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Divorcing the Husband I Made Rich
NovelShort
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My husband Stuart Gilbert's childhood sweetheart, his cousin Lily Cox, moved in with us after her family ran into trouble. That "little while" stretched into three years. In three years, everything th...
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第1章
1.
My husband Stuart Gilbert's childhood sweetheart, his cousin Lily Cox, moved in with us after her family ran into trouble.
That "little while" stretched into three years.
In three years, everything that was mine got split down the middle and became hers.
And today, the newly renovated marital home Stuart and I had just finished was supposed to be handed over too.
All because Lily said she "couldn't get used to a small room."
Stuart looked at me, leaving no room for argument.
"Syl, be reasonable. Let Lily have the room and move into the guest room."
I couldn't believe it.
"Stuart, that's our marital home!"
"I know, but Lily's health is fragile. She can only stay in a good room. Be reasonable."
I looked at the bracelet on Stuart's wrist, identical to the one on Lily's, and let out a cold laugh.
"Fine. I'll give it up."
"But first, sign the divorce papers."
…
Stuart stared at me like he couldn't believe his ears.
"Sylvia Sinclair, would you stop making a scene? We've only been married a month!"
I looked at the man in front of me, his face twisted ugly, and something in my chest wrenched tight.
Five years of dating Stuart. We'd built everything from nothing.
I'd worked myself to the bone, bought the house, paid for the renovation.
A month ago the house was officially handed over, and marrying him followed naturally after that.
And now this was the same man telling me, to my face, to hand our marital home over to his cousin.
"You know we've only been married a month. How do you have the nerve to ask me to give up our marital home?"
"This is our home! Not some hostel."
The moment I finished, the color drained out of Lily's face.
She swayed like she might fall, her cheeks wet with tears.
"Stuart, maybe I should just leave. Thank you and Syl for taking care of me all this time."
And with that, Lily turned to go.
Stuart lunged forward and grabbed her wrist.
"You're not going anywhere!"
"You've lived with us for three years. If you leave now, where would you even go?"
I looked at their hands, clasped together.
The matching bracelets on their wrists sent a stab through my eyes.
I knew that brand. It was a high-end custom piece from a luxury house. A couple's set, no less.
Right after we registered our marriage, I'd fallen for that same bracelet and pestered him to buy it.
Stuart shut me down with one line: "Too expensive, we need to be careful with money."
Not long after, I saw that very bracelet on his wrist.
I confronted him then, furious.
Stuart just said, "Lily asked for it specifically for her birthday. We grew up together, I'm practically half a brother to her. I couldn't exactly turn her down."
Maybe he saw how angry I was, because the next day he came home with a huge bouquet of roses to smooth things over.
I've always been a sucker for that kind of thing, and with Stuart's sweet talk on top, I let it drop.
Only now do I understand.
The price of one custom couple's bracelet set could buy a hundred bouquets of roses.
Stuart and Lily were still tugging back and forth.
Lily was crying in little hiccuping sobs, and it broke Stuart's heart to pieces.
He whipped his head around, eyes red, and glared at me.
"Sylvia, are you going to apologize to Lily or not?"
My mind went blank.
The face in front of me was still just as familiar, and yet in that moment it felt frighteningly like a stranger's.
When I first met Stuart, he was still an ordinary factory manager.
I judge by looks, and with the way he carried a conversation, I was drawn to him at once.
Strictly speaking, it was love at first sight. We fell fast and hard.
Once we were together, Stuart doted on me down to the bone.
He was so good to me that I honestly believed if I asked for a star out of the sky, he'd find a way to get it for me.
That was why I settled on him.
After a year of dating, we moved in together, getting ready for marriage down the line.
Living together only made me more certain of my choice.
As long as Stuart was home, all I had to do was open my mouth and hold out my hand. Everything else, I never had to worry about.
I thought I'd found a good match.
Then Lily showed up and ruined all of it.
She reached out to Stuart, said something had happened with her family and she needed to stay with us for a while.
When Stuart brought it up to me, I didn't want to seem petty about the girl he'd grown up next door to, and on top of that Lily's "sad situation" got to me, so I agreed without a second thought.
After Lily moved in, little by little I began to notice.
Everything in the house that was mine got relabeled as hers.
Even the glass of milk every night, once mine alone, became the two of ours.
At first I told myself she'd be gone soon enough.
Stuart swore to me every day, coaxing me, saying he'd send her off once she was settled.
I believed their words.
But that "while" turned into three whole years.
In those three years, I went from the lady of the house to an outsider.
And Lily was the one who'd taken on the airs of the real woman of the house.
If she wanted the role that badly, then I'd let her have it.
I wanted to see.
Without me holding him up, this Stuart she leaned on so hard, just how long he could last.
第2章
2.
"Stuart, I don't have time to play house with you. I'll have a lawyer draw up the divorce papers and bring them to you. Once you sign, you can take your little sweetheart wherever you like."
I watched them coldly.
From where I stood, I saw it clearly: the flicker of light that crossed Lily's eyes the moment I said it.
Stuart had always known me well.
