Till Death Do Us Part... Or I Do - Chapter 2: Chapter 2

I exhaled heavily as Louis's silhouette faded into the distance. If only he'd granted my divorce request when I first asked—maybe we could've avoided this curse altogether.
After days of radio silence, Louis finally agreed to see me. Three days without food or water had left me so weak I couldn't even raise my head when he entered. Without a word, he grabbed my arm and hauled me up like a ragdoll.
"Elise, I never took you for this cruel," he spat, his voice dripping with accusation as if I'd stabbed him in the back.
Dizzy and disoriented, I croaked, "What did I do?"
No answer. Just his iron grip dragging me across the courtyard. The uneven cobblestones tore at my bare legs with every stumbling step. Pain shot through me, but he didn't slow down—didn't even glance back at my whimpers.
When he finally saw my face, his lip curled in disgust. "You knew Nicole's allergic to flowers, yet you flooded the garden with roses. Trying to kill her?"
My throat closed. The irony burned—Louis had forgotten those roses were for him. That garden? My 540-day labor of love, every petal planted by hand.
"I'll clear them now," I whispered through cracked lips.
I worked until dusk, ripping roses from the earth barehanded. Thorns shredded my palms, blood streaking my arms in crimson ribbons. Louis watched impassively before turning away with a twitch of his eyelids.
"Don't think playing martyr will earn my pity," he tossed over his shoulder, voice like winter frost. "It only makes me despise you more."
He left me there—broken, bleeding, alone. When the last rose was gone, my legs buckled. Darkness swallowed me whole.
Dawn light stung my eyes as I woke to bandaged hands throbbing beneath gauze. One thought cut through the haze: Find Louis.
Outside his study, his voice cracked like thunder: "They can't just cancel signed contracts! I sank our liquid assets into those deals!" A beat, then quieter but no less venomous: "Why is everything collapsing at once?"
I pushed the door open. Louis looked up mid-call, surprise flashing across his face before settling into familiar arrogance.
"Elise? Good. Nicole's craving soup—you used to make that, didn't you?" The smirk didn't reach his eyes.
A hollow laugh escaped me. My hands still wept beneath their bandages. "Sure. Unless you're worried I'll poison her."
His expression darkened. "Need more time in the confinement room?" he threatened.
I sank into the chair opposite him, spine straight. "Last chance, Louis. Sign the papers. You've moved on—let's end this cleanly."
His eyes narrowed to slits. "Did you sabotage my deals? Is this your petty revenge?"
The absurdity punched another laugh from me. "You locked me in a room for three days. How exactly would I—"
"Enough!" He slammed his fist on the desk. "No divorce. If you hadn't lied about being Nicole years ago, I wouldn't have wasted my life on you. Now she's suffering for your deception."
My brows knitted. "What lie?" My steady voice dared him to say it aloud—to hear his own madness.