Wake Up Leave The Liar novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The day I divorced Noah Bennett, I left the country to study abroad.

My suitcase held one white linen dress and a plain hair tie. On the way out, I picked a blooming rose from the garden-the same kind I’d brought whe first arrived in North City.

Noah’s adjutant followed me around, eyes sharp, as if I might steal something on my way out.

“Captain Bennett’s with Ms. Moore today,” he said. “Taking their cat to get groomed. If you wanted to see him one last time-

“No thanks.” My voice was soft-for the last time. “Wouldn’t want to bother their happy little family of three.”

I gripped my suitcase and kept walking.

Gate after gate. Step after step.

The sky was overcast, the wind sharp. But with every gate I passed, the clouds thinned, sunlight breaking through.

By the time I reached the last gate, I was walking toward the light.

I turned back once, a faint smile tugging at my lips-the first in years.

Tell Noah Bennett this,” I said. “From this day on, Ella Carter is done with him. Dead or alive, we’ll never see each other again.”

The plane roared to life. I stared blankly at the clouds until a realization hit me-my past life.

No one knew I’d been reborn.

In Northtown Military Housing, there was a saying: Marry a man like Captain Bennett.

Noah was young, capable, handsome-every woman’s dream.

And rarer still, he adored me. For decades, everyone saw it.

He’d cross town in a blizzard just to buy my favorite pastries.

He fought punks who harassed me, came home bruised but grinning.

Once he joined the military, half his pay came to me.

Every letter was the same-how much he missed me.

Sixty years of marriage. No fights. No shouting. He spoiled me so much people envied me.

Until he died of illness.

At eighty, heartbroken and alone, I went to the police station to get his death certificate.

The young clerk looked at my ID, then at me with a strange, pitying look.

“Ma’am,’ she said softly, “I’m sorry… but you can’t apply for Mr. Bennett’s death certificate.”

I froze. My wrinkled hand gripped the counter. “Why not? I’m his wife.”

She turned her screen toward me. “His marriage record lists his spouse as… Lila Moore. Only she can apply.

Lila.

The name struck like lightning,

My blood turned to ice.

Lila Moore-the intern I’d mentored decades ago.

I saw that girl as bright, intelligent, and her life was tough, so I took her under my wing.

I’d treated her like my own daughter. How could she be Noah’s wife?

Hands trembling, I called her number.

The wait was endless. Torture.

I ran through a million scenarios in my head. A system error? A screw-up with the paperwork years ago? Or…

When she arrived, she looked older but still had that fragile beauty.

And then-she dropped to her knees with a thud, sobbing.

‘Dr. Carter, I’m so sorry… Noah and I… we lied to you…”

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