The night air was cool and damp.

The street was dark and empty now.

“Please leave my house,” I said.

Linda walked past me without another word, her chin held high, though her hands were still shaking.

She walked down the driveway toward her car.

I closed the heavy wooden door and locked it.

I leaned my back against the door, closing my eyes.

“Are you alright?” Vance asked from the hallway.

“I am,” I said, opening my eyes. “I feel lighter.”

“Good,” Vance said. “You should.”

“Go home, Vance,” I said. “Get some rest before Monday.”

“I will prepare the paperwork tomorrow,” he said. “I will meet you at my office at nine on Monday morning.”

“Thank you,” I said.

He let himself out through the front door.

I was alone in the house.

I walked through the rooms, turning off the lights one by one.

The silence was no longer heavy.

It felt clean.

I went upstairs to the master bedroom and looked at Ethan’s clothes hanging in the closet.

I felt absolutely nothing for him.

The man I had married did not exist.