After My Heart Died, I Became My Ex-Husband's Obsession Chapter 1

In the eighth year of our marriage, Cole posted a high-profile photo on Instagram with his female assistant.

In the picture, their heads were touching, their smiles intimate.

The caption read: [Finalizing our most important merger yet.]

I liked the post.

Moments later, it was deleted.

Cole FaceTimed me immediately.

With his friends and that assistant visible in the background, he shouted at me.

"It was just a joke, Nina! Why do you have to be so sensitive? God!"

Five minutes later, a new photo appeared in his assistant’s bio.

It was a close-up of her face pressed against Cole’s cheek.

In the past, I would have lost control.

I would have rushed over there and made a huge, embarrassing scene.

But this time, I truly didn't care.

...

When Cole got home, I was clearing the food and cake off the table.

Yesterday was his birthday.

He had told me he wanted to bring a few friends home for a party.

I took half the day off work and spent the entire afternoon cooking.

But I waited all night, and Cole never showed up.

If I hadn't seen Chloe’s Instagram Story, I wouldn't have known he changed his plans last minute.

He rented out a VIP section at a trendy bar downtown.

"Did you bake this cake yourself?"

Cole swiped some frosting and smeared it on my face.

When I nodded, he forced a fake smile.

"No wonder it looks so... homemade."

Before, a comment like that would have made me desperately try to defend myself.

But right now, I was too lazy to argue over a single word.

Watching me clean up in silence, Cole’s brow furrowed slightly.

"Nina, I brought you some leftover lobster bisque. You love that place."

"I saw it."

Cole was always like this.

He would humiliate me, then bring home food.

It was his unspoken signal for a truce.

"I'll heat it up for you."

Before I could refuse, he walked into the kitchen.

Ten minutes later, the smell of burning food filled the air.

Cole was on a call in the bedroom and didn't come out, so I turned off the stove myself.

As I was ladling the soup, his phone on the counter lit up.

It was a text from Chloe.

[Cole, thank you. I was so happy last night~]

Before I could look away, a cold voice came from behind me.

"Who said you could touch my phone?"

"I didn't... Ouch!"

Cole squeezed past me in anger, bumping my arm.

The boiling soup spilled over my left hand.

Instant blisters formed on my skin.

He glanced at me like I was an idiot, annoyed, and offered to drive me to Urgent Care.

The pain was intense, so I didn't argue. I got in the car with him.

As soon as I sat in his Tesla, I saw a custom sticker on the passenger sun visor.

[WARNING: Reserved Seat for the CEO’s Chief Navigator]

Cole’s expression shifted slightly.

"Chloe was just messing around. You know she likes doing silly things like that."

I replied calmly, "Oh. Creative."

The car fell into a brief silence.

Cole looked at me with a strange expression.

"Aren't you going to tear it off?"

I blinked.

Why would I tear it off?

The old me would have shredded that sticker to pieces immediately.

But now, I didn't even care about Cole himself.

Why would I care about these childish territorial games?

"Just drive. I have to get to work later."

Hearing my indifference, he drove faster.

Just one block away from the clinic, Cole’s phone rang.

It was the special ringtone he assigned to Chloe.

Chloe was crying on the other end.

She said she was hungover, had a splitting headache, and her claustrophobia was kicking in.

She felt like the walls of her apartment were closing in on her.

Cole hung up.

Without looking at me, he made a U-turn and drove straight toward Chloe’s luxury apartment complex.

He parked the car and grabbed the Advil and electrolytes I had prepared for him from the glove box.

He spoke to me casually.

"Chloe sounds bad. I'm going to run up and check on her. I'll be right back."

Then, Cole locked the car and went upstairs alone.

An hour passed in silence.

I sat in the sweltering heat of the California sun.

I waited until I was nearly dehydrated and fainting.

Cole never came back.

I used the emergency safety hammer to break the window.

With pale lips, I climbed out of the car.

With the help of a kind doorman, I called an Uber and went to the hospital myself.

That evening, when Cole returned home, I was eating Thai food I’d ordered on Uber Eats.

"Nina, why didn't you order some for me?"