Vincent’s Promise [POV: Vincent]
I watch her leave.
She doesn’t turn back.
Her coat is wrapped tightly around her, her dark hair catching the glow of the streetlights as she steps onto the sidewalk. She moves with purpose, with certainty, and beside her, him.
Nate.
His hand rests at the small of her back, his head tilting slightly as he murmurs something to her. She laughs—not just a polite chuckle, not forced, but real.
It kills me.
It should have been me beside her. My hand on the small of her back. My voice making her laugh. But it’s not.
I didn’t choose her. And that was my biggest mistake. And now, someone else is doing what I should have been doing all along.
But I refuse to let this be the end.
Tomorrow, I’ll find her.
Tomorrow, I’ll talk to her.
I’ll ask for another chance.
No. I’ll take it.
But first, I have to end things with Hannah.
***
The house is quiet when I step inside, and for a moment, something feels off. The lights are dim, the air cold. Normally, by this time, Hannah would be in the kitchen, cooking something elaborate, trying too hard to make this house feel like a home.
But there’s nothing.
I move through the hallway, the silence thickening around me. My chest tightens as I step into the bedroom.
Then I see it.
Her closet door is open—empty.
The drawers are pulled out, bare. The vanity, once cluttered with bottles of expensive perfume and carefully arranged makeup, is wiped clean.
She’s gone.
My gaze shifts to the desk, where a stack of papers sits neatly beside a single handwritten note.
My fingers tighten around the divorce papers as I skim them. My name is already signed at the bottom in her careful handwriting.
And then I read the note.
I’m sorry.
I just needed someone to save me.
I’d never fit in as your wife anyway.
I exhale slowly, the words sinking in.
So that’s it.
After all the months she spent trying—trying to fit into my life, trying to be the woman I never asked her to be—she finally gave up.
I should feel relieved.
I should be angry.
Hannah lied to me. She manipulated me, stole my future, destroyed the life I was supposed to have with Abigail—all for nothing.
But instead, something heavier settles in my chest.
Because the truth is, she did try.
She left the only world she knew to fit into mine. She traded neon lights and late nights for dinner parties and brunches. She molded herself into someone else, hoping I’d eventually accept her.
But I never did.
I could never love her.
She must have known that, just like I did. She must have felt it, every time I pulled away, every time I spent another night at the office, every time I thought about Abigail instead of her.
I let out a slow breath, rubbing a hand down my face.
This is the end of it.
Hannah is gone.
And I won’t waste another second on this mistake.
