With fifty dollars of your crumpled money sweating in my hand.”

Dominic let out a low, choked sound of pure horror. “All of this… over a single bus ride?”

I offered a soft smile that didn’t reach my eyes. “No, Dominic. All of this over what that bus ride proved. It proved you never once saw me as your wife.

You saw me as a domestic asset. An ornament. A quiet servant who could wait, endure, and stay silent while you fed your own ego. But you badly miscalculated your margins.”

Dominic dropped straight to his knees on the concrete floor. “Forgive me. I swear to God I didn’t know who you were.”

My features hardened into stone. “That is the defining failure of your entire character, Dominic. You aren’t sorry because you badly hurt a human being.