5
505words
"You goddamn animals!" He lunged at Evelyn, slapping her hard across the back of the head. The blow seemed to jolt her back to reality. She looked from Alex to me, then to the movers filing in behind him.
"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded, confused.
"Making room for your little Owen," I replied coldly.
"But looking at this," I gestured at Owen, still wailing on the floor, clutching his face, and at Evelyn, ready to fight, "seems pointless now."
I walked over to one of the movers, took the heavy wrench he was holding (for taking apart furniture), and swung it with everything I had at the giant wedding portrait on the wall.
Glass exploded.
Shards flew everywhere.
Just like our marriage—nothing left but a dangerous, ugly mess.
"Guys," I handed the wrench back to the mover, pulling out my phone. "I've transferred your fee. Sorry for the trouble today."
"This stuff," I said, sweeping my arm around the room, "is tainted. It's not worth moving anymore."
The movers looked shell-shocked. One asked cautiously, "You want us to call the cops?"
Owen, still on the floor, shrieked through his hands, "Call the cops? He's the one who attacked me! Look at my face! I'm the one who should be calling the cops!"
Alex finally got a good look at Owen's scratched-up face. "Well, well," he sneered, zero sympathy in his voice. "If it isn't Mr. Waterworks. Done playing the victim? Showed your true colors, huh?"
Owen glared back, pure venom now. "Liam, I never wanted to compete with you! Why are you so hell-bent on destroying me?"
His voice turned accusatory. "You know how important reputation is! How could you?" He pointed a shaking finger. "Evelyn told me everything! About how you were... assaulted... when you were younger! You’re damaged! That’s why you see evil in everyone!"
"Owen!" Evelyn roared, her voice laced with genuine horror I hadn't heard in months. "That is completely out of line!"
I stood frozen.
Of all the betrayals, I hadn't expected this.
My deepest shame, my most painful wound—something only Evelyn knew, something I thought was safe with her—was now Owen’s weapon.
And Evelyn had given it to him.
The room spun.
"Yeah," I heard myself say, my voice unnervingly calm. "I guess I am pretty messed up."
After all, I was the one who got kidnapped trying to save Evelyn years ago. I was the one locked in that basement overnight.
No one knew what really happened down there.
But people always assumed the worst. They always thought I bargained my way out with my body.
I wasn't unbreakable. I thought Evelyn was my shelter.
The pain hit like a punch to the chest.
"So, don't make me despise you any more than I already do." I walked out, Alex followed close behind.
Evelyn's desperate shouts echoed down the hall after us.
