Chapter 1
The glass shattered before I even realized I’d thrown it. Porcelain fragments scattered across the room, a crimson streak trailing from my palm where a shard had caught skin. But the pain didn’t register. Nothing could compete with the storm inside my chest.
I had just watched a video of Bryan–my husband–on the beach, fireworks lighting the sky above him and Suzanne Chavez, the woman who’d once broken his heart and had apparently come back to reclaim it. They stood so close their fingers nearly touched. My husband. And her.
Hours earlier, I had walked into his office at Midnight Star Corporation, keys to a new car clutched tightly in my hand. A gift. An anniversary surprise. Our fifth.
I never got the chance to give it to him.
“Look who it is,” Shaun had said, voice clear and mocking. “Your little mute shadow.”
Bryan’s reply still echoed in my head. “Shadow? More like a shield. She keeps Suzanne’s name clean. She’s nothing more than a safety net.”
I had frozen. They don’t know I can hear. The paper confirming my restored hearing still sat crumpled in my pocket.
I didn’t move. I couldn’t. Especially not after Bryan added, “She was just a replacement. Suzanne was the one I wanted. Always.”
stood there as he turned, smiling at me, his hands moving smoothly in sign language. “You’re ust in time,” he said, hugging me like he meant it. I felt sick.
Then came the final blow.
‘If the media finds out Suzanne was the one who hit her that night, drunk and reckless, everything would fall apart. The girl’s deaf now because of her–but no one knows that. I married ner to keep her silent.”
remembered standing there, fists clenched, every breath trembling. I had asked–voice shaking –“What were you two talking about?”
Bryan had smiled, signed like nothing had happened. “Just business.”
Liar.
wanted to scream. To tear everything down. But instead, I just nodded. “Maybe we can have dinner tonight? It’s our anniversary.”
‘I’ve got plans.”
Of course he did.
I walked out calmly, every step hollow. Tossed the car keys and the hearing letter into a trash bin outside. It felt symbolic.
The silence in the car on the way home was deafening. Not because I couldn’t hear anymore- but because I could. Every word. Every lie. Every betrayal.
And still, some foolish part of me had checked my phone later, thinking maybe–just maybe- there’d be a message. An explanation. A lie, even, to soothe the wound.
But instead, I saw the headlines: Bryan Midnight and Suzanne Chavez Reunited at Airport.
Chapter 1
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215
3:46 pm D
brushing away the sweat and tears before unlocking the door.
Bryan stood there, dressed in a crisp shirt and slacks like always, his features arranged in concern. His gaze darted from my pale face to the broken vase on the floor and the thin line of blood on my palm.
His hands moved quickly in sign language.
“What happened? Are you hurt?”
I swallowed the truth and forced the lie. “I’m fine. I just… wasn’t feeling well. I knocked it over.”
He stepped forward, brushing past me to grab the first–aid kit under the sink. “Be careful,” he signed, flashing a soft smile. “You’re too precious to get hurt over something so small.”
If I hadn’t known better, I might’ve believed him. Might’ve melted into his arms, let him patch up my wounds and whisper empty reassurances. But I did know better.
As he dabbed antiseptic onto my hand, his face twitched slightly–just for a second.
“Stupid woman,” he muttered under his breath, too low for someone who couldn’t hear.
My blood ran cold.
“That vase cost a fortune and she breaks it like it’s some thrift store junk…”
My heart stung. But I stayed still. Silent. Let him finish wrapping the wound without flinching. He still didn’t know. Still believed I was deaf, trapped in silence.
I wasn’t. Not anymore.
My thoughts drifted.
Back to the orphanage where I grew up. To the first time I met Bryan–his family had donated books and clothes. He was the only one who spoke to me like I mattered. Like I was more than just a number in the system.
Even then, I knew he loved someone else. Suzanne. The girl who glittered like the stars he always reached for.
Then came the accident. A blur of headlights. A scream. Silence.
I woke up deaf and alone. And then Bryan proposed. I believed, with everything in me, that it was love. That he chose me. That I was enough.
I had been so wrong.
He pulled away, tapping my bandaged hand lightly. “I have to leave town for a few days. Business trip,” he signed.
I nodded with practiced calm. “Safe travels.”
Just then, his phone buzzed. Before he could silence it, the speaker clicked on.
“Where are you, baby?” Suzanne’s sultry voice filled the room.
Bryan grinned at the sound, casting a sideways glance at me. “Leaving now. My darling wife thinks I’m off for a board meeting.”
I stood frozen, willing myself not to react.
“Good,” Suzanne cooed. “Because I’m already in lingerie, waiting in your hotel suite.”
Bryan chuckled, ended the call, and turned to me again, his face perfectly serene as he signed,
Your Apologies Mean Nothing Now
