Twenty Years of Marriage Reduced to One and Two Chapter 09

Twenty Years of Marriage Reduced to One and Two Chapter 09

Three days later, the auditorium at Argent National 

Research Institute was packed. 

Officials filled the stage. 

Reporters filled the seats below. 

I stood on the platform in a hospital gown, my face pale. 

In front of me sat Corinne Hale, the woman who knowingly destroyed my marriage. 

My parents were there too. 

They knew what I’d been through, and still told me to 

step back. 

Professor Whitlock sat among them. 

He knew everything and chose to protect them anyway. 

A row of psychiatrists in white coats sat off to the side, 

waiting for me to finish so they could step in with their 

reports. 

They would diagnose me with severe depression, 

dismiss everything I’d presented as fabricated, and 

reduce it all to nothing more than the delusion of a 

jealous, unstable woman attacking a successful 

professional. 

When I was fifteen, I used to lie awake at night, 

thinking about how to help Alaric heal. 

Back then, he hid in corners, shaking, barely able to speak. 

Now, at thirty–five, he had me standing here in a 

hospital gown–ready to confess to things I never did. 

“Maris, you can start.” 

Alaric adjusted the microphone and leaned in, his voice low. 

I turned my head and looked at him. 

Cold. 

“Hope you don’t regret this.” 

His expression shifted. Fear crept in. 

I looked out at the crowd. 

“Before I say anything,” I said clearly, “I’d like 

everyone to listen to something first.” 

Alaric lunged forward to stop me. 

I kicked him hard. 

He collapsed instantly. 

The next second, the recording played through the 

speakers, voices filling the room from that day in the 

hospital. 

One after another, they pressured me—forcing me to pretend I was unstable, to take the blame, to clean up his reputation Professor Whitlock, Corinne, and my 

parents. 

The room exploded. 

Noise, shouting, chaos. 

Alaric struggled to get up, trying to reach me. 

Too late. 

Professor Whitlock tilted sideways in his seat and 

fainted. 

Corinne pointed at me, screaming, “You bitch! You 

tricked us!” 

My parents just stared, frozen in place. 

They thought I was finished–no career, no child, no 

future, trapped in a dead marriage and waiting to rot. 

They were wrong. 

Back then, I gave up everything for Alaric because I 

loved him. 

Now the love was gone. 

And once it was gone–so was everything that tied me 

down. 

Including him. 

The story blew up that day. 

It made headlines. Even drew attention from the police. 

In the end, Alaric was dismissed from Argent National 

Research Institute for abuse of authority and 

misconduct. 

He was later sentenced to three years in prison for 

aggravated assault. 

Corinne Hale and her family came under investigation. 

Within days, everything around them collapsed. 

Some said she was trafficked by her enemies. 

Others said she was lured into an underground ring and 

forced into prostitution. 

I barely reacted when I saw the news–just glanced at 

it, then went back to kneading dough. 

I wasn’t Mrs. Boone anymore. 

Just the owner of a small place called Steambite 

Kitchen. 

No status. 

No spotlight. 

But peaceful. 

And enough. 

If I could live my life again–at fifteen, I wouldn’t have 

reached out my hand.