Chapter 4

Elsie stared at the documents in front of her. When she finally looked up, her face had already gone completely pale. Instinctively, she tried to deny it, “I-I don’t know what this is. It has nothing to do with me!”

After a moment, she suddenly calmed herself down. The panic in her eyes faded. “I don’t know where you got these things to frame me, but I’ve done nothing wrong. I’m clean, so no matter what you say, I won’t admit it.”

She knew the best strategy now was denial. As long as she insisted it was fabricated, I would have no way to prove anything.

However, she underestimated what I had. I pulled out another set of hotel records.

“Then explain this.”

Line after line clearly documented her hotel bookings with different men. Her face appeared in the surveillance captures. It was clear and undeniable. She could not make an argument.

She could not even find a way to deny it. Silence filled the space between us, and for a moment, neither of us spoke. The silence was broken by her phone ringing. She glanced at it, rejected it immediately, then looked back at me.

“You went through my computer.”

It was not a question. With this level of detail, the only place it could have come from was her own devices.

Before I could answer, she continued on her own, “So, when did you find out? I always thought I hid it well. Turns out you saw through it a long time ago.”

My gaze darkened as I asked the question I most wanted answered. “Why? I gave you everything I could. I did everything for you. Why would you still do this?”

It all started three years ago. That meant she had not always been like this. The so-called work she used as an excuse was nothing more than a cover for meeting those men.

Our life had not been hard. There were no real crises. I could not understand why she needed to do this.

She fell silent for a long time before finally speaking. “I didn’t want to. But I needed money, a lot of money. And you couldn’t help me.”

I was a little confused.

“What do you need that much money for? And if you had a problem, why didn’t you tell me? If you had told me, we could’ve figured it out together. What problem is really impossible to overcome?”

Her eyes reddened slightly, and her face was even paler now.

“I-I can’t say. And even if I did, you wouldn’t agree. This was my choice. I’ll handle it myself.”

A wave of irritation surged through me. I felt completely thrown off by her.

“How do you know I would’ve said no? You didn’t even ask. You just sentenced me without a word. That’s not fair.”

Her lips moved, as though she wanted to say something, but she stopped herself. “It’s fine. Since it’s come to this, do whatever you want. If you want a divorce, then divorce. I have nothing else to say.”

The way she said it made it sound like I was the one at fault. It was as though I were the one forcing everything apart.

“Don’t act like I’m the villain here. This divorce is happening. I don’t know what your reason is, but I can’t accept what you’ve done.”

She tilted her head up, holding back her tears. “Just do whatever you want. I don’t mind.”

She still believed I would soften, like before, and that I would give in. She thought that I would not really leave her.

This time, I did not say another word. I took out the divorce agreement from my bag and placed it in front of her.

“Sign it. We’ll go to the courthouse tomorrow morning.”