Ditching Me for His 'Soulmate'? His Loss. Next Stop: My New Life novel Chapter 59

Chapter 1

Ryan Caldwell didn’t marry me out of love. It was his parents who forced him into it, pushing him to settle down with someone they approved of. To Ryan, I was nothing more than a trophy—a pretty accessory meant to be shown off at social events, then conveniently ignored once the spotlight faded.

For six long months after our wedding, he acted as if I were invisible. I was there, but not really there—an afterthought in his carefully curated life.

Then everything changed in an instant.

The accident. The burns. The hospital stay.

And Ryan? He abandoned me. While I was fighting for my life, he was off watching the sunrise with Jessica.

That was the final straw. I filed for divorce.

He had the audacity to laugh in my face.

“Without me? What would you even be?” he sneered.

Three years later, I returned to the same gala where we had first appeared as a married couple. This time, I walked in arm in arm with my new husband, radiant in my wedding gown, every inch the confident woman I had become.

Ryan’s reaction was priceless.

He looked as if he had seen a ghost.

His eyes darkened with shock and something like fear.

His hand trembled so violently that, in a sudden burst of anger, he crushed his champagne glass against the marble table.

—

I woke up to the sterile, suffocating smell of antiseptic in a hospital room that felt cold and empty.

Pain tore through me like a wildfire, burning deep into my bones.

This business trip had been a nightmare.

On the way home, two cars collided violently and burst into flames.

Someone had pulled me out just moments before the explosion.

But the right side of my body was badly burned.

In the ambulance, someone repeatedly called Ryan Caldwell on my phone—over ten times.

Not once did he answer.

Exactly the moment I was fighting for my life in the emergency room.

A whole day had passed.

Ryan hadn’t even checked on me.

Calling what we had a “marriage” felt like a cruel joke.

We’d been married for six months, yet his social media still displayed the same profile picture—him smiling on a beach, bathed in golden-hour light, radiating a warmth that was anything but genuine.

Meanwhile, Jessica’s feed was plastered with matching couple avatars of her and Ryan, front and center.

Like a masochist, I clicked into her profile.

The location tagged: Phoenix Ridge.

Ten posts in a row—scenic mountain views, and Ryan’s perfectly chiseled side profile appearing in nearly every shot.

“There’s someone out there who’ll cross states just to watch the sunrise with you. How could I not be happy?” the caption read.

I gave the post a like.