Our voices overlapped, and a strange, heavy silence fell over the room.
Jack’s face darkened instantly. “You want to divorce me for that… that punk? That delivery boy? We’ve been married for seven
years, Erika, and you’re throwing it all away for some kid?”
Ethan was only nineteen, “Kid” wasn’t far off the mark.
“It has nothing to do with him. He was just helping me out today. We’re getting a divorce because our marriage has been broken for
a long time.”
“Broken? How? If you weren’t so damn paranoid and unreasonable, we wouldn’t be in this mess! And now you want a divorce? Let
me tell you something, Erika. The courts don’t look kindly on adulterous wives. You won’t get a single penny.”
I refused to get angry.
But that didn’t mean I didn’t have a temper.
“Who’s the real adulterer here, Jack? Don’t you know?”
“I’ve explained it to you a hundred times! Sophia and I are just friends! It’s you who keeps making a scene!”
I didn’t want to argue anymore. The fact that I could even say the word “divorce” meant the original Erika’s hold on me was gone. She had finally given up on them.
And with that realization, my guilt vanished.
“Erika, don’t do this,” he said, his voice softening, a calculated attempt at conciliation. “I’ll keep my distance from Sophia from now
on, I promise. The baby can’t live without you.”
He was so certain this was just another one of my ploys for attention. Just like all the other times.
12:42
Chapter 2
12:42
Calmly, I rolled up my sleeve, revealing the ugly, jagged scar on my wrist–the stark evidence of my predecessor’s last act of despe-
ration.
“Jack,” I said, my voice low and steady. “Do you really think I’m just ‘making a scene‘?”
He froze, his face draining of all color as the memory clearly struck him. For seven years, through all his dalliances with Sophia, I—
or rather, she had tried everything. She’d used their son as a bargaining chip, even threatened her own life. No matter what, she
had never been able to let him go.
All because of a schoolgirl crush at eighteen that had trapped her for a decade.
She never dared to ask for a divorce before, terrified he might actually agree.
I wasn’t.
“Is that boy really so special?” he demanded, grabbing my shoulders, his grip painfully tight. “You’d leave me for him? We’ve been
married for seven years! I don’t believe you could fall in love with someone else that fast.”
“Jack,” I said, struggling to remain calm, though tears were welling in my eyes. “You’re the one who never understood what love is.”
Even a simple animal like me understood that you have to empty your heart before you can let someone else in.
He, apparently, did not.
“An ill–fitting ring, a rushed wedding, seven years of neglect. The son I nearly died giving birth to, you taught him to call another
woman ‘auntie.‘ The day I was in labor, you were tangled up with her. Jack, how dare you say that I am the one being unreasonable?
“I
The weight of her decade–long suffering pressed down on me, and a surge of her fury rose in my throat.
I swung my hand and slapped him hard across the face. The sound cracked in the silent room.
“I won’t sue you,” I said, my voice shaking. “You can have all the assets. You can have custody of Tim. I’ll meet you at the courthou-
se tomorrow afternoon.”
Back in the car, my emotions were still raw.
“Did that scumbag hurt you?” Ethan demanded, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. “I’ll go in there and beat the crap out of
him for you!”
“No need,” I said, taking a deep breath. “We’ve agreed to a divorce. I don’t want anything more to do with him.”
8
“So what’s the deal? How are you splitting the assets?” Ethan asked, ever the pragmatist.
Humans are such strange creatures.
“The money… I’m not taking any of it,” I said. “He gets the kid, too. I guess I’m walking away with nothing but myself.”
Well, nothing but the few million in my personal account.
“No way!” Ethan exclaimed. “That’s marital property! You’re entitled to half!”
Though my emotions were stable, I wasn’t an idiot. I leaned over and whispered my plan to him. By not taking his money, I was positioning myself as an unknowing, innocent party. Who knows, maybe I’d even get a citizen’s award out of it.
“Damn, Erika,” he whistled, a grin spreading across his face. “You’ve got a mischievous streak. How can I help?”
I knew exactly what I wanted.
1242
12:42
Chapter 2
“Sophia has a big ceramics exhibition next month. A lot of influential artists will be there. Can you get me a ticket?”
I wanted a front–row seat for the drama. I’ve discovered I quite enjoy a good spectacle.
“Consider it done,” he said.
The next afternoon, Jack and I stood outside the courthouse. The square was oddly empty, as if the universe itself was clearing a
path for us. Before we went in, Jack grabbed my wrist one last time.
“Erika, this is your last chance. If you just-”
“No,” I cut him off, not even bothering to look at him. “Let’s just get this over with.”
The process was brutally efficient. In less than ten minutes, I was holding a divorce decree.
A wave of unbelievable lightness washed over me. It felt as if the last of Erika’s emotional anchors had finan, een severed.
As I stepped out of the courthouse, Ethan was there, a wide, celebratory grin on his face.
“Congratulations, Erika! Happy Divorce Day!”
He was so cheerful, anyone would think he was the other man.
“Erika, you need to think about this,” Jack called out from behind me, his voice strained. “Once this is done, there’s no going back…”
“Thank you so much,” I said, my voice flat and final, before walking away with Ethan.
In the car, Ethan handed me a ticket to Sophia’s exhibition. Thanks to Jack’s influence, Sophia had become a rising star in Ashton’s
art scene. Even after her family went bankrupt years ago, she had managed to build a successful career for herself–with Jack’s
help every step of the way. Tickets to her show were nearly impossible to get.
“Thank you, Ethan.”
“Don’t mention it! But you owe me dinner tonight. And a gaming session.”
Ethan was a phenomenal gamer. And playing with him provided an incredible amount of emotional validation.
“Dude, how can you still be smiling when our teammates are this bad?” he’d grumble, glaring at the screen in frustration. “You’re so
emotionally stable. It’s kinda hot.”
I’d just put down my phone. “Should we stop?”
“No way! I’m not logging off until we get a win!”
