Chapter 2

Adrian came over when he heard me shouting. He stared at me dumbly for a while before sighing. “I know that you’re in a bad mood, but why are you losing your temper on Oliver?”

At night, we slept with our backs turned to each other as our minds were occupied with different things.

Finally, Adrian said, “Could it be a misdiagnosis? I’ll get someone to go with you for a re-examination tomorrow.”

“No need,” I said.

“Don’t sulk…”

“Shut up.”

“Fine. Whatever.” Adrian got exasperated and pulled the blanket over his head.

…

I was not expecting to be able to sleep soundly.

When I opened my eyes, it was already 10 a.m.

I walked out of the bedroom and found the house to be a warzone.

Adrian’s and Irene’s clothes and toys were all over the place, while leftover food was still on the table.

Usually, I would clean it all up with a grumble.

But this time, I poured myself a glass of milk and drew the curtains back to bask in the sun.

It had been a long time since I had such a relaxing time.

I lived my life like I was on the battlefield. I rushed to work, then ran back home. I dealt with all sorts of accidents and took care of them while feeling like I was at my wits’ end.

The door knob turned, and Patricia Howard, my mother-in-law, walked in and interrupted my thoughts.

Since she was not expecting me to be at home, she was stunned. Our gazes met, and she looked troubled.

She should never have been here, and certainly not with the keys of this house.

When Irene was still a child, I asked Patricia to take care of her. Worried that Patricia would feel annoyed by it, I paid her 5,000 dollars a month. I also frequently bought her gifts.

But she was still unhappy about it and often slacked off. She even thought that giving Irene milk was a waste of money.

One day, I heard her tell our neighbors that it was normal for children to spend money on their parents and in-laws. I had no right to ask her to take care of Irene!

I was no doormat and was not about to let her walk all over me, so I hired a nanny.

Patricia and I had a huge argument about it, while Adrian found himself miserable being sandwiched between us. So, he asked his mother to go back home.

When Patricia left, she did not return our house keys, which led to her always dropping by unannounced during the weekend.

One time, she barged into our room and bothered us while we were still sleeping. Adrian got mad and demanded she hand over the keys.

Her coming in this time meant that Patricia had either made a duplicate or had never returned the keys to Adrian. She was playing underhanded tricks with me.

Patricia took a look at her keys. Since she had nowhere to hide them, she could only tell me how she got them.

“Adrian gave me the keys. He asked me to come over to clean up the place.”

I understood what had happened. Adrian had to have told her that I was sick.

The moment Patricia heard that, she was trying to move back in like she owned the place.

I sneered and did not move. I wanted to see her give her performance. Based on my understanding of her, it was impossible for her to not mock me.

Patricia did not start cleaning, but sat down across from me. After some careful deliberation, she said, “I told you that one should do good instead of sowing discord, or else they’ll suffer the consequences of their actions.”

“What do you mean?” I was not expecting her to be so straightforward, and where did she get the idea that I was sowing discord?

“What else could I mean? You were trying to sour my relationship with Adrian, and now, you’re suffering the consequences.”

She grinned.

I laughed, which took her aback.

“I suppose I overestimated myself. You two are a unit. Stay together and live a good life.”

I stood up and walked to the bedroom.

When I reached the door, I said, “Clean up the place. This is your son’s house, not mine.”

Right then, my phone rang. I took a look at it. It was a call from Henry, my subordinate in the company.

“What is it?”

“You have to come over, Mrs. Howard! Something went wrong with one of our deals!” Henry then told me everything that had happened.

My subordinates were always troublesome, but I no longer wanted to clean up after them.

“I’m not going. Deal with it yourself.”

Henry was not expecting me to say that. After a brief pause, he whispered, “Mrs. Howard, you can’t just say you don’t want to deal with it and ignore us.”

“Are you all children? You always come to me when a problem arises. I don’t see myself getting any bonuses for helping you all. Earn your pay. It’s not my job to help you every single time. I’m not dealing with it. Do whatever you want.”

I was prepared to resign, so I had nothing else to say. After getting those words off my chest, I felt my mood get lighter.

When I turned around, I found Patricia sneaking looks at me. She had to have heard the conversation, and she was going to tell Adrian about it at the moment I left the house.

Suddenly, dark clouds covered the sky, so I went to the storage room to grab an umbrella.

A bunch of things spilled out when I opened the door.

They were my husband’s fishing rods, fishing lines, and fishing bait. He got hooked on fishing over the last few years and spent a lot of money buying all the tools. Of course, when he told me about how much they cost, he always lied.

If a male colleague of mine had not told me the truth, I would have never known that my seemingly plain husband was using fishing rods worth more than 10,000 dollars.

This gave me another way to calculate the value of my life, and it was worth less than thirty fishing rods.

I knew what I had to do. I turned around and said to Patricia, “You should start working. I’m going to divorce your son.”