I Want A Divorce

Both William and Olivia froze at the sound of my voice. His head snapped toward me, Olivia gasping as she pulled the sheet to cover herself.

“Viv—” he started, scrambling for words.

But I wasn’t listening. The sound of my own voice still rang in the room, heavy, jagged, impossible to take back.

I tore open my closet door, yanked clothes from hangers, ripped open drawers, and threw everything into a suitcase. Each slam of fabric, each snap of wood echoed the storm in me. But under it all was the deeper wound, that he touched Olivia the same way he once touched me. The same hands. The same gestures that once felt like love.

My stomach twisted as I shoved another armful of clothes into the case. My fingers trembled so badly I could hardly zip the side pocket.

Then his voice cut through.

“Vivienne.” Smooth, calm, like he hadn’t just destroyed me. He leaned against the doorframe, half-dressed, arrogant as ever. “What the hell are you doing?”

I didn’t look at him.

He chuckled. “Oh, come on. Don’t be dramatic. You caught us. Fine. But let’s not act like you’re some saint here.”

My hands froze. I turned slowly, my chest tight. “Don’t you dare.”

He stepped inside, smirking. “What? Don’t dare what? Say the truth? You’ve been absent for years, Viv. What did you expect me to do? Just rot away while you played career queen?”

I dropped another shirt into the suitcase, my jaw clenched. “Every late night, every hour I worked was for Liam and you. I kept this roof over your heads. You know that?”

William rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, always for Liam. Always the martyr. You use him as your excuse for everything. Maybe if you actually cared about your husband half as much as you cared about your job, we wouldn’t be here.”

The words hit hard, but I shoved back. “Care about you? When you walked out? When you left me to face hospital nights alone? Do you remember me calling you, begging for help, and you silenced your phone? You want to talk about care? You abandoned us.”

His smile faltered for a second, then came back sharper. “I left because you pushed me out. You made it clear I wasn’t enough. You didn’t want me. You wanted promotions, clients, and all that bullshit.”

My chest pounded. “Enough? You weren’t even there to try! Who held Liam when the fevers spiked? Who sold her wedding ring to cover hospital bills? Who worked two jobs when insurance wouldn’t cover another round of tests? It wasn’t you, William. It was me.”

He sneered. “And look where all that’s gotten you. Alone. Bitter. Lashing out because you can’t admit maybe you failed, too.”

I stepped forward, my voice breaking but steady. “No. I didn’t fail. Don’t twist this. Don’t put your shame on me.”

His eyes narrowed. Then he tilted his head, mocking. “Or maybe you weren’t working those late nights. Maybe you were too busy with your boss. Hm? Sleeping your way to that shiny promotion, Vivienne?”

For a second, the room tilted. The air left my lungs. That lie—so easy for him to say, so cruel, so ugly—snapped something inside me.

Before I could think, my hand flew. The slap cracked across his cheek, loud, final.

The silence that followed was heavy, stunned. He stared at me, hand to his face, eyes wide with something between anger and disbelief.

His cheek still held the mark of my slap. The silence stretched, thick and heavy, but my voice, when it came, was not sharp anymore. It was low. Calm. Certain.

“You cheated, William. That’s what this is. No excuses. You finally pulled the last straw.”

He gave a little shrug, like it cost him nothing. “She was there. You weren’t.”

Something inside me stilled. No more rage. No more shouting. Just clarity. I nodded once, my heart strangely steady. “Then that’s it. I want a divorce.”

He blinked, as though the words should have bounced off me instead of landing. “Vivienne, don’t be stupid. You don’t mean that.”

“I do,” I said, zipping my suitcase. The sound ripped through the room, louder than his voice, louder than the ache in my chest.

He stepped forward, hands raised as if to calm me. “You think walking out fixes anything? You think taking Liam and running solves this? He needs both of us—”

“Stop.” My voice cut him short. “Don’t you dare use Liam to hold me here. You’ve missed too much already to stand there and act like a father now.”

His jaw tightened. “So that’s it? Years of marriage tossed aside because of one mistake?”

“One mistake?” I let out a bitter laugh. “Walking away when our son got sick wasn’t a mistake? Leaving me to drown in bills wasn’t a mistake? Cheating with his nanny in my bed, this bed, isn’t a mistake. It’s who you are, William. And I am done.”

He scoffed, shaking his head. “You’ll regret this. No one else is going to put up with you. No man’s going to deal with your hours, your attitude.”

I pulled the suitcase handle up. “Then I’ll stay alone. Better that than live like this.”

The door creaked down the hall. Olivia’s soft steps echoed closer. She lingered at the top of the stairs, pale, uncertain.

William turned to her. “Olivia, tell her—”

But I cut him off. I walked down the stairs with my suitcase rolling behind me. My eyes met hers. She froze, guilt flickering in her face, but no apology followed.

My voice was soft, sharp as glass. “You can have him all to yourself.”

Her lips parted like she wanted to answer, but nothing came. She stepped back, out of my way.

I dragged the suitcase downstairs. William called after me with angry words and half-threats but I didn’t stop. I didn’t look back.

The front door slammed behind me, and the night air bit at my skin. For a second, I felt hollow, stripped clean of everything I had tried to hold together. But in that hollow space was freedom.

My phone buzzed in my pocket as Susan’s text glowed simple and sharp: [“A New CEO announced has been announced and he’s scary.”]

I let out a laugh in disbelief. My world had just collapsed, and now work promised another storm. The timing felt cruel, but maybe life didn’t wait.

I booked a hotel before I let myself think twice. Hours later, I stood at the window of a quiet room, the city lights spread out below me. My suitcase sat against the wall, everything I had left folded inside it.

For the first time in years, I felt a strange kind of clarity. The war with William was finally over, and yet, I couldn’t help but worry about this new so-called ruthless CEO.