call had disconnected. The dim glow of his dashboard couldn't compete with the suffocating darkness outside. He slumped back against the leather seat, eyes fixed on the window in her house.

When her bedroom light finally clicked off, something inside him plummeted.He stared into the night, her final words playing on repeat in his head.

He'd broken his promise, so she was leaving him.But it wasn't supposed to be this way.

Alistair had never imagined that Elaine would actually leave him.