Nina wrapped a thick gray towel around her body after stepping out of the shower, tucking a small piece of it in the crease above her left breast to keep the towel up without the need to hold it.

She walked back into their bedroom to get dressed because she would probably pass out if she got dressed in the bathroom. Hell, it took a lot of restraint to keep herself from passing out while in the shower. She liked her water scorching hot but she couldn't say she felt the same for the consequences that came from it.

As she lathered her body up with strawberry pound cake scented whipped lotion from Bath & Body Works, she began to play out in her head how the conversation that she was about to have with Tyler would go. She was nervous just thinking about it, honestly.

He was currently on his way home from the gym, and probably wasn't expecting what she was about to bring up. When she came home last night, he apologized again for causing an argument and most likely assumed things were all peachy again. Nothing was peachy though. Nothing at all.

Speaking him up, Tyler walked into the bedroom while pulling his shirt off just as Nina turned her bra around to face the proper direction after clipping it on backwards. The first thing he did was lean down to her height to give her a kiss.

"I got a date planned for us today. I know things have been a little rocky, but I'm about to work on getting back on track with you. I'm going to fix it for us, ok? I messed up. It's on me, not you. I'm sorry." He then kissed her forehead, and her eyebrows slowly lost the tension they held.

She wondered if he suspected the future divorce conversation and was just trying to save face or if he was genuinely apologetic. Another possibility was that he may have happened to see the two to-go suitcases that she'd packed in the middle of the night.

"I love you. You the best thing that ever happened to me and I'm sorry that it might not always feel like that. I'm working on being a better husband to you." There it goes again; as much as she hated to admit it, the manipulation was slowly getting through to her.

"I love you too Tyler.." She mumbled, allowing him to get one more kiss, which put a smile on his face.

He left his Nike workout fanny pack on the bed before heading into the bathroom to take a shower, and Nina crawled underneath the covers on the bed, grabbing the remote to turn the TV on.

Now she was second guessing her decision.

"Ugh." She groaned in frustration, upset with herself for losing the clarity she just had.

Nina decided to watch criminal minds to put her mind on something else for a while. When she saw that the Hulu account on their TV had been signed out of again, she leaned up to grab Tyler's phone out of his fanny pack. She could hardly remember any of their passwords, so she usually just used his phone to connect to the TV.

As if it was God Himself slapping her in the face for forgiving Tyler so easily, the first thing she seen when she typed in his passcode was a message thread with Britney—Nina's cousin and the surrogate mother for their child.

For a moment, she couldn't believe her own two eyes. There was no way this was real. She even caught herself looking around the room for a visible camera because this had to be a prank; she had to be on a comedy show or something. Tyler wasn't this dumb. He couldn't be this dumb.

It just wasn't possible. Neither of them could be this dumb. There was absolutely no way.

She had to tell herself not to overreact. There had to be an explanation for this or all of these messages must've been fake or something. Messages dating back for months, messages that degraded Nina and belittled her as a woman, messages where her husband and cousin were bonding over their shared hatred for her.

This was insane. It was quite literally unbelievable.

A small gasp left her mouth when a tear dropped onto her bare leg, and more followed. They poured from her eyelids before she could stop them, like a waterfall that gushed with an overflowing stream. Her emotions swallowed her whole without her even realizing.

That thought of not overreacting went right out of the window when Tyler walked out of the bathroom, and he was met with a forceful swing to his right jaw that instantly caused blood to spill from his mouth.

"Nina! Nina! What the hell are you doing?!" Tyler became frantic with confusion as she continued to hit him wherever she could.

"No what the hell are you doing?! My cousin, Tyler, really? That's what we doing now?! Are you fucking serious?!" She screamed at him.

"I d—,"

"Shut yo' bitch ass up, you talk enough! You think shit sweet or something? Huh? I look like a weak ass bitch to you, Tyler?!" She hit him in his face again, and he groaned in agony at the feeling of his nose cracking out of place.

Then, she covered her mouth at the sight of blood that started falling from his nose, and still from his mouth as well. Both of his eyes were now forming bruises, too. She'd injured him so quickly, she could hardly remember how she'd done it.

There was so much blood, she contemplated calling an ambulance but she didn't have time to go to jail behind a man who technically deserved it. She'd restrained herself from putting her hands on him for so long; it'd been a long time coming, honestly.

