He grabbed her wrist and Lisa yelped as he dragged her behind him. "Don't do that. Don't you dare start crying because you're the one that started this."

In the office he released her as though she had some kind of a disease. He took a seat and fixed his stare back onto her. "Talk."

"I realize that I've been less than a stellar wife to you and I didn't see how dumb I'd been until I held the papers in my hands. I tried signing them but I couldn't, Matt. The truth is I want you back. I am prepared to fight for you. Tell me what I have to do and I'll do it."

"How long have we been married, Lisa?"

"Eight years."

"And how many times have we made love? Forget that. How many times have you told me you loved me? How many times have I seen you in the last month--the last week? I can't live with a woman like that, I just can't. You're a complete stranger to me, and I don't know if I love you anymore."

The words left a horrible aftertaste in Mathew's mouth. He never thought he could say those words to Lisa, but he had. He always believed that she would be the one that he would grow old with and no one could tell him different. He enjoyed that thought back to when they were dating. He marvelled in the days when he used to sit by the window of his apartment with a rose in his hand, waiting for her to show up for a date or an overnight visit. In the mornings after they made love he held her against him, absentmindedly caressing her arm and thinking of how deeply he felt for her. He never once lay there with her head against his beating heart thinking that they would no longer be in love--that the fire would ever fail.

You've always been a fool, Matt.

Those words tore through Lisa. They were the most hateful, hurtful words she'd ever heard, and it caused her heart to hammer into her chest. She felt weak in the knees but sick to the stomach, and all she wanted to do was curl into a ball and let the ground swallow her up. But she couldn't be a wilting flower through this. If she had never fought for anything else in her life she had to fight for Mathew. She had to fix it.

"I know and I want to change that. Tell me it's not too late."

"You know what, Lisa?" Mathew questioned. "I don't know if it's late or not. You never gave me a chance. You're just wasting my time now."

Mathew got up to leave. Lisa reached out and touched his arm. He stopped walking, but didn't face her.

"Listen, I have the plane fuelled and we're set to take off at three this afternoon. If you want to give this a try, please meet me there and come with me."

"What? You gave up work for a day?"

"That's not fair, Matt."

"Neither is marrying me, promising to love me forever, and stopping after eight years."

"Please."

Matt said nothing to her. He simply walked away, the door clanging shut behind him. He moved across the compound like he was possessed, kicking an empty paint can so hard it flew across the lot and in through the window of the broken-down warehouse next door.

"Whoa! Easy there, Ronaldo," Rahid's voice spoke from behind him and Matt swung around.

"Can you believe she's trying to guilt me into feeling sorry for her? For years I've tried, Rahid! I've tried..." he trailed off, looking at his best friend. "What did I do wrong?"

Rahid shook his head and pulled his gloves off. "You didn't do anything wrong, Mathew. Look, what did she say?"

"She wants me to go away with her. Give her a second try."

"She gave up work for a day?" Rahid sounded incredulous.

Shaking his head, Mathew frowned and looked for something to slam his fist into. He couldn't find anything. "I don't know." He was frustrated and in pain. "She said the jet will be ready to leave at three, so if I'm going I should be there then."

"And what are you going to do?"

A sigh left Mathew's lips and he shrugged. "I honestly don't know."