Divorce

"Throw us out?" Martha let out a sharp, incredulous bark of laughter. Her face twisted into an ugly sneer. "You delusional bitch! You don't pay the mortgage, you don't pay the bills, and you certainly don't give the orders in this house!"

Martha raised her hand, her heavy gold rings glinting in the morning light as she swung it straight for Elena’s face. "I'll teach you some respect..."

She never finished the sentence.

Elena’s hand darted up. With her newly enhanced peak-human reflexes, Martha’s sluggish, arrogant swing looked like it was moving through molasses. 

Elena’s fingers clamped around Martha’s wrist like a steel vice. 

Martha’s eyes widened in shock. "Let go of me! You're hurting..."

CRACK.

Elena didn't just let go. She twisted Martha’s arm backward, applying a brutal, calculated pressure to the joint, and shoved her forward with all her new strength. Martha flew backward, her shoulder slamming hard into the doorframe before she crumpled to the hardwood floor, gasping in agony.

"Mom!" Chloe shrieked. She dropped her phone, her manicured nails extending like claws as she lunged at Elena. "You crazy bitch, I'll kill you!"

Elena didn’t even blink. She pivoted on her heel, stepping directly into Chloe’s wild swing. 

SMACK!

The sound of Elena’s palm striking Chloe’s cheek echoed like a gunshot through the bedroom. It was a full-force, devastating slap. Chloe’s head snapped to the side, her body spinning in the air before she crashed onto the floor, sliding across the polished wood. 

Silence fell over the room, broken only by Chloe’s muffled, shocked sobbing. She clutched her face, her left cheek already swelling into a bright, angry red.

Elena looked down at them, her expression as cold and unyielding as the coming winter. 

"I said," Elena whispered, her voice dripping with venom, "get out of my house."

"What the hell is going on in here?!"

Heavy footsteps thundered down the hall. Robert burst into the bedroom, his face purple with rage. He took in the scene—his mother groaning on the floor, his sister crying with a swollen face, and his usually submissive wife standing over them like an apex predator.

"Elena! Are you insane?" Robert roared, marching toward her. "What did you do to my family? You’re done! I’m cutting you off! You won’t see a single dime of my money!"

Elena didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t flinch. She simply walked over to her walk-in closet, opened the hidden wall safe, and pulled out a thick manila folder. 

She tossed it onto the bed. It landed with a heavy, final thud.

"Sign them," Elena said calmly.

Robert stopped, blinking in confusion. He looked at the folder, then at Elena. "What is this?"

"Divorce papers," Elena said, crossing her arms. "Full custody of my own assets. You keep your debt. Sign them, and you walk out of here with your freedom. Refuse, and your life is over."

Robert let out a mocking, breathless laugh. "You think you can scare me? You’re nothing without me, Elena. I’m not signing shit. I’m calling my lawyer—"

"Your lawyer, David Sterling? The one you pay under the table to hide your offshore accounts in the Caymans?" Elena interrupted, her voice slicing through his arrogance like a knife.

Robert froze. The color instantly drained from his face.

Elena took a slow step toward him. "Or what about the missing three million dollars from the Vanguard project at your company? The money you’ve been funneling into a shell corporation under your college buddy's name to buy those 'designer winter wardrobes' for Chloe?"

Chloe stopped crying. Martha stopped groaning. Both of them stared at Robertin absolute shock.

"You... how..." Robert stammered, his eyes wide with sheer, unadulterated terror. "How do you know about that?"

"Because I know everything, Robert," Elena said softly. She pulled out her phone, her thumb hovering over the screen. "I have the routing numbers. I have the forged invoices. I have the emails between you and David. All I have to do is press send, and the SEC, the FBI, and the CEO of Vanguard Corporation will have a very interesting read this morning."

Robert’s knees actually buckled. He grabbed the edge of the bed to keep from falling. If Vanguard found out, he wouldn’t just be fired. He would be going to federal prison for twenty years. Martha and Chloe would be destitute.

"You're bluffing," Robert whispered, though his trembling voice gave him away. "You wouldn't ruin your own husband."

"Try me," Elena challenged, her eyes dead and cold. "I have five minutes. Sign the papers, transfer the joint liquid cash into my account, and get your parasites out of my house. Or I press send."

Robert looked at his phone, then at Elena’s ruthless expression. He realized with sickening clarity that the woman he married was gone. The person standing in front of him was a stranger. A stranger who held his life in the palm of her hand.

Defeated, shaking violently, Robert snatched the pen from the nightstand. He flipped to the last page of the document and scrawled his signature. 

[Ding!]

A translucent blue screen only Elena could see materialized in the air.

[System Prompt: Host has successfully severed toxic karma ties. Fate altered. Reward: 500 System Gold Coins.]

Elena smiled. A real, genuine smile. 

She snatched the papers from his hand, checking the signature. "Perfect. You have ten minutes to pack your clothes. If you are not out of my house by the time I get back from my morning drive, I’m calling the police to have you trespassed."

She turned on her heel and walked out of the bedroom, leaving the three of them in stunned, devastated silence. 

As she walked down the grand staircase of the house she now fully owned, she checked her banking app. Robert had just transferred the remaining joint funds. 

Her balance read: $450,000.

It was a good start. But to survive the White Christmas, and to build her fortress, she needed millions. And she knew exactly how to get them. Money was about to become completely worthless, which meant the banks were about to give it all away.

Elena grabbed her car keys from the console table. It was time to go max out every credit card in her name.