#002 Evelyn Confronts Derek

~Evelyn.

The glass doors of the city registry slid open, and I stepped out onto the wide stone steps. Eighty days left until the world froze into an icy wasteland. I had no time to waste on emotional games or petty arguments.

Heavy footsteps echoed up the stone stairs.

Derek marched toward me, his chest heaving under his tight shirt, his face flushed a dark and angry red. He looked like a man who expected to find a weeping and trembling wife waiting on her knees to beg for mercy. He provably must had spent the entire car ride convincing himself that my sudden rebellion was nothing more than a childish temper tantrum, a brief he could easily squash with a stern look and a raised voice.

"Have you lost your mind?" Derek snapped, his voice cutting sharply through the chatter of people walking by.

He jabbed a thick finger toward my face, his eyes bulging with fury.

"My father is sitting at home in tears because you laid your hands on him!" Derek continued, his tone rising in volume as he drew a crowd. "You are going to turn right around, go back inside that house, clean up the mess you made, and apologize to him right now before I lose my temper completely."

I looked at him, my expression entirely unbothered. I did not blink, nor did I flinch away from his pointing finger. He assumed I was still the meek woman who would take his abuse without a word. He had no idea I had uncovered the rot at the center of his entire life.

Instead of answering his shouting, I reached slowly into my handbag, pulled out the formal divorce papers, and laid them flat against the stone pillar beside us. I clicked my pen and held it out toward him.

"Sign your name right here, Derek," I said, my voice smooth and level. "Let us not waste each other's time."

Derek stared at the paper, then up at my face, blinking as if his brain refused to process what he was seeing. A mocking laugh escaped his throat, dry and humorless.

"Are you still playing this stupid game?" he scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest as if he held all the power. "Put that nonsense away before people look at us. You think you can just walk out on this family? What about Leo? Have you completely lost your heart?"

Here it came. The weaponized guilt. He thought using the child would break my resolve.

A cold chuckle slipped past my lips. I tilted my head, looking at the man I had wasted four years trying to please.

"My heart?" I repeated softly, stepping closer until he was forced to hold my steady gaze. "Derek, do you honestly want to talk about hearts and children?"

His brows drew together, a flicker of unease passing through his dark eyes.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, his voice dropping slightly as he sensed the shift in my tone.

"I am talking about the fact that you never loved me," I said, every word dripping with crystalline clarity. "I am talking about how you married a lonely woman because you needed a live in maid and a walking paycheck to fund your lifestyle, while you kept your real life hidden across town with Chloe."

Derek stiffened instantly, his face losing its angry red color in a single second.

"You do not know what you are talking about," he stammered, stepping back. "You are just lashing out because you are angry."

"Am I?" I raised an eyebrow, my tone sharpening like a blade. "Should I spell it out for you word by word? Should I mention how the boy you expect me to raise as my own is actually the son you had with Chloe? And should I remind you what happened to my real baby, Derek? The baby girl who was quietly swapped in the hospital nursery while I was unconscious, the baby whose little life was snuffed out because your family did not want any complications while you played happy families with your mistress?"

The color drained completely from Derek's face, leaving him looking like a corpse. He stumbled backward as if I had struck him physically, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly. His hands began to shake visibly at his sides.

"What?" he whispered, his voice cracking with sudden, breathless terror. "Who told you that? That is insane! You are making things up!"

"Are you sure about that?" I stepped closer, my voice cold enough to freeze water. "I pulled the hospital records, Derek. I pieced together the financial transfers between your father and the obstetrician. You and Chloe engineered the whole thing so she could have a wealthy provider while her own child was placed safely in my arms to be raised with my sweat and tears, while my true child was discarded like trash."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small and sealed plastic evidence bag holding a single strand of dark hair. I held it up just high enough for him to see clearly in the sunlight.

"I took this from Leo's head this afternoon," I said smoothly, watching his eyes widen in stark terror. "If you refuse to sign these papers right now, I will take this sample and the hospital records to the police and to the media tomorrow morning. Let us see how long your career and your freedom last when everyone learns you built your life on kidnapping and fraud."

Derek stared at the small plastic bag as if it were a venomous snake ready to strike.

All the arrogant bluster vanished from his body in an instant. He looked at me not with anger, but with deep and paralyzing terror. He realized in that single heartbeat that he no longer held a single shred of leverage over me. The quiet and obedient woman who used to fold his laundry without complaint was gone, replaced by someone who held his entire destruction in the palm of her hand.

"You are a monster," Derek whispered, his voice trembling violently as sweat beaded on his forehead.

"I am just returning the favor," I replied coldly, pressing the pen harder into his palm. "Sign."

Trembling all over, Derek grabbed the pen. His hand shook so badly he could barely form the letters of his own name. He scrawled his signature across the bottom of the document, signing away a marriage built entirely on deceit, theft, and exploitation.

As soon as the ink touched the page, I snatched the papers back, checking the signature to make sure it was legally binding. I folded the documents neatly and tucked them away safely in my bag.

Without sparing him another glance, I turned on my heel and walked down the registry steps, stepping out into the bright afternoon sunlight.

I did not look back. Not once.

Behind me, Derek stood frozen on the stone stairs, staring blankly at nothing as the reality of his ruined life crashed down around him.

Let him panic. Let him figure out how to survive when his cash cow was gone and his dark secrets were exposed to the light. My freedom was secured, and the real work of preparing for the apocalypse was about to begin.