Divorce

Dante shoved the heavy oak door of the hospital ward open. His breathing was ragged, his chest heaving as he scanned the room. The harsh fluorescent lights bounced off the sterile white walls, casting an unforgiving glow on Nora. She lay motionless on the narrow mattress. The afternoon sunlight spilled across the thin sheets, yet she looked as if she were carved from ice. The warmth and vitality had bled from her skin, leaving her looking like a pale, fragile shell of the woman he knew.

A sudden stutter interrupted the steady rhythm of Dante's heart at the sight of her frail state. His fingers went numb, dropping limply to his sides. He took a slow, heavy step toward the bed. The quiet in the room was deafening. "Nor..." he choked out. His voice was a bare whisper, a desperate attempt to bridge the gap between them.

"Oh, Mr. Carlisle, you are such a busy man!" Maya’s voice sliced through the heavy air like a jagged blade. She intervened, slamming a plastic bowl of oatmeal onto the bedside table. She planted her feet, blocking his path to the bed. "Nor was suffering from a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy! Where were you last night when she was hemorrhaging? She was losing so much blood she needed a family member's signature just to go into emergency surgery! Do you realize your wife almost died on your hardwood floor while you were out spending the night with that vixen?"

Dante’s jaw tightened. A dark shadow passed over his features. The direct insult toward Chloe grated on his nerves, quickly overriding his initial shock. "Maya Dalton," he warned. His voice dropped into a low, threatening register.

From the bed, Nora watched the exchange with hollow eyes. A bitter realization washed over her. He had reacted with a lightning-fast defense of the other woman, yet he hadn't even bothered to ask if his own dying wife was in pain.

"May, let me speak to him," Nora said, her voice devoid of emotion.

Maya whipped around, her eyes bloodshot with unshed tears. "He spent the night with her! If you forgive him after this, Nora, I will look down on you!"

"Apologize to Maya," Nora commanded. Her tone was flat, rigid, and unyielding. It was a voice she had never used with him before.

Dante froze. He stared at her, taken aback by this sudden departure from her usual submissive obedience. Unwilling to cause a larger scene in the middle of a hospital, he swallowed his rising irritation. "Sorry," Dante said stiffly to Maya. "I was being impatient."

Maya let out a harsh scoff. She grabbed her purse and stormed out of the ward, letting the door slam shut behind her.

The atmosphere stiffened. Left alone with his wife, Dante shifted his weight. He forced a practiced softness into his demeanor, attempting to coax her. "Don't listen to the online gossip, Nor. My phone was dead last night. There is no inappropriate affair between Chloe and me."

He tried to gloss over the trauma, expecting her to soften and nod obediently as she always did. Instead, Nora had reached her breaking point. His empty words held no power over her anymore.

She stared blankly at him, her gaze eerily still. "Dante, let's get a divorce." She spoke with chilling calmness.

The air in the room turned to ice. Yet, Dante remained rational and detached. He looked down at her, treating her heartbreak like a passing grievance of a spoiled child.

"Nora, don't throw a minor tantrum and ask for a divorce just because you're angry," he said confidently, his tone dismissive. "You know I'm not going to divorce you. I know you aren't feeling well, but we aren't doing this right now. Rest. We’ll discuss it again when you’re feeling better."

He was refusing to validate her pain.

Desperate to sever her own lingering hopes, Nora offered a strict negotiation. "Fine. I will table the divorce on one condition. You keep Chloe in the shadows. I never want to hear anything about that celebrity from anywhere ever again."

Dante’s brow furrowed deeply. He perceived her demand as unsensible and controlling behavior. "Just rest," he told her coldly.

He turned on his heel and walked out of the room without a single backward glance. As the door clicked shut, Nora clenched her frail hands together under the blankets. She squeezed her fists until her fingernails drew blood from her palms. In their conversation, he hadn't even mentioned her ectopic pregnancy or the tragic loss of their baby once.

Nora stayed confined in the hospital for half a month, enduring agonizing loneliness. She stubbornly refused Dante’s administrative suggestion to move to a lavish VIP ward. She couldn't bear the suffocating quiet it would bring, preferring the low hum of the shared room to mask her grief. During her two-week recovery, Dante only bothered to visit her twice.

Finally, on the rainy afternoon of her official discharge, Dante’s female assistant arrived. She stood by the door, clutching a clipboard, and professionally informed Nora that Maya would be the one picking her up.

Lowering her exhausted gaze, Nora weakly asked the assistant, "Where is Dante?"

Hesitantly, unable to meet Nora's eyes, the assistant shifted her weight. The painful truth finally spilled from her lips. "Mr. Carlisle actually wanted you to be discharged tomorrow instead. Today happens to be Chloe Sutton’s birthday party, and Mr. Carlisle is currently busy helping the celebrity entertain powerful industry big shots to come pick you up."