The Man Who Never Looked Away novel Chapter 112

Lavinia watched helplessly as Garnett took Sigrid's hand and led her out of the apartment. They didn't even bother closing the door.

Standing in the wreckage of her living room, Lavinia could hear Sigrid's tearful voice echoing from the elevator lobby. "You shouldn't have done that. I only came to clear the air. I never wanted to ruin your marriage. Just let me apologize to her."

"Why would you apologize to a woman that irrational?" Garnett's voice was cold. "I absolutely forbid you from degrading yourself like that."

"But I don't have my dad anymore. I've lost everything. I can't lose my reputation, too. I don't want people calling me a homewrecker."

Lavinia listened. She didn't miss a single word.

Garnett watched the tears stream down Sigrid's flawless face, her shoulders trembling delicately. He reached out to wipe them away, but as his fingers brushed her skin, he hesitated.

His mind was still ringing with the sound of the shattering vase. The wedding photo crashing down. The jagged cracks splintering right across Lavinia's face.

She had just stood there. Not crying, not screaming—just staring at the ruined photograph as if it belonged to a stranger.

He couldn't place that look in her eyes. It wasn't grief. It wasn't anger. It was a hollow, terrifying calmness, like she had finally accepted the inevitable.

She wasn't going to forgive him. He knew that with absolute certainty. There was no going back.

But it was her fault. She forced his hand. If she hadn't been so aggressive, if she hadn't pushed him into a corner, he never would have thrown it. He did nothing wrong.

A surge of stubborn defensiveness rushed to his head. He knew Lavinia was watching. The door was wide open. She had a front-row seat to all of it.

Defiantly, he pulled Sigrid into his arms, holding her tight. It was a forceful, heavy embrace—partly to prove a point, and partly because he just wanted the noise in his head to stop.

Sigrid stiffened for a fraction of a second before melting into him.

Lavinia saw it all. Her husband, the man she had loved for a decade, holding another woman right in front of her.

A few seconds later, Garnett pulled back, gripping Sigrid's hand tightly. His own hands were shaking.

She used to think this apartment was her forever. She never imagined it would end like this.

Downstairs at the complex entrance, Lavinia flagged down a cab.

"Where to, miss?" the driver asked.

She didn't really have a plan. "The central bus terminal."

"There's more than one in the city. Which one?"

"Whichever is closest," she replied flatly, staring out the window.

The driver hit the gas, and the car merged into the night.