And she was never the one to condone abuse, especially after suffering from it until the age of sixteen. Surprisingly, she also hated confrontation, but Tyler—he just knew exactly how to get under her skin. He drove her to this point and she just couldn't help but to release her anger physically.

"Nina, wait. Wait baby, it's not what it looks like I swear." The typical line from a cheating man.

"Move before I hit you again Tyler. Let me go." She pulled her arm out of his grip after he tried to take her suitcase from her to prevent her from leaving.

"God, man. Nina don't go, please. I'm sorry. I can explain it if you just give me a minute." He groaned again from the throbbing pain in his face, following her to the front of the house.

"Explain it?! Tyler you've been sitting here talking about me to my own cousin, bro. I'm your fucking wife! I do everything that I can for you, I put you over myself every fucking day, bro! And you cheat with my cousin? Of all people? What, did her being pregnant with your seed turn you on? Is it because I couldn't do it? You gone build a life with her because she can?"

"I tried! I tried and tried and tried, even though you and I both know I didn't want to be a mom! But I tried for you because I'd do whatever to make you happy. Do you know how many nights I cry because of the shit I sacrifice for you?! And you fuck our surrogate?!! I'm sooo fucking mad right n—no man, don't touch me!" She snatched away from him before he could hug her.

"Nina, I'm sorry. I was going to end it." His tone softened, and she could see his eyes begin to water.

"It should've never started Tyler! I try so hard for you but I'm never enough bro. I didn't know you would take it this far though. This shit is so crazy." She broke down in tears again, and the sound of her audible sobs genuinely broke his heart.

"Stop touching me! On everything I love I'm not gon' say that shit again." She hit her fist with every word instead of actually hitting him, which reminded her to take her two wedding bands off—rings that she hadn't removed since the day that they were put on.

She threw them against the wall before grabbing both of her suitcases again, wheeling them to the garage where her 2022 Mercedes AMG GLE 53 SUV was parked. She tuned the sound of him begging her to stay out while lifting the slightly heavy suitcases into the backseat.

"Move Tyler." She wiped under her eye to dry her tears, now ready to get in the driver's seat but he was blocking the door.

"Look, Nina, I'm so sorry baby. I've been trying to break it off with her for so long I swear I'm not lying. You can ask her. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to get this far and I'll do whatever to g—I'm just so sorry. I'm so sorry Nina." He could barely get his words out in a comprehensive sentence.

Nina ignored him again and got into her car as soon as he moved, and she locked the doors just in time to stop him from opening the door. She hit the button on her visor to open the garage, and she was gone within seconds.

She had half a mind to go to Zyriah's house, but she didn't want to be a bother. So, instead, she drove to the nearest Walmart and found a parking spot to sit in while she found herself an Airbnb to stay in for a few weeks.

Since she planned to be done with him for good now, she knew it wouldn't be too long before she was cut off from his bank account. So she would spend as much as she could before that happened, just to hold her over until she could get a job.

After finding a nice condo in downtown Houston, she clicked the button to confirm the booking for two months. Then, she clicked the notification that was sent from Tyler's Navy Federal account to confirm that it was him charging the card for almost $6,000 after fees and taxes, that way the charge couldn't be disputed.

Then, she stopped sharing her location with him on Find My iPhone and Life360, blocked his number in the middle of him calling her for the third time, before finally walking inside of Walmart to use their ATM machine.

If she would have to start her life all the way over, she'd definitely be using his resources to get a foot in the door. He preferred for her to be a stay at home wife for all these years anyway, so really he was the cause of her not having her own foundation set up.

Plus, he was well off. He worked as an internet technician for one of the biggest web companies in the world, Google, and had a six figure salary. He wouldn't miss the money that she spent. He never did.

So, Nina pulled another five grand off of the card at the money center in Walmart since that withdrawal was too much for the ATM, and since Walmart didn't have that much cash in their register for a single customer, the money was put on a prepaid debit card for her.

Shortly after confirming with Navy Federal again, Nina was on her way to the Airbnb downtown. Thankfully, there was an immediate check in time available with the booking.

