Ninety-Nine Apologies

Melody Harper froze in place, but her chest still heaved with anger.Her question landed like a punch against a pillow.When she said nothing more, I ignored her and picked up the dress she had taken off. "It's all wrinkled. I'll iron it for you.""Anthony Sorloth!" she called after me, unable to hide the irritation in her voice. "What do you actually want? Would you stop acting crazy? Do you have any idea how much those posts of yours have hurt me? I'm a person too. I get tired too!"My hands went still, and my breathing quickened. "Are you worried about yourself, or about Terrence Layne?"The name hit like a thunderclap and tore open the rift between us."Why are you bringing up Terrence again? I transferred him to another team ages ago and cut off all contact. You know that, don't you? Is turning all of us into lunatics like you the only thing that will make you happy?"Her voice rose sharply, but the moment she saw how haggard I looked, she faltered. Her anger seemed to drai

"Tony! Someone Melody sent tore down the house back home! Your father built that house brick by brick! It was the only thing I had left of him!"The words cut through me like a knife, plunging straight into my chest without warning.I broke down.Despite the twisting pain in my chest, I dialed Melody's number with trembling hands. "How dare you have someone tear down my parents' house? My mother has always been so good to you!"Melody's voice was icy. "If I'd been even a second later just now, Terrence would have overdosed on sleeping pills."Your mother called the school and reported Terrence as the other man in all this. She nearly drove him to kill himself!"Now that the house back home is gone, she might as well move into the city."After nearly ten years of marriage, I understood Melody's meaning at once. She wanted to cut off every option my mother had. She wanted to force my entire family to live right under her watch."Melody, why don't you go die with him!" I screamed

"We received a report that the two of you are suspected of intentional assault. Come with us."A female officer stepped forward and bandaged my wound. "Someone call an ambulance, quick! He's bleeding badly!"Melody finally noticed the blood covering my head. "Tony..." Only then did she seem to remember that I had just been critically ill and was still not out of danger.Guilt flooded Melody's face. She reached out to touch me, but I pulled away.I pointed at her, my eyes burning with hatred. "It was her. She threatened me with my mother and beat me. And that man standing next to her pushed my mother down the stairs and killed her."Terrence had never faced anything like this before. "I didn't!"He stamped his feet in panic and looked to Melody for help. "I didn't push his mother! He's lying about me! Ms. Harper, save me. Don't forget, I'm your child's—"He bit his lower lip, too afraid to say the last word.Melody lowered her eyes, her expression strained. Then she looked at

"I don't agree." Melody's voice softened. "Tony, I won't agree to divorce you, so you might as well give up on that idea."I let out a humorless laugh. "Is this fun for you? Dragging this out is just wasting my time.""Because I love you, Tony. I really do love you." Melody's voice cracked with exhaustion. "I don't know how we ended up like this."I scoffed. "So what you're saying is, you're sitting in a hospital right now, watching over your lover and his child, and you're still telling me you love me?"You don't love me. You've just gotten used to having me around. Since you won't agree to a divorce, I'll see you in court."I hung up and moved on to the second part of my plan.I put together a 108-page slide deck titled "On a University Professor's Affair with a Student: Protecting the Mistress, Beating the Rightful Spouse."It laid out the entire timeline of Terrence and Melody's relationship in meticulous detail. I even thoughtfully included their bedroom photos, along with

"I told you clearly to take a leave of absence from school and act like none of this ever happened. Why wouldn't you listen?"Terrence dropped to the ground and wrapped his arms around Melody's legs. "Why should I take a leave of absence? I didn't do anything wrong!"I'm just a student! If you hadn't deceived me, I never would've done something like this! You have to take responsibility for me, or I'll report you!""You... You're completely unreasonable!"I had no interest in watching two dogs fight over scraps, so I turned to leave.Melody grabbed my wrist. "Tony, I'm begging you. For the sake of our ten years of marriage, please stop this. If you keep going, I won't even have a job left."I wrenched my hand free. "Isn't that a good thing? Now the two of you can stay home together every day. No more scrambling to find places to sneak around."When she tried to grab me again, I stepped back and pointed to my phone. "My livestream's still running, by the way. Ms. Harper, want to