TimeNovelChapter 11
The morning light was just starting to filter through Mom's drapes when | opened my eyes to find Nathan sitting
in her vintage chair across the room.
His Tom Ford suit looked slept in. First tI'd ever seen him disheveled.
“If those papers aren't signed, you're wasting your time.” My voice was steady.
“Emma...” His face crumpled. “I won't sign them. | can’t.”
“Then get out. | just had this place deep cleaned. | can still smell your cologne.”
He was quiet for so long | thought he might actually leave. Then:
“You want the truth? Fine.” His voice cracked. “When | moved Claire to another department, she broke down.
Toldshe was the reason her drunk father got behind the wheel that night. That she'd begged him to pick her
up. That she was why my parents died.”
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He ran his hands through his perfect hair. “I lost it. All that control I'd built up just... snapped. | grabbed her
throat-"
“Save the tic monologue, Nathan. | really don’t need your carefully crafted narrative.”
“It was one time, Emma. One drunk mistake-"
“Stop.” | felt oddly calm. “Want to know something interesting? | saw everything.”
His eyes narrowed slightly. Classic Nathan - always calculating.
“That day in your office? | cback. Saw her under your precious mahogany desk. And that cute little birthday
party? | was there too. Watched you take her upstairs.”
He went completely still.
“Did you enjoy yourself, Nathan? Was it good?”
“Every second | watched you play devoted husband in that hospital madewant to vomit. And now you're
here, swearing on your life it was ‘just once‘? God, you really can’t help yourself with the lies, can you?”
“So this is the real Nathan Pierce? The one behind the perfect CEO facade? Just another rich guy who gets violent
when he doesn’t get his way?”
| watched him crumble with each quiet word, sliding down the wall to the floor.
“You always showered after her. What was that about? Afraid I'd smell her perfume? Or did you just feel dirty?”
“That dining room in her house- exact copy of Le Bernardin, right? For all those late-night FaceTcalls?”
“My birthday as her door code - matching our penthouse. So you wouldn't slip up when we got htogether.
06:48
Seven Years of Love. Seven Minutes af Truth
60.8%
Chapter 11
Always the perfectionist, aren't you?”
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“Must have been exhausting, Nathan. All that... performance.”
“Why not just be with them? Play happy family in Greenwich? Give Cooper the father he deserves?”
“And please stop with the love declarations. Every t| think about you coming hfrom her bed, kissing me
with the smouth... makesphysically ill. | can’t even look at our building on Fifth without wanting to
throw
up.”
“Just get out.”
“And Nathan?” | finally turned to look at him. “Have your people talk to my lawyers. | don’t want to see your face
again.”
I rolled over, done with the conversation.
The sun was fully up now, Manhattan coming alive outside.
He left like he'd lived our whole marriage - silent, calculated, leaving no trace.
06:49
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