The Divorce He Asked For, The Empire I Took Away Chapter 07

The Divorce He Asked For, The Empire I Took Away Chapter 07

I returned to the condo at seven. The lock had not been changed yet, so I let myself in with the old key.

Marcus sat in an armchait His parents occupied the couch together.

Cut fruit and a pot of tea waited on the coffee table like props for a family hearing.

Marcus’s father told me to sit. I chose a dining chair several feet away.

His father glanced at Marcus, who kept his head down, then cleared his throat. “Marcus told us everything.”

He said the money had been a loan and admitted Marcus should have consulted me.

“It isn’t only the money.”

“I know. He says he and Vanessa became too close but did not cross the final line.”

“Does holding her waist for a photograph count as crossing a line?”

His father avoided the question.

His mother cut in. “That photograph again?

How many times are we going to go over the same thing?”

Marcus stopped her.

Then he faced me. “I was wrong to meet her secretly and use joint funds.”

I waited.

“But posting it publicly was also wrong. You humiliated me before everyone I know.”

“You humiliated me before the person I trusted most.”

He flinched.

I had trusted both of them enough to give Vanessa a key. Behind my back, they had turned that trust into

access.

“There was no affair,” Marcus repeated.

“You don’t need to explain that anymore. I want to discuss one thing.

Divorce.”

His mother looked furious, but his father raised a hand to stop her.

“Are you completely determined? You’re both young.

People make mistakes and change.

‘Some choices cannot be corrected as if they never happened.”

Marcus stood and approached me.

“I won’t agree to a divorce. Give me one chance.

I’ll delete Vanessa’s contact, never see her again, apologize online, and sign any promise you want.”

His eyes were red. I could not tell whether the emotion was real.

I knew he was afraid, but not necessarily of losing me.

Divorce meant dividing the condo, car, accounts, and retirement savings while publicly confirming the

scandal.

If I returned quietly, his parents could call the photograph a misunderstanding and his coworkers could forget it.

My forgiveness would become proof that nothing serious happened.

“Did you offer Vanessa the same promises when you ate with her last month?”

His face changed.

“She told me you said our marriage was failing and I had become cold. When you told her those things, did you think of giving me one chance?”

He had no reply.

I said a lawyer would prepare a separation and property agreement. If Marcus rejected it, I would petition

family court.

As I packed the few things I had left behind from the bedroom, his mother waited by the doorway.

This time, she did not scold me.

“I’ll make Marcus restore the money to the account,” she said.

Her expression held fatigue instead of anger.

“The money can wait.”

I left and messaged Dana that Marcus refused to divorce.

[Expected,] she replied. [Check the full account history and phone records.

October may not be the beginning.]

Three years I gave him my blood to heal his legs. He used them to walk to her.

Under the streetlight, I stared at her message. I could no longer tell which of Marcus’s statements were true and which were lies.

I no longer knew which of Marcus’s statements were true.