Seeing how serious I looked, he couldn't be bothered to comfort Lily on the floor anymore. He took my hand and pulled me aside.
"Syl, I know you're angry, but it's only for a while. I promise, I'll send her away when the time comes."
"A while" again.
I lifted my head and looked straight into his eyes.
They wouldn't stop darting around.
Sometimes I genuinely couldn't tell whether Stuart was actually stupid or just thought I was easy to fool.
I was an honors graduate in psychology from a top university. A lie this cheap might have worked on the old me, but now it only turned my stomach.
"Stuart, I'll say it plainly. Her or me. You choose today."
Stuart's face changed completely.
The softness in his tone hardened back into impatience.
"Sylvia, why are you being so childish? You don't think about me at all. I only see her as a sister."
"You see her as a sister. I don't. What does that have to do with me?"
Stuart had no answer to that.
I wasn't interested in going back and forth, so I kept going.
"Don't forget who pushed you up into this position these past few years. Agree to the divorce while I'm still being reasonable, and we go our separate ways, clean."
A flash of resentment ran quickly through Stuart's eyes.
I caught it, plain as day.
Before, it would have hurt me. I would have protected his pride.
But right now?
A useless man who could barely hold onto a respectable job with my help wasn't worth all I'd given.
"I'm the one who bought this house. You have one week to move out. Then we go make the divorce official."
Stuart still wanted to say something, but I didn't bother reading his face. I turned and left.
Once I was out the door, I took out my phone, found that familiar number, and called.
"Draw up a divorce agreement for me. I want Stuart to walk away with nothing."
There was a pause of a few seconds, then a laugh on the other end.
"Miss Sinclair, I don't come cheap."
"How much?"
"Not more, not less. All I want is you."
My pupils tightened. I pulled the phone back and stared at the string of digits, making sure I hadn't dialed wrong.
"Why?"
"If I told you I've had my eye on you for a long time, would you believe me?"
There was something improper in his tone, and under it, a thread of nerves.
None of those shifts slipped past what I'd been trained to catch.
I could tell he meant it.
"Justin Farley, if you really want that, I'll agree to marry you."
Justin's breathing stopped for a beat.
A few seconds later, I heard his answer.
"You'll have the agreement tonight. Once the divorce is done, we go register."
The call ended, but my head was full of that one line of his—that he'd had his eye on me for a long time.
Justin was a partner at the city's top law firm.
His reputation was that he'd never lost a case.
There was no history between us at all.
The only time was when Stuart's factory ran into trouble and he couldn't fix it. He'd begged me to go find Justin to take the case for him.
I couldn't make sense of why Justin would want me.
But I didn't care.
Justin had power and influence.
Marrying him, I could use that influence to climb.
I'd had more than enough of standing at Stuart's side, hiding my edge for the sake of his pitiful pride.
第3章
3.
Justin moved faster than I'd expected.
Or maybe it was just that he wanted the divorce done even more than I did.
The agreement arrived with a single line attached.
"Once this is settled, don't forget what you promised me."
I printed it out, then sent the digital copy to Stuart.
I'd give him seven days to pack up and move out, and I wouldn't come near him in the meantime.
The message had barely gone through when my phone started buzzing like mad.
I knew it was Stuart.
His name flashed on the screen, over and over.
The call would time out and cut off, and a second later a new one would come in.
Stuart was scared.
That much I could feel.
A full thirty calls later, I finally picked up, taking my time.
"What is it?"
"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? I thought the divorce was just something you said in the heat of the moment, and now you send me an agreement that says I walk away with nothing? Have you lost your mind?"
I quietly held the phone away from my ear.
Even without seeing his face, I knew exactly how hysterical he was right now.
"Is there a problem?"
"Stuart, you've had it easy for too long and forgotten a few things. The place you live, the car you drive, which one of those didn't I pay for? What gives you any right to take them?"
After all these years together, only yesterday did I get the chance to sit down and go through the household accounts.
And only then did I finally realize that ninety-nine percent of everything this household spent had come out of my bank card.
Stuart's own money had barely been touched.
Every time in the past when I'd asked him to cover part of something, he'd say:
Isn't what's yours mine anyway? Why keep such careful tabs?
I'd taken it as some sweet little thing between a married couple, and, blinded by how much I loved him, I gave in and paid every single time.
Stuart's breathing grew heavier.
He knew he was in the wrong, and his tone softened.
"Syl, let's meet up, sit down and talk it through, okay?"
"After all these years together, can you really bring yourself to do this?"
Something in me twisted, hard.
Right.
All those years of giving.
I'd kept Stuart at the center of everything.
Growing up without parents, I'd craved love more than most.
His attention, his care, I'd held onto with both hands, and even when it meant swallowing my own hurt, I wouldn't let him go.
I'd lost myself a long time ago.
Which was exactly why, now, cutting my losses in time was the only right choice for me.
Rotten flesh only grows back new once you cut it out.
"Stuart, there's nothing left for us to talk about. If there's no problem with the agreement, sign it."
"I won't sign! And I sure as hell am not walking away with nothing!"
