“You're seriously ditching Caleb... to manage a bunch of up-and-coming rookies instead?"

My friend—HR manager at a rival agency—stared at me like I’d lost my mind.

I kept my voice calm, detached. “I'm getting a divorce.”

Her eyes widened. “Divorce?  But you literally built Caleb’s career. He just won Olympic gold, for God’s sake. After all those years… he never fell for you? He’s the one who asked for the divorce?!”

No. I did.

Though, I’m not even sure Caleb realizes it yet.

Three days ago, I handed him the divorce papers. He barely glanced at them before signing—too busy nursing his precious protégé through a fever. The same girl he can’t seem to stop hovering over.

One week more and I’ll be free.

My friend stared at me like I’d grown two heads. She couldn’t wrap her head around why someone like me—so obviously in love with Caleb Murdaugh—would walk away.

She didn’t know the half of it.

She didn’t know that I was three months pregnant when I was kidnapped. That I was locked in a damp basement, dunked in freezing water for three days straight. My blood mixed with filth until I couldn’t tell one from the other.

And where was the man I’d loved for seven years—married for five?

Winning gold. Standing under a shower of confetti, arms wrapped around his sweet little protégé under the Olympic lights.

At first, I thought Caleb didn’t know. But then Lilith shattered that illusion with a sneer I’ll never forget.

“Oh, Caleb knew you were kidnapped. Lilith had told me, her voice syrupy and cruel. “But all I had to say was I had a headache… and he dropped everything to be with me. So? How’s it feel to lose a baby you were so desperate to keep?"

She’d smiled as she said it. Sent me a photo—one of those private shots. His chest bare, her skin marked with kisses, the bedsheets wrinkled from everything they’d done.

That was the moment I stopped lying to myself.

I was a fire trying to warm stone. Caleb would never melt for me. But for her? He already had.

So I let go.

Outside the café, his car pulled up. His car gleamed under the streetlamp.

I didn’t speak. Not right away. And my silence must have startled him because he asked out of the blue, “That document you had me sign a few days ago… What was that?”

——

I turned to look at him, the man I’d loved fiercely and quietly for so long.

“That was the di—”

“Caleb!” 

My words died, sharp and bitter in my throat.

His car’s Bluetooth had automatically picked up an incoming call. And her voice, unmistakably Lilith’s, spilled through the speakers like spiked honey.

“I drank too much… Can you come get me?” she purred.

Caleb’s brow furrowed. His voice tightened. “I’ll send my assistant.”

“I don’t want your assistant,” she whined. “I only want you.”

“Lilith,” he snapped, voice rising with rare frustration, “I’ve told you—I think of you as a sister. That’s never going to change. Don’t say things like that again.”

I knew that tone. He was performing for me. Trying to prove there was nothing between them.

But I didn’t lift my eyes.

“A sister?”

Her giggle was sharp as broken glass. “Do brothers and sisters sleep together now?”

“Enough!” Caleb barked, cutting her off just in time.

She just laughed. “Relax. Fine, if you won’t come… I’ll just find some other man to keep me company.”

“Lilith!”

The irritation on his face morphed into panic. The line went dead and suddenly he looked like he couldn’t breathe.

He turned to me, his expression pleading. “Babe… she’s drunk and alone. I can’t just leave her like that. I’ll go and be back right away. Okay?”

I smiled faintly, voice cool. “Go. I don’t want to get blamed if something happens to her.”

“I…” He faltered, guilt flashing across his face. “I’m sorry.”

He reached for my hand, but I pulled away. 

He turned the wheel, heading in the other direction.

When we stopped at a curb, I stepped out. Just before the door shut, I heard him on the phone again.

“Lilith… you never listen to me. What am I supposed to do with you, huh?”

There it was—tenderness. The kind I begged for, waited years for. Given so effortlessly to someone else.

***

I went home.

Pulled out my suitcase.

Five years of marriage fit into three boxes and a single zipped case.

I still remember the first time I saw Caleb on a shooting range. He was nobody—scrawny, his white shirt faded, straps frayed, but when he raised his rifle, he looked like a blade drawn in battle. Sharp. Focused. Radiant.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

He lost that match. I found him later, quietly falling apart behind the bleachers.

That night, I decided to become his agent. I found him sponsors. Bought his ammo. Nursed his torn-up hands from overtraining.

He once told me, “If it weren’t for you, I’d have been forgotten on that range forever.”

Two years later, we got married in a quiet civil ceremony.

He never said much. But that night, he held me in the dark and whispered, “I want you by my side. Forever.”

After the wedding, no matter how exhaushing his training day was he’d made time for me. Waited up when I worked late. Took me to the hospital when I got sick. Held my hand and said, “I’m here. Don’t be scared.” 

He never said much, but in those quiet gestures, I thought I saw love.

I thought that was all he could give.

Until Lilith showed me otherwise.

She threw tantrums—he caved. She got stomach cramps—he dropped his schedule to cook her porridge himself. Before her competitions, he’d take her to Disneyland, laughing with her on the carousel like they were the only two people in the world. 

