Chapter 3

I held the phone further away and replied calmly, "I told you last night. I did it."

Zachary was breathing hard on the other end of the line, clearly furious.

"Cut the crap. You spend all day hovering around the stove. Since when do you have that kind of pull? You must've gone to the school and made a scene, dragging my name through the mud.

"Rebecca Tanner, I was wrong about you. You've turned into a complete shrew. You'd better get to the school immediately and apologize to the admissions office. Fix this situation, or I'm filing for a divorce today!"

Hearing him use divorce as a threat finally broke my composure, and I laughed out loud.

"Fine. I'll see you at the courthouse at 2:00 pm. Don't chicken out."

Before he could respond, I ended the call and blocked his number.

At 2:00 pm sharp, I arrived at the courthouse. I waited for 30 minutes, but Zachary never showed.

I wasn't surprised.

Zachary was flat broke. If we really got a divorce, he wouldn't even have a place to stay.

Whenever he brought up divorce, he was counting on the fact that, for the past eight years, I had yielded to him every time. Unfortunately for him, that lovestruck version of me was gone.

I turned and went back to the office, continuing to work through the stack of pending files.

Meanwhile, Zachary was standing outside the gates of the research institute, sweating under the sun.

He had gone there that morning to follow up on a major project, only to discover that his access card no longer worked. The security guard stopped him and informed him that his credentials had been revoked.

Zachary immediately began making a scene, accusing the guard of looking down on him.

In the middle of the commotion, his direct superior, Winston, hurried out.

"Mr. Yates, you're finally here," Zachary said as he scurried over to greet him. "This guard won't let me in. My project is at a critical stage. Who's going to take the fall if our progress is delayed?

Winston shot him an icy look. "Don't bother coming in, Zachary. Your project has been suspended indefinitely."

Zachary froze, disbelief written all over his face. "Suspended? Why? This project was on track for a national award!"

Winston sneered. "An award? With what funding? Our largest sponsor withdrew their investment this morning, and they were very specific about their reasons. They're pulling the plug because of you!"

Zachary was stunned. "Which sponsor? I've never even met them. How could I have offended anyone?"

Winston jabbed a finger at his face, shouting, "How the hell should I know? Her assistant called us personally. She said that you're a man of poor character and even worse morals! I don't care what kind of mess you've gotten yourself into, Zachary, but the sponsor's attending our annual gala tonight.

"You'd better figure out a way to get on her good side and convince her to reinstate the funding. Otherwise, you can pack your bags and be out by tomorrow morning!"

With that, Winston turned and walked away, leaving Zachary standing there, his mind buzzing.

He couldn't wrap his mind around it. How did a respected researcher like himself suddenly offend a sponsor he had never even met?

Just then, Amelia called.

"Zachary, where are you? How did the school situation go? I just checked, and they said we need the actual deed to a house in the school district."

Fuming and on edge, Zachary snapped, "The deed's with Rebecca. I don't know what's gotten into that lunatic today, but she's even blocked my number."

On the other end of the line, Amelia began crying.

"Then what are we going to do? Are my kids going to end up in one of those low-end schools? Zachary, you have a PhD. You're brilliant, so surely you can figure something out, right?"

Her flattery successfully stroked his pride.