Page 42 of The Humiliated Wife
CONTROL THE NARRATIVE.
He stared at the words he’d written at the top of the page.
Of course. Of course his first instinct was to minimize. To manage Fiona like a client. God, what the hell was wrong with him? He wasn’t writing a pitch deck—he was trying to convince his wife to come home.
Self-loathing curdled in his gut. He’d hurt her, and instead of feeling that, owning it, he was trying to fix it with a tagline.
He crossed the words out. Thick black lines, over and over, until the paper tore slightly under the pressure.
That instinct—that need to spin, to shape, to manage—was not going to help him win back Fiona.
He clicked his pen once, twice, three times. He wrote: "Get Fiona Back"
He underlined it twice.
Then he stared at the blank lines below, pen hovering.
Where to start?
Grand gesture? No—too cliché. Flowers? Too basic. Show up at her classroom? Too aggressive.
He needed to think bigger. Think like an account director. Think systematic.
Dean started writing:
Apologize properly (in person, not text)
Show her I've changed
Prove I understand what I did wrong
Demonstrate my commitment
Make her happy
He paused, rereading the list. It looked... professional. Actionable.
Reading it, Dean felt like he could breathe.
