Chapter 9

"I'm not as shameless as you, Marcus. Doing disgusting things like that fits you and Sophia... not me." I kept my voice calm and steady, which made Marcus even more angry.

"Ava! How dare you!"

His voice cracked through the phone like thunder in the quiet French night.

"Did you sleep with that man? Did you moan and cry out under his body?"

Marcus's dirty words made me furious, but I held back. No matter what, I couldn't let him know about my twin babies. My children shouldn't have a cruel father like I had cruel parents. I suffered my whole life, but I wanted my babies to grow up with warmth and love.

"We're done, Marcus. This conversation is over, so stop bothering me. Whether I choose another man or not has nothing to do with you anymore."

"Just sign those divorce papers then." Marcus laughed, but there was no humor in it. I could hear him grinding his teeth in anger.

"You shameless woman, are you so excited for a divorce because you want my money? Do you think the money you get from me will make you and your lover rich?"

The line went quiet for a moment. I could hear him breathing heavily.

"Let me tell you a secret, Ava. From the very beginning of our marriage, I knew exactly what kind of disgusting, creepy woman you were."

Marcus's words felt like acid burning through my heart. Each word cut deeper than a knife, leaving me speechless.

"So I made sure to prepare for this day when I would kick you out of my life. You probably think you'll live well with my money, but let me tell you something - I'll make your life hell! I'll use every trick I know to make sure you don't get a single penny!"

I refused to let the tears in my eyes fall. I finally understood that Marcus had been using me from the very beginning.

"Do whatever you want, Marcus. I don't care."

With that, I hung up the phone.

The rain started hitting my hotel window as I realized the truth - loving Marcus was my biggest mistake.

A week crawled by like a slow, painful dream. It was my first day at my new office in downtown Toronto Canada. The Hermès scarf around my neck felt like the only piece of luxury I had left as I sat reviewing documents.

"Miss Ava?"

I looked up to see a young woman Ms. Lyla  with nervous eyes standing by my desk.

"Yes? How can I help you?"

"The manager wants to see you in his office. Right now."

My stomach dropped. The cold air from the air conditioning made me shiver as I knocked on the glass door.

"Come in," a gruff voice called.

"Miss Ava, I'm sorry to tell you that the position you were hired for has been given to someone else." The manager didn't even look up from his papers as he spoke.

My breathing got heavy. "But sir, it was the senior management who offered me this job in the first place. Please let me talk to them. I need to know why this is happening."

"Are you questioning my authority now?" The manager's face turned red with anger when I asked for answers.

"I don't understand why I would be fired like this. I haven't even started working yet."

"I'll give you a reason."

Another voice made me turn around. My blood turned to ice when I saw Marcus standing right in front of me with his arm wrapped around Sophia's tiny waist. She wore a pink Chanel suit that probably cost more than most people make in a year.

Marcus's face twisted into a fake smile as he looked at the manager. "Could you give us some privacy, please?"

The manager quickly left, closing the door behind him.

"You were so confident that you could survive without me, weren't you?" Marcus walked closer, his expensive Gucci shoes clicking on the marble floor. "I invested in this company, and now I'm a shareholder. Just like that, I'm back on top and you're still at the bottom, begging. Didn't you say you didn't need me?"

"Marcus, please stop. Don't talk to my sister like this." I felt sick watching Sophia's fake performance as she dabbed her eyes with a silk handkerchief.

"Sister?" Marcus's voice got sharp and cold. "This woman stole me away from you and became my wife by blackmailing my grandfather. Why are you still being nice to her?"

"Marcus, please. Ava is still my sister. She might have made mistakes in the past, but I can't just abandon her." Sophia reached into her Louis Vuitton purse and pulled out a stack of money.

"This might help with your medical treatment, sister. Please take it."

In the past, I would have hung my head and put up with Sophia's fake kindness. But this time, a slow smile spread across my face.

"What is that? A few thousand dollars?" I laughed softly. "If you had actually studied once in your life instead of fooling around with other people's husbands, you'd know that money can't even buy one month of asthma medicine, let alone pay for real treatment."

I stood up slowly, feeling stronger than I had in years.

"Instead of giving me charity, how about you use that money to get an education?"

"You—!" Sophia's mask slipped for a moment, and I saw the real anger in her eyes before she put on her sweet voice again.

"Never mind. I'm not here to fight with you." She turned to Marcus with a sugary smile. "Marcus, why don't you tell Ava why we came here specifically to see her?"

While Sophia argued with me, Marcus stared at my face without blinking, like he was trying to read my thoughts.

The office felt too small, too hot. The city noise from outside seemed far away.

"This can still change, Ava." Marcus's voice got softer, almost gentle. "Just like I promised you before - if you come back to me, I'll make up for everything that happened in the past. We can get over this."

Sophia's confident smile disappeared completely. She stared at Marcus like he had just slapped her.

"What are you saying?" she whispered.

"No." My voice came out stronger than I expected. "I will never come back to you."

Marcus's face went hard. The gentle look he used to trick me with vanished, and he glared at me with pure hatred.

"Fine then! Don't blame me for being cruel!"

He pulled out a stack of papers and threw them at my feet. The documents scattered across the expensive carpet like fallen leaves.

"There. I signed the divorce papers myself."

The papers lay there between us like a bridge that had finally burned down. In the silence that followed, I could hear Sophia's sharp intake of breath and Marcus's heavy breathing.

I looked down at the papers, then back up at his face.

"Good," I said quietly. "This is exactly what I wanted."