My Husband Wants to Ruin Me? Fine—I’ll Just Team Up with His Mistress’s Ex! Chapter 09

My Husband Wants to Ruin Me? Fine—I’ll Just Team Up with His Mistress’s Ex! Chapter 09

Once they hauled Vivian away, the house went dead quiet.

Sutton stood by the window, staring out at the gray afternoon light.

Enjoy the show?” he asked, his back to me.

I’ve seen enough.” I picked up my bag. “The money and the paperwork are on the table. We’re done here.”

Susan.”

stopped at the door.

Aren’t you going to city hall to close the book on Sean?”

blinked, and then a slow, real smile crept onto my face.

Yeah. Seven years of fighting, seven years of carrying his ID to government offices.

his time, it was finally for real.

The records clerk at city hall was the exact same woman from before.

he recognized me instantly. “Back again, ma’am?”

slid Sean’s death certificate across the counter.

This time, it’s to close the file.”

he tapped a few keys, her eyes softening as she looked at the screen.

Confirming the marriage is dissolved under deceased status?”

Confirming.”

The printer whined, spitting out a single sheet of paper.

took it. There it was, in bold black ink:

FILE CLOSED: SPOUSE DECEASED].

Seven years of hell, wiped out in three seconds.

Sean’s mother tracked me down the day they cremated him.

She was waiting on the porch of my tiny rented apartment.

Her hair was completely gray, her face ruined from crying.

Susan. you have to handle Sean’s fineral. You’re the only family left.”

just luoked at her:

Three years ago, when she forced those sketchy herbal pills down my throat and caused my miscarriage, she didn’t look this pathetic

Call Vivian,” I said flatly. “She’s the one who wanted him.”

That psycho is in jail!” she wailed, grabbing my sleeve. “Sean is gone. I have nothing… you were his wife for seven years, for god’s

jake…”

opened my purse, pulled out a debit card, and shoved it into her hand.

There’s fifty grand on here. The exact amount of ‘severance’ Sean offered me to clear out.”

Her eyes lit up. Her fingers instantly locked around the plastic.

It’s not a gift,” I told her, my voice dead. “Pay for the burial. When it’s over, I want a receipt and every single cent of the change

ack.”

he froze.

And one more thing,” I looked her straight in the eye.

I officially closed his file at city hall today. Legally, you and I are complete strangers. Don’t ever show up on my doorstep again.”

he second I turned around, she let out a loud, hysterical sob.

didn’t even look back.

week later, the judge handed down the final verdict.

‘ivian got six years for manslaughter.

ean’s company went into full liquidation.

verything was auctioned off by the state, and the bank seized the mansion.

drove past the gates one last time.

ooking up at the balcony, I saw one of Sean’s old sweaters still hanging on the rack.

he wind caught the sleeve, making it swing back and forth.

t looked like a wave. It looked like a final goodbye.

My phone chimed. A text from my bank:

Account Alert: $375,000 deposited.]

The three million Sean stole was gone for good, but the court recovered my personal inheritance.

gripped my phone in the cold wind, wanting to laugh out loud.

jeven years Three hundred and seventy-five grand.

That’s about fifty-three thousand a year. Less than forty-four hundred a month.

really was cheaper than a live-in maid.

Suddenly, another notification popped up. A separate deposit for fifty thousand dollars.

A text from Sutton followed: [Fifty grand. A promise is a promise.]

He called a second later. “What’s the plan now, Susan?”

Find a real job. Get a nice apartment. Live my life.”

The line went quiet.

The offer is still open,” Sutton said. “Come work for me. Have you thought about it?”

looked out at the city skyline.

Sutton,” I said into the mic. “Did you offer me this job because I actually have talent, or because we hated the same people?”

he silence stretched on.

In the beginning? It was the enemy,” he admitted bluntly. “Right now? It’s the talent.”

Give me some time.”

Fair enough.”

ight before he hung up, he added one last thing.

Susan. You are a hell of a lot more ruthless than you think.”

smiled and cut the call.

I wasn’t ruthlessness.

had just finally learned how to love myself first.