"Then I'll have to let my attorney, Justin Farley, talk to you instead."
With that, I hung up.
The moment I'd answered the call, I already knew Stuart would never agree.
Justin had given me a second option well ahead of time.
File for divorce.
He would handle it all on my behalf.
Thinking of that, I lowered my head and messaged him.
"Get the filing paperwork ready. The demand letter can go out to him tomorrow."
"Done."
A single short word came back.
These past two days, Justin and I hadn't talked about anything except handling the divorce.
At one point I'd almost forgotten that the condition for having him take my case was that I marry him.
While my mind was still wandering, the phone buzzed again.
"Tomorrow I'll take you to pick out a ring."
My mind went blank.
"I'm not even divorced yet. Isn't this too fast?"
His reply came quickly.
"No. This is a day I've waited a long time for."
第4章
4.
The next day, true to his word, Justin took me to pick out a diamond ring.
Ten carats.
If I hadn't put my foot down, he would have bought me something the size of a pigeon's egg.
"Are you sure it isn't too small?"
I looked up at the handsome face in front of me.
Unlike Stuart's soft, gentle features, Justin's looks carried a sharp edge to them, a beauty that didn't ask permission.
It was that beauty that made someone like Stuart, by comparison, look bland and forgettable.
My heart gave a hard jolt, and I dropped my eyes in a fluster, a strange thought surfacing:
Justin was hundreds of times better looking than Stuart. So why had I ever fallen for a man like him in the first place?
"This one is enough."
Justin nodded.
"As long as you like it."
Five small words, and my eyes quietly went hot.
Ever since Lily entered my life with Stuart, he had never said that to me again.
Instead, Lily became the one who heard it.
One offhand remark from her, and Stuart would buy her anything she wanted.
Using what he called our joint marital fund.
My fist clenched tight.
As my thoughts drifted, a warm strength suddenly closed around my hand.
"It'll all be over soon."
I steadied myself and followed Justin out of the jeweler's without a word.
Just like he said. It would all pass.
It would all be over soon.
Three days after Justin sent the attorney's letter, the court set a hearing date.
I got ready early that morning and went with Justin to the courthouse steps.
To my surprise, Stuart had arrived even earlier than I had.
Lily trailed behind him, unable to keep the smile off her face no matter how she tried.
The look on her face was worlds apart from Stuart's haggard, worn-out state.
I meant to walk past them and go straight in, but Stuart blocked my way.
His eyes were shot through with red.
"Syl, can we talk? Just one minute."
Off to the side, Lily's smile froze as she heard it.
Her nails dug hard into her own palm.
Watching it, all I felt was how ridiculous it was.
"Even if we're really getting divorced, at least give me a chance to explain. Can you do that?"
Stuart's expression was so earnest that for a moment it dragged me back to how we were when we first got together.
And my heart still moved.
"Fine. One minute."
Seeing me agree, Stuart let out a breath of relief.
I followed him to a corner off to the side.
The moment we stopped, his hand shot out and clamped down hard around my wrist.
"Lily— I can't hold it together anymore. Without you, there's no way I can handle those projects at the factory. My boss says if I can't turn in a decent project proposal, he's going to fire me!"
Inside, I laughed coldly.
A man like Stuart. I really couldn't give him a single opening.
I wrenched my hand out of his grip.
"So? What does that have to do with me?"
I said it flatly.
The look on Stuart's face froze.
Clearly he hadn't expected me to turn this cold.
After all, the old me had given him anything he asked for.
Stuart had the looks and the smooth, high-EQ talk, but his head was empty.
All those years, every proposal that pleased his superiors, I was the one who dug through the material late into the night and wrote it out, piece by piece.
You could say the position Stuart held today was one I, Sylvia Sinclair, had pushed him into.
I'd been certain that once he lost me, the pressure would come down on him.
I just hadn't expected the day to come this fast.
"Syl, we were husband and wife. Are you really going to stand by and watch me go under? Does it make you happy to see me fired?"
"What exactly did I do wrong that you have to take revenge on me like this!"
Stuart's voice rose, worked up.
I said nothing and looked down at my watch.
The second hand quickly swept a full circle.
"That's your minute. Don't ever contact me privately again."
With that, I turned to leave.
Stuart suddenly dropped to his knees, clinging to my hand and refusing to let go.
"Syl, I lost my mind, I let greed cloud my judgment. There's nothing between me and Lily, I only ever treated her like a little sister. Forgive me, please?"
Seeing that I wasn't moved, something resolute flashed through his eyes, and right there he raised his hand and started slapping himself like a madman.
Again. And again.
The crisp sound rang out around us.
To my own surprise, I looked at Stuart's swollen, reddening cheeks and felt not a single ripple inside, only that the whole thing was absurd.
A full fifty times.
Several red welts stood out across his face.
Seeing no reaction from me, he let his hand fall, deflated.
"Syl, is there really no chance at all?"
I couldn't stand to look at that face any longer.
From the very beginning, he was the one who did wrong.
"Stuart, since you insist on tearing through that last thin sheet of paper, then I'll give you what you want."