One

CHARLOTTE’S P.O.V

"Ms. Valente, the divorce papers you requested will be ready within a week."

I forced a tight-lipped smile to my lawyer, nodding my head as I stood. 

“I look forward to it. Thank you,” I said, pulling on my coat at the door, feeling my phone vibrating in the pocket. 

My best friend’s picture popped up with an incoming call, and I sighed before answering it. 

She didn’t know yet. No one did. 

“Hey, Lydia,” I said, only to yank the phone away from my ear at the high-pitched squeal that came from her side. 

"Have you seen the news?! You’re all they can talk about. Your husband bought you an island and named it after you? Why didn’t you tell me? That’s so romantic! He’s so crazy about you, I’m so jealous!" She shouted, and I lifted my hand to rub my temples as she immediately began to plan our next vacation, but all I could think about was making sure my lawyer added the guilt gift to our list of assets. 

"He hasn’t told me, but it doesn’t matter. I’m getting divorced from Justin," I interrupted, saying the words out loud for the first time to someone other than my lawyer. 

The word ‘divorce’ echoed in my head, and suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. The rush of emotions I had been holding back all day slammed into me, and my hand flew up to rub my chest as heat formed behind my tear-filled eyes.

The line went silent for a long moment before Lydia spoke again, her voice filled with shock. "But Justin loves you so much! What happened?"

I squeezed my eyes closed tighter, and a few tears escaped, sliding down my cheeks.

I had thought so, too, until yesterday.

God! I had thought it was a prank and didn’t believe it at first. Everything had been so perfect between us until then, or… I thought it had been perfect.

We had been inseparable since college. 

Justin had asked me out relentlessly, showed up to classes with roses, hired a band to serenade me in the dining hall, and even showed up to one of his football games with my last name on the back of his jersey instead of his own, showing off that I was his girl.

When we got married, his gestures only became grander.

Justin became a partner in his father’s firm and spared no expense on me. He bought me the finest jewelry, dressed me in custom designer gowns, and showed me off at every gala. We even custom-built our mansion because he insisted that I deserved my dream home.

Then everything went up in flames when I showed up to our favorite restaurant last night, expecting to meet him there. 

Every year without fail, Justin booked a reservation there for my birthday, and we would meet for dinner when he got done working.

Only this year, the hostess turned me away, saying I didn’t have a reservation and that Justin wasn’t there.

I had been ready to argue and ask her to check again, knowing he wouldn’t have forgotten me, but then Justin called. 

I had been excited, hoping he was going to tell me we were meeting somewhere else or that he was on his way…until I heard the sound of something rustling against the phone, followed by a woman’s voice as she gasped and then moaned in pleasure. 

"Am I better than your wife?" She had asked. The phone almost fell out of my hand as my fingers went numb around it. 

"Shut up, Tara. Don’t mention her right now, I’m going to cum." Justin said, and my blood turned to ice. All of the heat from my embarrassment of being turned away drained from my face, and my hand flew up to cover my mouth. 

No!

Justin had always enjoyed the occasional prank, but this was too far. He had never done a prank that would actually hurt me. They had all been innocent before, but this was just cruel. 

Suddenly, the screen lit up by my cheek and the call started to come through the speaker, loud enough for everyone in the restaurant entryway to hear. 

I pulled it away to see why it had done that. 

Yet, when I glanced down at the screen, I didn’t understand what I was seeing at first until he moved.

My breath hitched as I stared in horror.

The call had been turned into a video call, and there, on the screen, was my husband tangled up with one of the new interns at his company, violently thrusting into her, completely unaware that I was witnessing the whole thing. 

I flinched as she moaned again, louder this time as she smiled at the phone, and I frantically ended the call with my trembling hands as people around me began to whisper. 

I hadn’t been able to get out of the restaurant fast enough or stop the tears. I couldn’t even remember how I had gotten home, or how long I lay curled up on the bathroom floor sobbing, unable to stop the shaking. 

Yet I cried until I had nothing left, and by sunrise, I had researched the best divorce attorney in the city and driven to their office the minute they opened. 

We spent the entire day diving into every detail of my life with Justin, everything we owned, every source of income, and discussing the proof I still needed to gather if I wanted the prenup to protect me. 

“Charlotte, talk to me. What’s going on?” Lydia asked, and I finally felt my anger resurface. I ground my molars together as I tried to force down the memories of Tara’s moans while my husband thrust into her.

“It’s over, Lydia,” I said with determination. I would not turn a blind eye to this. “That’s all I can say right now.”

“A divorce, though? What about therapy? You guys can work through whatever it is, I’m sure of it!” Lydia said. “Are you sure about this?”

I lifted my chin, blinking back the tears as quickly as I watched my driver pull up outside the building and strode toward the door. 

I had never been more sure about anything in my entire life. 

"Yes,” I said firmly, lowering my sunglasses from atop my head to cover my bloodshot eyes as I walked out into the warm afternoon air. “I’ll leave him in seven days." 

“Seven days? But isn’t that you’re…” 

“Our anniversary? Yes, it is.” I said, nodding at my driver as he held the door open for me. 

“Where to, Ma’am?” He asked, and I slid into the back seat, my body going numb as the past twenty-four hours finally caught up to me.

I thought for a moment, not wanting to go home to face Justin just yet. He would get what was coming to him, but not until I had my proof, and he was being served.

He thought he could play me for a fool, but he had another thing coming.

“Come over.” Lydia suddenly said. “We are going out tonight. You need a drink.” 

“I need several,” I said, my voice cracking. “I’m on my way.”