Farewell to Love: The CEO's Desperate Chase novel Chapter 1

In the Villa Solstice's bedroom of Alden City, the air still hummed with the warmth of their passion as Tyler brushed his lips against the delicate beauty mark on Emilia's chest, lingering there like a man savoring his last taste of heaven.

When it was over, he rolled away and sat up, reaching for his boxers on the floor.

"We should get a divorce." Tyler's voice was flat, almost indifferent.

Still catching her breath, Emilia turned to face him, confusion clouding her eyes as she searched his unreadable gaze.

They'd been married for a year. She genuinely didn't understand what he meant.

"She has stomach cancer. The doctors say she has six months left, at most."

Tyler lit a cigarette, the smoke curling up and softening the harsh lines of his face.

"Her last wish—before she dies—is to be my wife, just for a little while."

Emilia said nothing. The bedroom felt cavernous and silent, the only light coming from a small lamp at the bedside. Their shadows stretched across the wall, so close they almost touched, yet impossibly far apart.

When seconds passed without her reply, Tyler's brow creased in irritation.

"It's just to make her happy," he said, exhaling smoke. "In six months, when it's over, we'll get married again. Emilia only has half a year left."

He spoke with chilling calm, as if he were simply announcing tomorrow's weather.

Emilia stared at his profile, numb.

Tyler had grown accustomed to her surrender—every whim of his a command, every hesitation of hers a rebellion swiftly quelled. She folded like paper beneath his will, time after time, until compliance became her only language.

She'd been hopelessly in love with him since childhood. She'd followed him, shadow-like, well into adulthood.

She remembered that stormy night years ago, when he'd stood between her and her stepfather, wielding a broken piece of wood. "If you lay another hand on her, you'll answer to me!" he'd shouted, eyes cold, knuckles white as he gripped his makeshift weapon.

She'd been beaten nearly unconscious, and through the downpour and blood, all she could see were his determined eyes and trembling hands.

He didn't answer her directly. Instead, he said, "Emilia, she's been through enough."

"What about me?" The words slipped out before she could stop them.

He looked away, a flicker of annoyance tightening his jaw.

After a moment, he spoke again. "She's dying, Emilia. Maybe you don't realize—she loves me. But because we're married, she's never tried to take me from you. I've never cheated on you with her, not once. Even when I tried to give her something, she refused. She's a good girl. Can't you just let her have this?"

He took a final drag from his cigarette. "Don't make me think you're cruel, Emilia."

The calmness in his voice was as cold as ice. Emilia felt as if something inside her had shattered.

So, this was kindness—a dying woman in love with a married man, needing only a few comforting lies. And this was cruelty—a wife unwilling to hand over her husband.

She looked at Tyler's face, so unchanged from all those years ago.