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Chapter 3

Author: Alyssa J
"I can explain."

I braced my hands on my knees and straightened up, staring blankly at the wedding photo on the wall.

In the picture he wore a white tux, head tipped down toward me, his eyes full of a happiness he couldn't hide.

Back then, we really had been beautiful.

"Vera."

Theo said my name softly, pulling me out of it.

With my back to him, I spoke calmly. "You did the reversal for her?"

Theo took a deep breath. "Yes."

"Lydia's worried she won't be able to remarry after her divorce, so she wants a kid. But don't worry, what we're doing is just IV—"

I spun around and slapped him across the face, hard.

"Is there a difference?"

The crack of it was jarring in the quiet room.

Theo's cheek reddened fast, five finger marks slowly surfacing.

He didn't dodge. He didn't even blink.

"Feel better?"

He dodged the heart of it. "If that's not enough, you can hit me a few more times."

"But I'm seeing Lydia through to the end. That's not changing."

I let out a single laugh and staggered back a few steps.

I didn't have the strength to argue anymore.

I opened my mouth, waited out the spasm of pain in my chest, and spoke mechanically. "The agreement's on the desk in the study."

"Sign it and mail it to my office."

"Sign what?" Theo's eyes went wide as he forced down his anger. "Sign it so you're free to run off with that Clark guy? Is that it?"

I looked at him and almost found it funny.

So he could get jealous after all.

"Even if I did, what's it got to do with you?" I said flatly. "You take care of Lydia, I find Ethan. Sounds fair, doesn't it?"

Before I'd finished, Theo's fist slammed into the wall.

A dull thud, and the wall lamp shattered, glass scattering across the floor. Blood seeped from the back of his hand.

Lydia came rushing in, fumbled the first-aid kit out from under the coffee table, and knelt to bandage him up.

I stood where I was and watched them.

Somewhere along the way, she'd come to know this home better than I did.

"Theo, your hand's bleeding, hold still—"

She wound the gauze and glanced back at me, her eyes rimmed red. "I'm sorry, Vera. This is all my fault."

"Once I'm divorced and I've had this baby, I'll disappear."

At that, Theo's face slowly shifted.

He pulled Lydia to her feet and said coldly, "That's enough. Don't beg her. She's always been cold. She wouldn't understand."

I laughed.

"Am I wrong? Lydia already said she'll leave. What more do you want? You won't be satisfied until you've driven her to her death?"

"Driven her to her death?"

"Yeah. And I'm warning you, Vera," Theo bit out, word by word, "if anything happens to Lydia, I will make you pay."

He hauled Lydia away before she could say anything more, and the empty room was soon mine alone.

It wasn't until their footsteps faded completely that I sank to the floor, drained.

It was just the end of a relationship. Just waving off someone who'd been passing through.

It would pass. All of it would pass.

I gathered the scattered reports off the floor, took photos, and sent them to my lawyer.

Then I booked an abortion for three days out.
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  • The Divorce He Never Expected   Chapter 9

    I had no time to react. The car was already on me.A deafening crash.The world shattered into white light in that instant.Before my mind cut out, all I remembered was a figure throwing itself at me, wrapping its whole body around mine.Then there was nothing.When I woke, I was in a pitch-dark room, the light dim, a single bare bulb swinging back and forth.I struggled and found my hands tied with rope."Is anyone there?"My head was foggy and my throat felt like a razor had been dragged through it, the pain bad.If I had to guess, I was running a fever."Stop yelling. It won't help."My eyes adjusted to the dark. I turned toward the voice. It was Lydia.She and Theo were tied up in the opposite corner, one on each side. Theo's head was wrapped in gauze. He looked badly hurt.When her gaze met mine, she gave a mocking smile. "What are you looking at? I'm not behind bars yet. Disappointed?""I don't think that way."The truth was I'd known Lydia for a very long time. We'd even been fr