He gave her the world, his whole heart. Reality slapped me hard as I realize that what I got was just crumbs of his love.

I thought he might change, especially when I got pregnant. But the Olympics proved me wrong.

While I was locked in a nightmare, tortured, bleeding, losing our child… 

He was in bed with Lilith.

Lilith sent me pictures. All of them unbearable.

I forced myself to forget. To stop picturing them.

Three more days, I reminded myself. Then it’s over.

I was snapping my suitcase shut when my phone rang.

“Hey, Sabrina. Caleb’s pretty wasted. You should come get him. If you don’t… well, who knows what’s gonna happen.”

Then I heard Lilith’s voice—half-sobbing, half-drunk.

“Caleb! Just tell me! Do you love me or not?!”

The line cut out.

A teammate texted me the location. I didn’t want to go. But technically, I was still his agent. I couldn’t let an Olympic gold medalist make a scene in public.

When I pushed open the door to the private lounge, the room fell silent.

No more laughter. No more clinking bottles. No more dares being shouted over the music.

I froze for half a second, taking it all in.

There, in the center of the room, Lilith leaned against Caleb’s arm, her lips pouting, voice sugar-sweet.

“I lost the game, but I want you to feed me a drink.”

“That’s enough—you’ve had more than enough for one night.”

Caleb’s voice cut through the chatter, low but firm. He didn’t even notice I had entered. He reached over, gently but assertively plucking the shot glass out of Lilith’s hand. Without a second thought, he tossed the drink back himself.

A chorus of whoops and whistles erupted around him.

So, this was it—an impromptu celebration thrown by the training team. Caleb hadn’t planned to come. He’d promised to stay home with me tonight. But somehow, Lilith had talked him into showing up anyway.

Someone finally noticed me standing there, awkward and quiet in the doorway.

“Oh hey—Sabrina’s here!” one of them blurted, trying too hard to sound casual.

Lilith’s smile froze for half a second before she turned, lips curling like she’d just spotted fresh meat. “Welcome to our little get-together, Sabrina,” she said, her voice sugary sweet, dragging the last word out just a little too long. Her eyes swept over me with a lazy kind of challenge.

I drew a breath, pasted on a polite smile. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“No, no, you’re not!” someone chimed in, a little too enthusiastically. “Come sit! Caleb said he was staying home to be with you, but we dragged him out anyway—sorry about that! You two should sit together.”

Before I could decline, Caleb pulled out the chair beside him. “Sit down,” he said softly.

I could tell he was trying to tread carefully—nervous, even. He knew how I felt about him drinking in public. He was an Olympic gold medalist now—every move scrutinized by the press. I’d warned him time and again: don’t let the tabloids catch you off guard.

In the past, I would’ve scolded him, lectured him quietly but firmly. But tonight, I said nothing. Not a word.

And that silence unsettled him.

I sat beside him, my spine stiff. I hadn’t even caught my breath when Lilith walked over, holding a fresh drink in her hand.

“Let’s have a toast, shall we?” she said, her tone overly friendly.

“I don’t drink,” I replied coldly.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” she said, leaning closer. “You’re already here.”

Her voice dropped to a whisper, just loud enough for me to hear.

“You got the photo I sent, right? Your husband’s incredible in bed. While you were off sobbing over your dead baby, I was moaning under him. Maybe I’ll carry the next one.”

That wound—the baby I lost—was something I didn’t even let myself touch. It lived buried in the darkest part of me. But Lilith had found it. And she ripped it open with glee.

Something in me cracked wide open.

I jerked up, reaching to shove her away, but before I could touch her, she gasped—stumbling backward—spilling her drink dramatically down her blouse.

“What the hell, Sabrina?!” she screeched. “You splashed me?!

“Don’t pin your clumsiness on me!” I snapped, voice rising. “You did that yourself—”

“What the hell is your problem, Sabrina?”

Caleb was on his feet in an instant, his expression thunderous. He stepped in front of Lilith like a shield, glaring at me.

“Lilith didn’t do anything to you! She’s just drunk,—and you splashed drink on her– practically humiliated her in front of everyone! You’re being crazy!”

I froze, my chest caving in.

“I’m crazy?” My voice cracked, laced with disbelief and rising anger. “You really think I’d do something like that for no reason?”

“But you just did,” Caleb snapped. His jaw clenched. “I saw it. We all did.”

He didn’t even try to hide the rage burning in his eyes—or the fact that he automatically positioned himself between us, like I was the threat.

“Why are you always targeting her? She’s just a teammate—my junior, for God’s sake! This kind of behavior is gonna make me—”

“Make you what?” I cut in, my voice shaking.

Caleb stiffened. I saw the sudden hitch in his breathing, but he kept his mouth clamped shut for a moment. Then he let out a slow breath, like he was forcing himself to stay calm.