As badly as she tried not to, Nina cried the whole way there. She just couldn't believe this had actually happened, and how it was brought to light just a day after she'd decided that maybe it was time to see what page they were on in this marriage.

Even though she claimed that she wanted to leave him, she didn't. Yes, they had bad days here and there—a lot of them, most recently—but they had plenty of good days too. It was the whole reason the marriage lasted this long.

And really, bad days came with any relationship. That's why Nina never took it seriously when the thought of divorce happened to cross her mind every blue moon. This bad day was too bad though. It was horrible. There was no coming back from this and she meant that.

"Bitch I know you seen me calling this phone." Zyriah smacked her lips as soon as Nina answered the phone, just as she pulled into the parking garage of the condominium building.

"I'm sorry best friend. I had a long day." She chuckled, hoping that Zyriah wouldn't be able to tell that she'd been crying. She wasn't in the mood to tell her business right now. She was too embarrassed.

"Ughhh, that means you changed your mind about coming out tonight?" Zyriah childishly whined.

Nina pulled down the top of her screen to look at the date, and she realized it was Friday, the day that they had plans for. She silently groaned in annoyance to herself while tossing her head back on the headrest.

"No, no, I'm still coming. Just let me take a nap real quick and I'll be over there." She lied. She didn't have time for a nap. She had to do her hair, her makeup and still find something to wear; and since she didn't have all of her clothes with her, it would probably take an eternity to put a good 'night out' outfit together.

"Yesss!! Ok call me when you on your way. Love you bestie."

"I love you too Zyzy." She blew a kiss into the phone before ending the call.

"Ughhhhhhh," She groaned again, out loud this time.

Nina held her small can of Red Bull and her phone in one hand, flashing a smile of gratitude at the door bouncer who waived the $40 fee for her to get in the club. She could've very well paid for herself, but who was she to say no to saving $40?

Now, it was time to find the section that Zyriah instructed her to go to.

The original plans had to be changed because Nina ended up taking too long to get ready, so after missing the event at the rink, she rode in an Uber to the club and would ride with Zyriah to her house afterwards. It was surprising that she took a while, too, because her outfit wasn't anything exotic.

It was very simple, actually. A black fitted D-Angiel minidress from Diesel that stopped a little above her mid thigh, and she paired it with matching black Saint Laurent heels—that she'd probably take off before the night was over with.

She installed a straight middle part wig on herself before she left, which luckily, she'd mastered the skill. She added loose body wave curls to the wig with a flat iron, and beat her makeup to perfection afterwards.

Anyway, regardless of how long it took, she came out as promised and that was all that mattered.

"You made itttt! Bitch for a second I thought you wasn't gon' come foreal. And look at you looking like a real bad ass bitch!" Zyriah pulled her in for a hug as soon as she made it to the section, causing an instant smile to grow on her face.

"Not you not having faith me. That's crazy." Nina's smile remained after she was let go.

"Girl you know how you get. C'mon." She waved her off before grabbing her hand, leading her towards the back of the section.

She could see a group of both women and men that she knew through mutual friends, but there were also some people that she didn't know. Plenty of bottles were in the section, and it smelled like a mixture of weed and cologne, which thankfully wasn't really a bad scent combination.

Zyriah introduced her to a few of them, and she waved at the ones who spoke to her. She wasn't shy or anything but she definitely needed a drink or two in her system before she allowed herself to be social.

"Ain't wasting no time huh best?" Zyriah laughed at her waiting for the bartender to come on their side of the counter, and Nina laughed with her.

"Girl shut up. You don't know nothing." She shrugged her off, only making her laugh harder.

"What can I get for you tonight?" The bartender finally moved to be in front of her.

"Three shots of Don and a lemon drop, please." She requested, glancing to the right of her when Zyriah began talking to someone who'd approached them.

The bartender made her drinks right in front of her, and once she was done, Nina tossed all the shots straight back and chased the liquor with her Red Bull right after.

Those were her confidence shots. She probably wouldn't need anymore hard liquor for the night because she was such a lightweight that these vodka-based lemon drops would most likely get her drunk.

Her plan was to actually have fun and possibly make a friend or two tonight because she truly deserved it. She'd been put up for way too long, and now had nothing to hold her back. She was about to show her ass. Fuck being sad; she could do that tomorrow.

But that's why I love tomorrow!