  • The Divorce He Never Expected   Chapter 8

    After I was discharged, I moved straight to a new place.I cashed out the money I'd had tied up in the market and put it into a real-estate project.The project was in a mid-sized city not far from New York. The scale was small, the upfront cost was manageable, and financing through a bank was relatively simple.One thing led to another, and it grew into something with real shape.After that I rented an office, hired fifteen, twenty people, and pulled a few familiar faces from my old company. The work fell into a steady rhythm.In all that time, I never saw Theo again.It wasn't that I was avoiding him. Everyone had their own lives to get on with. No one stays standing in the same spot forever.But news of him kept flowing to me anyway.Like how he'd stripped Lydia of her position and taken her to court for forgery and defamation.Lydia was sentenced, the term suspended.Or how he'd stepped in personally, joined forces with several companies to attack Ashford Group's stock, and driven

  • The Divorce He Never Expected   Chapter 7

    (God's POV)"What?"Lydia froze.By now he should have come over with all his soft concern. So why hadn't he?Theo looked at her innocent face and ground his teeth."You sent the photos."Lydia caught where the problem was and explained at once. "What photos? Did Vera maybe, by accident—"She stopped right there.A woman like Vera would bottle anything up for the sake of her so-called pride. She'd never confront her over it.As long as Theo believed Lydia, he'd find the excuse for her on his own.For the first time, Theo laughed until his eyes watered. A clumsy excuse like this, and he'd swallowed it again and again.Seeing him laugh, Lydia let out a breath of relief.She stepped closer and slid into his arms."Theo, when are we doing the IVF? Damon, I'm really scared of him. Once it works, you'll marry me, right?"The bitter scent of chamomile crept into his nose.His first thought was that the air around Vera had never carried a bitterness like this.The thought hit, and he shoved Ly

  • The Divorce He Never Expected   Chapter 6

    Walking down the street, Theo felt lost for the first time.Reason told him Lydia was in danger and he had to get to her right away.He'd promised Lydia's brother he would look after his sister.He owed the man his life, and he had a duty to her.But his mind kept circling back, against his will, to my pale face, to that spreading patch of red.Had he done something wrong?He didn't know."Where to?"Theo gave the address and climbed into a cab.The driver had a livestream going. An influencer had just finished some dance routine, and the screen went dark, but the mic stayed on.The sound poured brazenly into the back seat."Lyd, how'd the photo thing land?""Decent. Shame she only lost her job. Still not satisfying enough."Theo recognized the voice almost instantly.It was Lydia.He knew that voice far too well.For years after he graduated, she'd chased him obsessively, poured out her feelings to him, and called his name into the dark on nights when she was begging him to save her.

  • The Divorce He Never Expected   Chapter 5

    I laughed, the sound sharp. "I found out too late, that's all."Theo set down the flowers and grabbed my wrist. "Don't move. Let me deal with your hand first."I yanked my arm free."Don't touch me. It's disgusting."He stiffened, then slid right back into that helpless look."They're just a few photos. Lydia's a woman, what's she going to do with them? Why work yourself into this state?""Vera, can you stop being unreasonable? Weren't we fine before?"Fine?A hollow laugh escaped me.So the moment the person who'd always backed down stopped backing down, she became unreasonable.I looked at him."Theo, do you know where she sent those photos? The company's internal email system. Everyone in the building saw them."Something in his face finally cracked.Theo rushed to the desk. The laptop was still on, and he saw the photos right away.His face had been blurred. Mine was crystal clear."That's not possible. This isn't possible."He grabbed my shoulders, his hands shaking badly. "Vera,

  • The Divorce He Never Expected   Chapter 4

    I sank into myself for two days, burying it all in work on purpose.But as a rising name in business, news of Theo still kept reaching me, cropping up everywhere I turned.He'd rented out an entire yacht for Lydia's birthday. He got into another brawl with her husband, stood beside her in court as a plaintiff again, and lost again when Lydia went soft.Round and round.I smiled. None of it surprised me.She was always like this, handing out hope, then disappointment, dragging everyone down with her by force.But this time, I wouldn't be one of them.When Amy pushed open my door, she was pale, her voice full of panic."Ms. Morgan. The company's internal email system.""What about it?"Confused, I opened my laptop.The second I logged in, a new email popped up.In the next instant, the image stabbed straight through my eyes. The email held only four or five photos, all of a woman in revealing clothes, in shameful poses.And every single one had my face.I stared at the screen, the blood

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