The room had devolved into a shouting match, the air thick with tension. Sarah let out a long, agonizingly heavy sigh, closing her eyes as a throbbing headache began to pulse behind her temples. It was maddening. The two most powerful men in her life were practically tearing each other apart, completely lost in their own pride, rather than doing the one basic thing they should have done: ask her what she wanted.
"Of course I have the right to make this call!" Jayden shouted one last time. "She is my wife!"
The heavy emphasis Jayden placed on the word wife echoed painfully in Sarah's ears. In that moment, the word didn't feel like a romantic promise; it felt like a heavy iron shackle. It sounded as though, by marrying him, she had surrendered her autonomy, becoming a piece of property with no right to voice an opinion or make a choice about her own destiny.
"Jay!"
