Everything I could possibly need had been arranged in less than an hour without me requesting a single item.
The striking contrast made my throat tighten because Gabriel had failed to provide even basic support despite years of requests. My phone started ringing again, and this time I pressed the answer button.
“Where on earth are you right now?” Gabriel demanded immediately without offering a greeting.
I carefully lowered myself onto the edge of the mattress. “I am in a safe location.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” he replied sharply.
“It means I will not be returning to the apartment tonight.”
There was a short silence before he let out a dismissive laugh. “You are being completely dramatic over nothing!”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Gabriel, I had major abdominal surgery five days ago.”
“Women go through C-sections every single day without reacting like this!” he responded.
“And most husbands do not send their wives onto public buses directly outside the hospital doors.”
“Oh, please,” Gabriel replied dismissively. “You had plenty of cash on you.”
“You handed me twelve dollars.”
“The bus fare is only two dollars and fifty cents!”
Whatever affection I still had for him vanished completely at that moment.
In the background, I could hear Penelope calling through the receiver: “Ask her when she is bringing the vehicle back to the house!”
I looked toward Theodore, who was sleeping peacefully in his crib, and said, “That car was never your personal property, Gabriel.”
Gabriel’s tone immediately turned defensive. “We are legally married!”
“That does not automatically transfer ownership of my pre-marital property to you.”
“Your property?” he repeated angrily. “I have used that SUV for three years to build my professional image with high-profile clients!”
“Then you will need to find another way to impress your clients,” I replied.
“Caroline!”
“No.”
He fell completely silent because I had never spoken to him with such unmistakable finality throughout our entire relationship.
“My legal representative will be contacting you tomorrow morning,” I stated.
“A lawyer?” he stammered. “For what possible reason?”
“To begin our formal legal separation.”
The silence on his end lasted so long that I could hear the distant sounds of the restaurant street behind him.
“Are you honestly telling me you are divorcing me over one simple bus ride?” Gabriel asked in disbelief.
“No,” I answered calmly. “I am divorcing you because that bus ride finally made me understand how little consideration you had for me.”
He began talking much faster, his voice rising with anxiety. “Caroline, you are just emotionally overwhelmed right now because of your pregnancy hormones!”
I ended the call immediately.
Ten seconds later, my father looked up from his tablet computer in the corner armchair. “Did he actually just blame your decision on pregnancy hormones?”
I stared at him in confusion. “How did you hear that?”
“You had the call set to speakerphone mode,” my father explained softly.
His expression tightened slightly, but he remained silent, understanding that nothing more needed to be said.
The following morning, Gabriel arrived at our downtown apartment fully expecting to find me sitting in the living room.
I knew this because the building’s security cameras recorded his movements.
At eight twelve in the morning, he walked through the front door carrying a briefcase. At eight fourteen, he called my name toward the master bedroom. At eight seventeen, he realized the infant bassinet had been completely removed from the nursery. At eight nineteen, he called my number twice. At eight twenty-six, his mother Penelope arrived at the door looking for the SUV keys.
Instead, she found Gabriel pacing slowly across the kitchen floor.
“Where is Caroline?” Penelope asked, looking around the foyer.
“She packed her belongings and left,” Gabriel muttered.
Penelope stared at him in complete disbelief. “What do you mean she left you?”
“She says she wants a formal separation.”
