I Found His Marriage Certificate In His Suit Pocket Chapter 10

I Found His Marriage Certificate In His Suit Pocket Chapter 10

With a rock-solid chain of evidence, the university’s top administration took the matter seriously.

They formed an investigation team to dig into every detail of the case.

The truth came out quickly, unassailable.

For years, Ethan had been the sole researcher behind the new nanomaterial.

Mia Reed couldn’t even stammer out the basic technical terms related to it.

Coupled with the fact that Ethan and Mia had once been married, the university’s conclusion was inevitable.

His motive was clear: he’d given his research to his young wife so she could get into graduate school without so much as filling out an application.

The moment the investigation report was posted on the university’s notice boards, the students erupted in anger.

They’d slaved away for years, studying tirelessly, just to get into Columbia.

Mia Reed had waltzed in on the arm of a man, skipping every hurdle-and it wasn’t fair.

Students cornered Mia and Ethan on campus, holding up signs and demanding the university expel them both.

The administration had already made up their minds.

They bowed to public pressure and announced their verdict for Ethan Cole and Mia Reed.

Mia Reed, guilty of academic misconduct, had her unconditional admission revoked. She was expelled from the university, and banned from ever applying again.

Ethan Cole, who’d abused his position to help Mia cheat, was fired from his post. His associate professor title was stripped from him, permanently.

When I heard the news, a long-carried weight lifted from my chest-a rare, bitter relief.

But this was only the beginning.

This punishment was nothing compared to the pain they’d put me through.

Soon after, the trial for my grandmother’s death began.

In the courtroom, the neighbor who’d driven my grandmother to her death, terrified of prison, turned on her accomplice without a second thought.

“It was Mia Reed who told me to do it!” she screamed.

“That girl said if I went to Mabel Carter and told her her granddaughter was a homewrecker, and showed her the

marriage license, she’d give me ten thousand dollars.”

‘Mabel and I had always hated each other-fought over a pumpkin patch once. I thought I’d get back at her and make

some easy money. I never meant to kill her!”

There was her testimony, and the bank transfer records to prove it.

Mia had no way to deny it.

She’d known my grandmother had a heart condition, and she’d still hired someone to go and provoke her-provoke her

to death.

It was involuntary manslaughter, plain and simple.

The court’s verdict came down quickly.

Mia Reed, the principal offender, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.

The neighbor, the accessory, received a lighter sentence for turning state’s evidence: one year and four months behind

bars.

As I walked out of the courthouse, a butterfly landed in my hair and stayed there, for a long, long time.

Was it Grandma, come to see me?

Tears pricked at my eyes. I cupped the butterfly gently in my palm and set it down on the prettiest peach blossom I

could find.

Grandma, look. The bad people got what they deserved.

After being fired from the university, Ethan sold his house.

Before he left New York for good, he found me one last time, and pressed a debit card into my hand.

“Sophie, that eighty thousand dollars I gave Mia’s parents as a dowry-most of it was your savings. I owe it to you.”

The house had been left to him by his grandmother.

He’d sold it for over five million dollars, and he didn’t keep a single cent of it.

I didn’t refuse. I took the card without a second thought.

He owed me far more than money-he owed me the lives of my grandmother and my unborn child. No amount of cash

could ever pay that debt.

“Goodbye. Sophie.”

This goodbye was forever.

A little over two months later, I heard the news of Ethan’s death.

After Mia went to prison, her parents had latched onto Ethan like leeches.

They were convinced he was the one who’d gotten their daughter locked up.

And they demanded he pay for it-buy a house and a car for Mia’s brother, save up for his wedding dowry.

Ethan had refused, of course-their demands were absurd. But Mia’s parents had hounded him, day in and day out, relentless.

Finally, he’d snapped. A violent fight had broken out.

And he’d killed them.

He’d written a plea agreement, confessing to everything. That night, he’d taken an overdose and killed himself.

The day I heard Ethan was dead, a butterfly landed on my hand and wouldn’t fly away.

I brushed it off, hard.

Ethan Cole. In this life, and the next. Leave me alone.

I walked down the shadowed path, and stepped out into the sun-drenched meadow beyond.

No hesitation. No looking back.

The End.