My Husband Acted Single Before Clients, So I Produced Divorce Papers Chapter 06

My Husband Acted Single Before Clients, So I Produced Divorce Papers Chapter 06

On the way home from the Mercers‘ place, I watched lights glowing in windows all across the city,

aught in a complicated mix of emotions.

Julian and I had been together since our school days, all the way into marriage. Everyone around us

had once envied what we had.

After we got married, we respected each other’s careers and almost never fought.

I never imagined our first real fight would also be the one we could never come back from.

When I got home, I didn’t go upstairs. I sat in the car for more than an hour before finally making up

my mind.

I went inside and pulled together our marriage certificate, the notice for the pitch from two years ago, my call records, Sabrina’s video, Tara’s voice message, and screenshots from the group chats.

I turned it all into a 47–slide PowerPoint presentation, started a livestream, and sent the link

straight to the company–wide chat.

The moment the camera came on, live comments started pouring in.

I didn’t wait for the viewer count to settle, and I didn’t look at the screen.

“I’m Elise Bennett.”

I paused and held up our marriage certificate.

“I’m Julian Mercer’s wife. We were high school classmates. After high school, we worked hard to

get into colleges in the same city. When we graduated from college, he proposed.”

“But we never had a wedding. I never got a ring. We don’t even have one proper photo together. Not because I didn’t want any of those things. He always told me to wait–until the research wrapped

up, until his promotion came through, until things settled down with his project.”

“I waited for him for ten years. What I got was an affair.”

I shared the presentation on–screen and laid out everything that had happened over the years.

The viewer count kept climbing.

The live comments became a blur.

“When Sabrina accused me of being the other woman, I deliberately called Julian over. I wanted

see what he would do.”

hat may have been the stupidest moment of my life. I was still waiting for him to say the words,

‘She’s my wife.“”

I took the divorce agreement out of my bag, opened it to the first page, and held it up to the camera.

“I’ve formally asked for a divorce. Consider this my goodbye to my youth, my love, and my

marriage.”

I ended the livestream and set my phone facedown on my lap.

The car was silent except for the soft hum of the engine.

Two days later, Julian asked me to meet him at a law office.

When I walked in, he was sitting at the other end of a long conference table.

He was still in the same suit, his collar loose, dark circles under his eyes.

Several printed pages lay in front of him. The first page was titled [Marriage Repair Plan].

He stood when he saw me.

“Elise, I was wrong. Starting today, I’ll cut Sabrina out of my life completely. I’ll make our marriage

public. I’ll give you the wedding we never had. I’ll transfer every asset in my name to you. Just…”

I looked at him.

“Julian, you’ve spent years writing research proposals. You turn everything into a list–one item,

one fix. But marriage isn’t another project you can close out. You can’t throw a wedding, say ‘I was

wrong,‘ and pretend that erases ten years.”

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“Nothing. Let’s end this cleanly.”

The color drained from his face. His lips moved, but he couldn’t speak.

My voice stayed quiet.

“Julian, a wedding was never the only thing you owed me.”

Tears slipped down his face and landed on the pages in front of him.

“Nknow. If only I had-”

“Don’t.”

I pushed the divorce agreement toward him.

“Sign it.”

He picked up the pen, his grip tightening around it.

A long time passed before he finally put pen to paper and signed his name.

I gathered the agreement without another word and walked out.

Standing on the steps outside, I turned my phone back on.

Messages flooded the screen.

Then I called a ride, got in, and closed the door behind me.

This time, I was finally headed where I needed to be.