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"Get your husband back! Before this drags us all down with you!"
"Seriously, Evelyn! Owen's nowhere near Liam's league! You've gone blind as a bat!"
Owen's face was largely hidden beneath the bandages, but his visible eye was red-rimmed, clearly welling up. I offered some helpful advice. "Careful," I remarked coolly. "All that crying might infect those scratches. Permanently ruin that pretty face." Owen's visible eye widened in panic, a choked sound escaping his gauze-covered mouth as he clapped a hand over it. The tears stopped instantly. I smirked.
Owen then tried his familiar tactic, voice muffled but dripping with false concern. "Liam, I've handed in my resignation. Evelyn said she can't lose you. You win. I'm leaving." He paused for effect. "No need to keep up this charade. I just came to tell you," his voice took on a wheedling tone laced with a subtle threat, "even though I could press charges for assault, I'm taking the high road... for Evelyn's sake. Don't push your luck. What goes around, comes around, Liam. Karma's a bitch."
Karma?The hypocrisy almost made me laugh out loud. But years of ingrained politeness held the bitter scoff in check. Instead, I saw Evelyn gazing at Owen with naked pity before turning her tortured eyes back to me.
"I'll step back," she announced, her voice strained. "Focus on us. I'll hire a female assistant. No more contact with anyone who makes you uncomfortable. Will that satisfy you?" The sheer, breathtaking arrogance of it stole my breath. Did she genuinely believe this entire agonizing separation, this battle in a boardroom, was just some elaborate ploy to force her "back to the nest"?
Alex became my furious voice. "Oh, Sacrifice Queen!" he sneered, leaning forward. "Maybe start by magically gluing Liam's mother's bracelet back together? Or turning back time so you weren't screwing him over daily?" He paused dramatically. "Y'know, beforepeople screw up, their conscience usually fights them. Decent folks feel guilt. They have lines they won't cross. You?" He gestured dismissively at her. "You're just a proud, delusional peacock, strutting around thinking Liam's still orbiting your miserable little planet! Screw you!" I couldn't hold it in any longer. A sharp, painful bark of laughter escaped me, almost turning into tears. Wiping my eyes, I pulled the divorce papers from my briefcase and slid them across the gleaming table towards Evelyn. "Sign."
"Or," I added, my gaze sweeping over the hostile, expectant faces of the board members, "I start the fire sale of my shares. Right now. Low, low prices."
"Really? No room left?" Evelyn asked, her voice tight, face pale with the pressure, a muscle ticking in her jaw. I met her gaze, unblinking, my voice flat and final. "I save my mercy for human beings. Sign." I held her stare. "Before I lose the last shred of patience I have for you."
I got my divorce. Leaving the boardroom, the investors' scornful voices trailed after Evelyn: "Fix this mess!" "...unbelievable judgment..." "...gonna cost us millions..." Over it all, I heard Owen's voice, muffled but trembling with poorly concealed glee, telling her, "Even if the whole world turns against you, Evelyn, I'll be right here by your side." Even if the whole world turns against you... I'll be right here...The echo of my own promise to her, years ago, hit me like a physical blow. Back when Evelyn was sixteen, she got the crap beaten out of her defending me against vicious rumors claiming I was "damaged goods" and she was just "picking up sloppy seconds". I wasn't indifferent; I just pretended to be. But Evelyn couldn't stomach it. She charged into a fight against seven or eight girls and nearly died. It was my mother's inheritance that paid the exorbitant hospital bill, literally buying her life back. I sat outside the ER, watching that red light, bargaining with any god who'd listen: Just let her live. I'll give anything. Take everything else. Just let her live.
