Drunk on Regret

"Mark, hurry up and kiss her! That's your punishment! Come on, do it!"I stood in the doorway, watching my husband, Marcus Parker, use a game of truth or dare as an excuse to passionately kiss his childhood friend through a poker card. My heart instantly plummeted to rock bottom.If I had not received that anonymous text message, I never would have believed that Marcus, who was always so restrained and proper with me and never touched alcohol, would engage in something like this.I swallowed the bitter feeling rising in my throat and pushed open the door. "Marcus, what are you doing?"Hannah Carter suddenly fell to the ground as if startled by my questioning voice. Someone immediately spoke up to criticize me."Claire, aren't you being a bit too uptight? It's just a game of truth or dare. It's not real."Hannah looked at me with rapid, shallow breaths. "Claire, don't blame Mark for this. It's my fault. I lost the game, so he drank and played along with me..."Hannah was Marcus'

I tried explaining, but it only made Marcus angrier."Another urn story, Claire? If you're going to lie, at least make it believable! Since you insist this is an urn..."He grabbed my mom's urn and smashed it on the ground. "Let's see what's really in here!"The broken shards mixed with pool water, washing away the ashes. I fell to my knees, frantically trying to save what remained of the ashes, but there was nothing left."Mom, how could this happen?" I broke down sobbing. My grief seemed to catch Marcus off guard.That was when Hannah, still sitting on the ground, spoke up with feigned hurt. "Claire, you don't need to put on such a show just to avoid apologizing to me. Your mother has professional caregivers watching her. How could she suddenly die?"Marcus snapped back to attention, looking at me with even more disgust. "Claire, you're getting more unreasonable by the day! Hannah, let's go. If she wants to put on a show, let her do it by herself!"…Over the next few days, I

My voice was cold as I spoke into the phone. "Marcus, I'm not the one putting you in this impossible situation. You're the one who promised you wouldn't see Hannah to keep me from leaving."Marcus fell silent. I could hear Hannah screaming like a maniac in the background."It's you! You're the one keeping Mark from seeing me! Claire, why didn't that car just kill you..."Marcus abruptly ended the call.I did not want any more drama with him, so I sent all the evidence I had to Nathan.Marcus had not read the divorce agreement carefully and missed that I was filing on grounds of adultery. Thanks to Hannah's evidence, my chances of a successful divorce just got a lot better.A few days later, Marcus called again. Unlike his earlier defiance, his voice was noticeably hoarse."Claire, do you really need to be so petty with someone who has severe depression? Do you know Hannah almost killed herself because of you?"I was not falling for his manipulation. "Marcus, I didn't cause her

After finishing the project, I was ready to visit my mom's grave. Maybe she would finally visit me in my dreams and give me hell for being such a terrible daughter.Thinking about my mom's scattered ashes, my eyes welled up with tears again.After boarding the plane, I saw Jason, much to my surprise. "What are you doing here?""You looked so pitiful while crying that I couldn't help but tag along. You don't mind an old friend keeping you company on the way home, do you?"I could not argue with him and smiled faintly.Back home, I finally had time to check my phone and go through the many important messages. During the six months I was gone, Marcus had become increasingly haggard from having to deal with Hannah's sudden depression. Unfortunately, people with severe depression really could not handle stress. He could only suppress his emotions and give in to her demands.However, his concessions only made Hannah worse. She even threatened suicide multiple times, demanding that he

Jason listed off Marcus' crimes like he was reading from a rap sheet. Everyone's expressions shifted from sympathy to outright disgust.Just then, Hannah came out of nowhere like a complete psycho and threw herself at Marcus, stabbing him multiple times.Even though security managed to stop her, Marcus was barely clinging to life by then. Fortunately, everyone here was a medical professional, and their emergency intervention managed to save his life."Hah! Claire, you think you won? Do you know why your mom really died? Because I showed her intimate photos of me and Marcus! She had a heart attack right there and died crying your name!"Hannah stared at me with wild eyes.Marcus looked stunned, his eyes filled with pain and regret. "Claire, I was so wrong..."Hannah was arrested. Her family and lawyers tried to use her supposed severe depression to plead for leniency. However, Jason dug into Hannah's medical records and found out she had been faking the whole depression thing. H