Page 27 of The Hotel Room

She stepped back.

Not subtly. Not hesitantly.Instinctively.

James froze, arms outstretched.

The cold look in her eyes, the way her entire body stiffened—it wasn’t grief. It wasn’t heartbreak.

It was steel.

And suddenly, he felt as though he’d missed something critical. His arms dropped.

“Kate?” His voice softened, searching. “It doesn’t have to be like this. We can—wewillget through this. I—”

“No.”

The word was quiet but absolute.

James blinked, the breath stolen from his lungs. “What do you mean,no? You’re coming back. We can—”

“I’m moving back forthem.”

The words sliced straight through him.

“For Lily and Noah. Because they need stability. Their home. Their father. But I’m not taking you back.”

The blood drained from James’s face. “Kate, I—”

“I’m not here for you,” she cut him off with icy calm. “Our marriage?This?” She gestured vaguely between them, the space that felt so much wider than the few feet separating them. “It’s over, James.”

The words landed like a punch to his chest.

“You can’t—Kate, don’t say that. We canfixthis.” His voice rose, frustration bleeding into the words, harder now, as though saying it louder would make it true.Make her believe it.

“It was one time. You’re really going to throw away everything we’ve built? Seventeen years—our family—because ofonelapse in judgment? One mistake?”

Kate’s face twisted, disbelief flashing in her eyes as she took a step back, arms folding across her chest like she was holding herself together. Her wedding ring glinted in the light and James felt his heart cracking in two.

Her voice was sharp, trembling with barely contained emotion.

“You keep saying that, James. Like it was just sometechnical error—like you tripped and fell into another woman’s…” Kate’s face twisted as she visibly censored herself. “…bed.”

“It didn’t mean anything,Kate! It was sex.Just sex.I didn’t even know her! Does that sound like I was trying to destroy our marriage?”

Her face paled, lips parting for just a heartbeat before she shook her head, eyes narrowing, voice trembling but sharp. “You have though.”

His pulse thundered in his ears. He felt the words coming—dangerous, reckless words—but he couldn’t stop them. When he opened his mouth, what came out was raw, defensive, self-righteous.

“I was eighteen when we got married! We both were! I’ve onlyeverbeen with you. My whole life, only one woman. Do you have any idea what that feels like? To wonder—just once—what else was out there? To feel like I missedlivingbecause we built this life so young?”

James watched Kate’s face crumple and he knew he had said the wrong thing.

“Living?” Her voice cracked. “That’s what that was to you? Living? So our life—our marriage—ourchildrenwere just something you needed to escape from? Some kind of burden you had toexploreyour way out of?”

“No!” He was breathing hard now, pulse pounding. “Kate, you’re twisting this. I never stopped loving you. I didn’t stop loving our family. It was—”

“Unforgivable.” The word sliced through the air like a blade.

James’s mouth snapped shut.

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