Chapter 9 - Mark’s Version Of Sorry
Mark asked to speak to Nora alone.
Vivian said absolutely not.
Nora agreed with Vivian.
So Mark spoke with lawyers present, which made his apology smaller and more useful.
“I shouldn’t have gone,” he said.
Nora waited.
“I shouldn’t have sent the video.”
She waited.
“I shouldn’t have let them call themselves my real family.”
She waited longer.
Mark’s face tightened.
“What else do you want me to say?”
“The truth.”
He looked exhausted.
“I felt trapped.”
Nora almost smiled.
“In my house?”
He flinched.
“I know how that sounds.”
“Do you?”
“I felt like everything was yours. The house. The money. The rules. Even when my family was there, it was still your world.”
Nora leaned back.
“So you decided to punish me for owning what you enjoyed.”
Mark opened his mouth.
Closed it.
“Yes,” he said finally.
That answer surprised everyone.
Even his attorney.
Nora looked at him carefully.
“Why Maui?”
He rubbed his face.
“Ashley joked about it first. Then Dad said it would prove we could be a family without needing your approval.”
“My approval?”
Mark’s voice cracked.
“Your permission. Your money. Your schedule. Your house.”
Nora’s eyes stung.
“You were so close to understanding.”
He looked up.
“What?”
“You were uncomfortable because you knew everything you called family was being held together by someone you did not respect.”
The room went silent.
Mark looked down.
“You’re right.”
The words landed, but Nora did not let them become enough.
“Did you plan to pressure me about the trust?”
“Yes.”
His attorney shifted.
Mark ignored him.
“Dad said it made no sense for the property to stay locked in your name when I was your husband. Ashley said if you loved us, you’d want us protected.”
“And you?”
Mark’s mouth trembled.
“I wanted to believe them because it benefited me.”
There.
Finally.
No excuse dressed as pain.
No family pressure as a shield.
Just greed and weakness.
Nora felt something inside her loosen.
Not forgiveness.
A knot of needing him to admit it.
“Did you ever love me?” she asked.
Mark looked shattered.
“Yes.”
“More than the house?”
He did not answer fast enough.
Nora closed her eyes.
That hesitation hurt.
But it also freed her.
Mark whispered, “I loved what life with you gave me. And I confused that with loving you well.”
His attorney stared at him like he had set himself on fire.
Nora’s voice softened for the first time.
“Thank you for telling the truth.”
Hope flickered in his eyes.
She ended it immediately.
“It changes nothing.”
The hope died.
“Nothing?”
“You still have to leave. You still have to account for the charges. You still have to communicate through attorneys. And the divorce continues.”
Mark wiped his eyes.
“I know.”
But he had not known.
Not really.
People like Mark believed confession was a key.
Nora had learned truth was not a key.
It was only the first time the locked door did not feel unfair.
Before leaving, Mark placed one item on the table.
Nora recognized it instantly.
Her father’s watch.
She had thought it was in the bedroom safe.
Mark looked ashamed.
“I took it to Maui.”
Nora’s breath caught.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
He swallowed.
“Because wearing something from your family made me feel like I belonged to it.”
Nora’s eyes filled.
“You belonged because I invited you. Not because you stole proof.”
Mark pushed the watch toward her.
“I’m sorry.”
This time, she believed he meant it.
May you like
And still, she took the watch back.
👉 Mark finally admitted he had confused Nora’s life with his own, but returning her father’s watch proved how much he had already taken.
