Chapter 6:
“Breaking news–Tragic house fire claims the life of Jason Romano’s ex–wife. Authorities confirm that the remains found in the Romana estate belong to Emma Romano, former wife of CEO Jason Romano, Officials suspect the fire was an accident, but investigations are ongoing…”
My whole fucking body locked up.
The room went silent. Static
Dead?
Emma was fucking dead? No. That wasn’t possible. That wasn’t-
My jaw clenched as I reread her message, my breath coming in short, sharp bursts.
“Goodbye, Jason,”
The words burned.
A cold, sick feeling crawled up my spine. I gritted my teeth, my fingers tightening around my phone until my knuckles went white.
Something was wrong. Something was very fucking wrong.
“Fucking hell!7
I hated this.
I hated the way my chest felt tight. I hated the way my stomach churned with something dangerously close to regret. But most of all–l hated the goddamn feeling that I had finally, truly, fucked up.
I stared at the television, my jaw tightening as the news anchor’s voice droned on. The words barely registered. They bounced off me like distant echoes, muffled, unreal. This was some kind of sick joke. Some kind of misunderstanding.
But then I saw the footage–the house, nothing more than blackened ruins, smoke still rising from the charred remains.
The place where Emma used to wait for me.
The place where I had once held her in my arms.
The place I had abandoned without a second thought.”
Gone X
Something ugly twisted in my chest, but I showed it down. She did this to herself.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath, running a hand down my face.
Lily, curled up on the couch beside me, let out a fake little sniffle. She had been clutching Noah in her arms, playing the part of the -grieving sister perfectly.
“This is just….so tragic,” she murmured, stroking Noah’s hair, “I never thought Emma would just–She let out a dramatic sigh. “She gave up, Jason.2
I didn’t answer. My throat was dry Noah, confused but trusting, clung to Lily. His small hands gripped her dress as he looked up, searching her face for reassurance. “Mommy left me?”
Lily nodded, her voice gentle yet laced with poison, “She was weak, sweetheart. She couldn’t handle losing us, so she
A sharp, violent stab shot through my ribs, Weak?
Emma had been a lot of things, but she had never been fucking weak.
gave up.”}
She had loved Noah with everything she had. She had loved me, even when I didn’t deserve it. And now she was just gone?! Emme had fought for me. For our family. She had endured every fucking thing I threw at her. And then–what? She just gave up? Just like that?
No X
I clenched my jaw, my grip tightening on the glass until my knuckles went white.
This wasn’t how Emma went down.”
The woman I knew–the woman I had spent years breaking apart–would never have let herself be erased so easily. So why the hell did I feel like I had just lost something I could never fucking replace?
Lily shifted beside me, resting her head on my shoulder. “Jason… don’t blame yourself, okay?”
Blame myself??
I nearly laughed. I didn’t need to blame myself–because deep down, I already fucking know
I had done this. I had pushed her too far.
Thad destroyed her so completely that she had vanished, leaving behind only ashes.X
The whiskey glass in my hand trembled, the liquid sloshing dangerously close to the lim
“Fuck,” I muttered again, standing abruptly. I couldn’t fucking breathe.
Lily blinked up at me. “Jason? Where are you going?”
I didn’t answer I just grabbed my coat, snatched my keys off the table, and stormed out of the house.
The night air was cold, but it did nothing to cool the fire burning in my chest. I climbed into my car and drove without thinking, gripping
the wheel so tight my fingers ached. I ended up in front of the charred ruins of the house before I even realized where I was going
Tape Happed in the wind, the scent of smoke and death still lingering in the air.
I stepped out of the car, my jaw clenched so tightly I thought my teeth might crack. This was where Emma had died.
This was where I had fucking lost her.
For the first time since the news broke, the weight of it all settled onto my shoulders.
Emma. Gone.
She wasn’t coming back.
The morning sun cast a dull glow over my office, but I barely noticed. My head fucking pounded from the hangover I had earned la night, and my mood was already shitty.
I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my temples, when a thick envelope landed on my desk with a quiet thud..
“Boss, this just arrived. No sender.”
I barely glanced up as my assistant placed it in front of me, his voice hesitant.
“No sender?” I muttered, eyeing the envelope with suspicion. I had a long list of enemies, but none were stupid enough to send me fucking bomb.
“Do you want me to open it first?” he asked.
I waved him off. “Get out
Once the door shut behind him, I grabbed the envelope, tore it open, and pulled out the stack of documents inside.
The first page hit me like a freight train &
Confidential Medical Report!
Patient Name: Emma Romanol
Diagnosis: Stage IV Glioblastoma (Brain Cancer)
I froze. The words blurred, my grip tightening around the paper
What the fuck is this?@
I flipped through the pages, my eyes scanning the contents with growing horror. It detailed everything–her hospital visits, the decline in her health, the fucking death sentence she had been carrying all by herself and the resent admissions weeks ago.
Her collapse before? It wasn’t just from emotional stress. It was her body fucking shutting down.
She was dying. And she never told me!!
My stomach twisted, a sick, nauseating feeling crawling up my spine.
I thought back–Ernma’s distant stares, the times she looked exhausted, the way she seemed weaker toward the end, I had dismissed it as her just being dramatic, being pathetic. I had ignored it.
I had ignored her. A sharp pain shot through my chest, something foreign and fucking unbearable 8
My hands clenched into fists around the papers.
She was sick. She was fucking dying. And 1-1 had abandoned her.
I had thrown her away like she meant nothing.
I had laughed in her face while she was secretly fighting for her goddamn lifes
My breath came out harsh, ragged. The office felt too small, too suffocating. I shoved back my chair, standing so abruptly it scraped against the floor.2
“FUCKI
The roar ripped from my throat before I could stop it!!
The whiskey glass from last night still sat on my desk, and before I could think, I grabbed it and hurled it across the room
SMASH!
Shards exploded against the wall, raining onto the floor like fucking justice–sharp, unforgiving, and too goddamn late. I should have fucking known, I should have seen it. I squeezed my eyes shut, pressing a hand against my forehead as the weight of it all crashed down
on me.X
Emma hadn’t left Noah. She hadn’t given up.X
She had been fucking dying
And I had fucking helped kill her
I didn’t know what this feeling was–this deep, gut–wrenching agony clawing at my insides. But it was fucking relentless, like something inside me had finally shattered.
For the first time in my goddamn life, I sank into my chair, gripping the file so tightly my knuckles tumed white
And for the first time–Jason Romano, the ruthless bastard, the man who never fucking cared–broke down.
