He Tricked Me With Fake Papers, So I Sued for a Million Chapter 03

He Tricked Me With Fake Papers, So I Sued for a Million Chapter 03

When I got home, I began packing.

Adrian rarely came home, but the house was still filled with the things he liked.

His baseball bat, skis, and fishing rods were arranged neatly, without a speck of dust on them.

I had lived there alone for five years, yet everything I owned could not even fill a single carry-on suitcase.

I remembered the first time he brought me into the house after our wedding.

“This is your home now,” he had said. “I’m going to fill it with everything you love so you’ll always feel safe here.”

Now he had given all his tenderness and devotion to someone else, leaving me with nothing but this cold, empty house.

After packing the last piece of clothing, I sat down at the computer and began going through every expense from the past five years, line by line.

The mortgage alone was twenty-two hundred dollars a month. Then there was the cost of treating Adrian’s mother’s chronic illness, including hospital stays and surgeries, along with utilities, HOA dues, groceries, and every other household expense. Altogether, I had paid more than one hundred sixty-five thousand dollars.

Rows upon rows of charges filled the screen.

Yet all the money Adrian had sent home over those five years amounted to less than seventy thousand dollars.

Whenever I told him I was struggling or asked him for money, his expression would turn cold. He would accuse me of suffocating him, then go running back into Vanessa’s arms and leave me to deal with every mess alone.

Eventually, I began picking up shifts at a convenience store around lunchtime and in the evenings whenever I could, just to ease the financial pressure.

I had drained all my savings and sacrificed five years of my life just to keep that household running.

While I was doing that, Adrian had booked an entire hotel for Vanessa’s birthday.

The thought sent a sharp pain through my chest.

I took a deep breath and saved screenshots of every bill and payment confirmation, along with every document I had related to her hospital stays and the care I had provided.

Just as I finished, I heard the lock turn.

It was Adrian.

Thanks to his mother, I was seeing him for the second time in a single year.

His gaze swept over my packed suitcase, but there was not a trace of panic in his eyes.

“Are you done with this tantrum?”

“Mom is in the hospital, and you walked out on her just to force me to come home and watch you stage this little runaway act?”

I looked at him and suddenly felt exhausted. I did not even have the energy to argue.

“Think whatever you want.”

He charged forward and grabbed my wrist. “Come on. You’re going back to the hospital with me, and you’re going to apologize to Mom.”

He yanked me so hard that I stumbled and nearly fell.

He acted as though he had not even noticed.

I wrenched my arm free, but my wrist struck the corner of the table, sending a numbing jolt of pain up my arm.

“Why should I apologize?”

“If you love Vanessa so much, why don’t you tell her to take care of your mother?”

I was almost screaming, and even my voice was shaking.

Adrian froze for a moment before snapping, “You’re my wife. If you won’t take care of my mother, why should some other woman do it?”

“If you were more considerate and understanding, and if you could be gentle like Vanessa, maybe we wouldn’t see each other only once a year!”

I turned and looked at him calmly.

“That won’t be necessary. From now on, we don’t need to see each other even once a year.”

He rubbed his brow, his face twisted with anger.

“What is that supposed to mean? I haven’t divorced you. You’re still Mrs. Mercer. What more could you possibly want?”

I looked at him and let out a humorless laugh.

“Nothing. I just want this to end.”

“I want a divorce.”