Her eyes widened, her face pale. He pushed her hand away.
“No,” she choked out. “We can go to counseling. We can—”
“You’re in love with some imaginary man, not me. I’m not wonderful. I’m not perfect. I’m a selfish, cold bastard.”
“No, you’re not, you’re not!”
“I am. Why can’t you admit it?” he said incredulously. “Whatever you say, I know you’ve never forgiven me for killing your father.”
“I have... I’ve tried.” Tears were streaming down her face. “Dad was innocent, but I know now you never meant to cause his death.”
“Stop.” He looked at her, feeling exhausted. “It’s time to face reality.”
“The reality is that I love you!”
“You’re forcing yourself to overlook my flaws. But I’ve known from the moment Livvy was born that you’d soon see the truth, as she did from the first time I held her.”
“Because she cried? That’s crazy! She’s a baby!”
“It’s not crazy. You both deserve better than me. And I’m tired of feeling it every day, tired of knowing I’m not good enough. I’m not this perfect man you want me to be. Seeing the cold accusation in your eyes—”
“What are you talking about?”
“Better to end it now, rather than...” Turning away, he said in a low voice, “You and the baby should go.”
“Go?” She gave a wild, humorless laugh. “Go where?”
“Anywhere you want. Your old dream of California.”
“You’re my dream! You!”
Every part of Leonidas’s body hurt. He felt like he was two hundred years old. Why was she fighting him so hard? Why—when everything he said was true? “Or if you want, you can keep this house.” He looked up at the place where they’d been so happy, the house with the ballroom where they’d quarreled and the garden where they’d played with the dog in the spring sunshine, where wild things grew in the middle of Manhattan. “I’ll go to a hotel.” He paused. “Forget what the prenup said. You can have half my fortune—half of everything. Whatever you want.”
She looked up at him, tears in her eyes.
“But I want you.”
“Someday, you’ll thank me,” he said hoarsely. It was true. It had to be true. He looked one last time at her beautiful, heartbroken face. “Goodbye, Daisy.”
Squaring his shoulders, he turned away, walking fast down the quiet residential lane, filled with the soft rustle of leaves in the warm wind.
But even as he walked away, he felt her tears, her anguished grief, reverberating through his body, down to blood and bone.
It’s better this way, Leonidas repeated to himself fiercely, wiping his eyes. Better for everyone.
So why did he feel like he’d just died?
* * *
Daisy watched in shock as her husband disappeared down the quiet lane in the twilight. At the end of the street, she saw him hail a yellow cab.
Then he was gone.
Once, long ago, she’d made Leonidas promise that if she ever wanted to leave, he had to let her go.
She’d never imagined he would be the one to leave.
All her love hadn’t been enough to make him stay. He’d turned on her.