“Just get a grip, okay? I know you’ve been emotionally fragile since the miscarriage. Lilith and I are just teammates. But you’re acting like some hysterical jealous girlfriend, making a scene in public. It’s—embarrassing.”

I let out a bitter laugh, but it caught in my throat. The weight of disappointment and humiliation crashed down on me like a wave.

“Caleb, that contract you signed a few days ago. It was—”

“Now’s not the time for that, damn it!” he snapped. “You messed up tonight. Just take some damn responsibility for once!”

He didn’t even look at me as he turned and scooped Lilith into his arms.

He carried her out the door.

Silence fell like a curtain. The other athletes exchanged awkward glances.

“Uh… Sabrina,” one of them offered hesitantly. “You might’ve gone a bit far just now. I mean, Lilith’s just his junior, you know?”

“Yeah,” another chimed in. “He’s always been so good to you. Don’t blow it all up over something small.”

“Come on, just go talk to him, apologize. It’s not worth ruining everything.”

I clenched my fists until my nails dug into my palms.

They kept trying to get me to apologize. To calm down. To smooth things over.

I left the room and stepped toward the restrooms.

Then I passed a room with the door slightly ajar.

I heard voices coming from the room—low, intimate.

“Lilith, please don’t cry,” Caleb’s voice was soft, pleading. “It’s killing me to see you like this…”

“Then kiss me,” she whispered. “Just once. And I’ll stop crying…”

There was silence.

Then the sound of a kiss—quiet, unmistakable.

I pushed open the door.

Lilith was clinging to him, her lips brushing his.

Caleb’s face went pale. “Sabrina—wait—it’s not what it looks like. She’s drunk. I didn’t want to hurt her by shoving her off.”

I let out a cold laugh. “You’re a grown man, Caleb. You couldn’t manage to push her off?”

He flinched like I’d slapped him.

Just as he finally shoved Lilith away, clearly trying to explain, she let out a scream.

“Ow! My ankle… I think it’s twisted…”

Caleb hesitated, his brows pinching together in guilt. “Damn. I—I didn’t mean to push that hard. I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

There it was again. With Lilith around, my emotions were always forced to come second.

I said nothing more. Just turned and walked away.

He moved like he wanted to follow, but Lilith tugged on his sleeve—and he stayed.

That night, Caleb never came home. I didn’t even bother wondering where he was.

The next morning, I went straight to the training center and handed in my resignation.

This place—this building where I’d spent countless sleepless nights by Caleb’s side—where I watched him bleed and blister, where he clawed his way back to the top—now felt like a tomb.

“You’re really leaving?” one of my teammates asked, eyebrows knit with disbelief.

“Yeah,” I said quietly. “Seven years is long enough. Time for me to stop.”

“Does Caleb know?”

“I’ll tell him.” I offered a small, empty smile.

After I submitted the paperwork to administration, I stepped outside and exhaled, like I’d finally put down a weight I’d carried for years.

But just as I reached the exit, Lilith blocked my path.

“Leaving already?” she asked sweetly. “Here to watch Caleb train?”

“Move.” I wasn’t in the mood.

“Aww, don’t go just yet.” She lifted a training air gun and twirled it in her hand like a toy. “Want me to teach you how to use this? It’s actually fun. You’ve been with Caleb for years, right? Funny how you still don’t know how to use the thing he loves most.”

“I’m not interested,” I said flatly, trying to step around her.

But she slid right back in front of me, grinning like a child with a secret.

“Come on, don’t be boring. How are you two supposed to have anything in common if you don’t even get his world?” She leaned in, voice laced with venom. “Face it—you and Caleb were never a match. I’m the one who truly gets him. I’m the one who loves him.”

I stared at her, my voice dry. “Men always seem better when you steal them, huh?”

That hit a nerve. Her smile faltered, but only for a second.

“Well,” she huffed, “I didn’t say that. But Caleb did. Every time we’re together, he says you don’t understand him. That you’re old-fashioned. Boring.”

“You know Lilith, I think it’s better just shut up because then you’ll sound less dumb.”

She only smiled wider. “Angry now, are you? Then just take the gun. See how our worlds feel like.” She shoved it toward me.

I instinctively stepped back. But…

Bang!

The gun went off with a sharp crack, the sound slicing through the air like a whip. The echo made my heart stop.

Lilith shrieked. The gun fell from her hands. A red welt was rising on her skin.

Luckily, it had been unloaded. Just a misfire. If it had been a live round… her hand might’ve been ruined.

I stood frozen, ears ringing.

Across the training center, Caleb came running like the building was on fire.

“Lilith! What happened?!”

He skidded to a stop beside her. The second he saw the red mark on her skin, his face drained of all color.

“Caleb…” Lilith whimpered, grabbing his arm, tears spilling like she’d rehearsed them. “I just wanted to show Sabrina how to use the gun… But she to grab it and I—I lost my grip…”

“You shoved it at me!” I snapped. “You fired that thing!”

“Sabrina!” Caleb barked, turning to me, rage flashing in his eyes like lightning. “How long are you going to keep this up?!”