Page 35 of Never Trust the Living (Battle Crows MC 7)

My heart sank.

On stiff legs, I walked into the bedroom and straight to the closet where she kept her clothes.

I found the hangers there, in perfectly symmetrical rows, but no shirts in sight.

Her jeans were also gone from the cubbyholes where she kept them.

Her shoes? Gone.

Her toiletries in the bathroom? Gone.

Her pillow? Gone.

Goddammit, she’d even changed the sheets, so the scent of her would be gone.

With a sour stomach, I walked back into the kitchen to see a note that I hadn’t seen before laying on the counter.

I was almost terrified to have what I knew to be true confirmed.

Bram,

I’m sorry to do it like this, but I didn’t think I could manage to do it face to face.

I’m leaving. I’ll be sending you divorce papers in the mail once I can have a lawyer draw them up.

I didn’t take anything but the car, my clothes, and my snacks. I’m sorry if I took anything you paid for, but if you want it back, I’ll send it to you when I get settled. Just text me. I won’t have my phone on, though. But I’ll check it every once in a while to make sure.

If you have need of me, I’ll send over the number to the house phone when I get one. I left all the passwords and usernames onthe back of this page to pay for all the bills. I took myself off of your account today, too, and opened one in my own name. So you don’t have to worry about doing that.

Also, I let my old boss know to forward my last paycheck to you. To cover this month’s expenses on my end. I’m sorry to leave you like this but it was the best solution for me.

I just want you to know that I don’t mind if you want to start seeing Mimi again before the divorce is final. I’ll never be back, so we don’t have to worry about ‘appearances’ anymore.

Hope you get what you want out of life, Bram.

Best,

Dory.

By the time that I finished reading the note, I realized that my world had just been torn in two.

• • •

“What do you mean, she left?” Jeremiah asked, sounding alarmed.

It was Shine’s ‘good riddance’ that had me whipping my head around to pin him with a glare so ferocious that I was surprised to see him flinch.

“Don’t talk about her like that,” I hissed. “How would you feel if Iris left you like that?”

Iris, who’d been completely silent since I’d announced that Dory was gone, looked at Shine like she wanted to strangle him.

“I feel for Iris a whole lot differently than you feel for Dorcas,” Shine shot back.

I fisted my hands and took a threatening step toward him as I said, “Don’t call her by that name. She hates it. And also, I dofeel about her like that. I just don’t think that she should have to be saddled with me for the rest of her life when I wasn’t the one that she got to choose.”

Shine blinked at me. “What?”

“What do you mean what?” I snapped. “What part of that comment did your puny little brain not compute?”

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