CHAPTER SEVEN

TRICIA'S POV

Five years.

Five long, healing, transforming years.

If someone had told me then that the broken woman who boarded that train in the middle of the night will one day smile again, I would’ve laughed through my tears.

But now, as I looked at my reflection in the mirror that morning, I didn’t see the shattered wife anymore. I saw Dr. Tricia Inet….certified therapist, published author, and a woman who had built herself back from ashes.

“Ready?” Hendrix’s voice came from the doorway.

I turned with a small smile.

He looked effortlessly handsome in his gray suit, a hint of scruff lining his jaw.

Over the years, we’d become a team.. two people healing side by side.

He taught at the university across town, and I worked at a counseling and wellness center.

We shared an apartment… not because we needed to, but because it simply felt like home.

“Almost,” I said, grabbing my bag.

“I have a morning session at ten.”

“Make sure you eat before you turn into a therapist zombie again,” he teased.

I laughed, shaking my head.

“I’m fine. Just coffee and peace, that's all I need.”

We left together, stepping into the cool morning air.

The city around us buzzed with life trams humming, people rushing to work, the smell of baked bread drifting from the café across the street.

I still found it strange sometimes how far this was from my old life.

No one here knew my story, No one saw me as the woman who’d been cheated on, slapped, and locked away.

I was Tricia, respected, confident, whole.

But even freedom has its ghosts.

Halfway down the road, Hendrix’s phone buzzed.

He glanced at it, and his expression shifted from casual to tense in a heartbeat.

“What is it?” I asked, noticing the sudden stiffness in his shoulders.

He hesitated before sighing.

“It’s… her.”

I frowned.

“Her?”

He nodded, locking the phone.

“My ex-wife…she says she wants to talk and that she’s changed.”

I stopped walking.

“After five years?”

“Yeah.” His jaw tightened.

“She said she regrets everything…that she wants another chance.”

I placed a gentle hand on his arm.

“And what do you want?”

He exhaled heavily, running a hand through his hair.

“I don’t even know, Trish…I don’t feel anything for her anymore but part of me just....”

“Stop,” I interrupted softly.

“You don’t owe her that space again. You’ve healed, Hendrix…You’ve built something real for yourself…Don’t let her drag you back into that darkness.”

He looked at me for a long moment, then nodded, a faint smile breaking through.

“You always know the right thing to say.”

“That’s because I charge by the hour,” I said with a grin, and we both laughed, the tension dissolving.

We reached the corner where our paths split.

“See you tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said, waving as he crossed the street.

“Don’t let your students bully you.”

He laughed, walking off, but as I turned toward my building, an odd chill crawled down my spine, one I couldn’t explain.

If only I had known what was coming.

When I arrived at my office, my assistant, June, greeted me with her usual cheerful smile.

“Morning, Dr. Inet! You look stunning as always.”

“Thanks, June,” I said, setting down my bag.

“Who do we have scheduled today?”

“Just one client,” she replied, glancing at her clipboard.

“He called in last night, said his name was Mr. D. He sounded… a bit intense. Wouldn’t give details.”

I nodded, brushing it off.

“Alright…Give me five minutes to settle in, then send him in.”

I spent a moment adjusting the blinds, lighting the small candle on my desk, and organizing the files.

The office smelled faintly of lavender and paper calm, professional, safe.

It was the world I’d built for myself, one I controlled.

“Your ten o’clock is here,” June called softly from the door.

“Send him in,” I said, flipping open my notepad.

The door opened and the pen slipped from my hand.

He stepped inside slowly, wearing a dark coat, his hair shorter than I remembered, his eyes sunken but unmistakable.

My breath caught in my throat.

No…It couldn’t be.

But it was.

Oliver Dale.

My ex-husband.

The man I had run from.

For a few seconds, neither of us moved.

The air thickened until it felt like the walls themselves were holding their breath.

“Tricia…” he finally said, disbelief painted across his face.

“It’s really you.”

I straightened, forcing every trace of emotion off my face.

“Mr. D,” I said coolly, my voice steady even though my pulse was racing.

“Please, have a seat.”

He chuckled lightly, almost nervously.

“You look… incredible…different actually…I almost didn’t recognize you.”

I folded my hands on the desk.

“That’s what time does, Mr. Dale…It changes people.”

He sat down slowly, still staring at me as if I were some sort of miracle.

“You’re a counselor now? And an author?” His voice cracked slightly.

“I saw one of your books in a store window a few months ago…I bought it. Read it twice.”

I swallowed the urge to roll my eyes.

“Why are you here, Oliver?”

He leaned forward, his expression darkening with regret.

“Because my life fell apart…everything fell apart after you left…My business crumbled… I lost everything, Tricia. Everything.”

“That’s unfortunate,” I said flatly.

“But I don’t see how that involves me.”

He ignored my tone, his words tumbling faster.

“Priscilla left me…She…she lied about being pregnant…it wasn’t real…She just wanted my money, and when it was gone, she disappeared.” His voice broke as he spoke her name.

“She ruined me, Trish.”

A bitter laugh almost escaped me, but I caught it.

Instead, I leaned back in my chair, pen tapping lightly against the table.

“So you came to me .. your ex-wife ..for what? Sympathy?”

His gaze dropped.

“No… I came because I needed therapy actually….but I didn't know I would see you here ..fate has a funny way of playing tricks on us…and now that I've seen you, I've realized what I lost…hat I threw away…You were the best thing that ever happened to me, and I destroyed it.”

For a moment, I looked at him…the man who once held my world in his hands and crushed it without care.

His expensive suits, his arrogance, his cruelty all replaced by something broken, desperate.

But I didn’t feel pity…I felt nothing.

I straightened, professional and detached.

“Mr. Dale,” I said carefully,

“I think what you’re experiencing is guilt mixed with the consequences of your past choices…I can recommend a colleague who specializes in…”

“Don’t do that,” he interrupted sharply.

“It’s you I want to talk to.”

“Then talk,” I said quietly, my tone cold but steady.

“Say what you need to say, and then leave.”

He stared at me for a long time, his eyes flickering with something I couldn’t name regret, maybe, or obsession.

Then his lips curled into a faint smile, one that sent a chill through me.

“I see you’ve changed,” he murmured.

“You’re stronger…Colder…I like that.”

I kept my expression blank.

“Good for you..now please, if you don’t have anything…”

He stood up suddenly, leaning across my desk, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous whisper.

“Now that I’ve found you, Trish…” he said, his eyes locking onto mine with a familiar possessive gleam.

“I will never let you go again.”

The words hung in the air like smoke poisonous, suffocating, and terrifyingly familiar.

My heartbeat echoed in my ears as I forced myself not to flinch.

But deep inside, I knew one thing for certain my past wasn’t done with me yet.