Theater: NovelMaster | Language: English | NEW
Synopsis
Finding urine stains on the toilet seat for the millionth time was the final straw. I asked for a divorce.
Tyler slammed his fork onto the table, his face twisted in annoyance. "Why do you have to be so sensitive? If it’s dirty, just wipe it off!"
"You know it needs to be wiped," I said, glaring at him. "So why can't you just lift the damn seat before you pee?"
He paused, offering no answer.
I pulled out the crumpled medical reports from my pocket. "Because of you, I have my third urinary tract infection in—"
"Enough!" Tyler cut me off, his voice booming. "Other women are fine! Why do you always have to be so difficult?"
Other women? I’m too sensitive?
Looking at his self-righteous face, a sudden laugh escaped my lips.
"Fine." I stood up and slapped him across the face. "Go live with your other women, then."
I was done holding back.
Tyler was completely stunned by the slap, his cheek flushing a bright, angry red.
The fork slipped from his hand, clattering against the table before bouncing onto the hardwood floor.
He glared at me, his eyes practically bulging out of his skull.
"Chloe! Did you just hit me?!"
I rubbed my stinging palm, looking down at him coldly.
"What if I did?"
Five years.
For five whole years of marriage, I had barely raised my voice. I bent over backward to please his family, walking on eggshells just to avoid offending anyone.
And what did I get in return?
A third UTI. The doctor warned that if this continued, my kidneys could suffer permanent damage.
And the culprit was the man standing right in front of me—splattering the seat every single time he used the bathroom. I told him hundreds of times to lift the seat. He would agree, then 'forget' the next second.
No, he didn't forget.
He just didn't give a damn.
"Chloe, have I spoiled you too much?"
Tyler kicked his chair back violently, sending it crashing onto the floor with a deafening bang.
"You bring home pennies from that pathetic job, living under my roof and off my money, and now you have the nerve to raise your hand against me?!"
I let out a cold scoff.
Living under his roof? Off his money?
My parents paid the entire down payment for this apartment. The monthly mortgage was deducted directly from my paycheck.
Where did Tyler’s money go? Every cent went toward buying designer bags for his sister Megan and gold bracelets for his mother Brenda.
I didn't bother arguing with him. I grabbed my car keys off the counter and headed straight for the front door.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Tyler roared from behind.
"None of your business."
"Don't you dare!" He lunged forward and grabbed my arm in a death grip. "If you walk out that door today, don't you ever come back!"
I turned to face him, my voice chillingly clear. "Tyler, you’d better pack your bags early. The one getting the hell out of here is you."
His face drained of color.
I ripped my arm from his grasp, yanked the door open, and walked out without looking back.
In the elevator, leaning against the cold metal wall, I noticed my hands were trembling.
Not from fear.
From pure rage.
My phone buzzed. A message from Tyler popped up.
Chloe, you’d better think carefully. You’re nothing without me.
I didn't reply.
It buzzed again.
Go ahead and leave. Mom said some time alone will teach you a lesson. When you come crawling back, don't blame me if I lock you out.
Staring at the screen, a bitter smirk tugged at my lips.
Crawling back to him?
In his dreams.
It was pitch-black by the time my cab pulled up outside my parents' apartment complex.
I paid the driver and stood on the pavement, gazing up at the warm light glowing from the third floor. Suddenly, my legs felt heavy.
When we first got married, my mom was against it.
It wasn't because Tyler didn't come from money; it was because his family was far too calculating.
At our rehearsal dinner, Tyler's mother announced in front of all the relatives, "My son is an incredible catch. Your daughter is lucky to marry him, so we’re keeping the wedding gift minimal."
She gave an insulting three-thousand-dollar check.
Heartbroken for me, my mom quietly wired thirty thousand dollars into my private account, telling me to keep it as an emergency fund and never mention it to his family.
I took a deep breath and walked upstairs.
My mom opened the door, blinking in surprise before glancing behind me. "Chloe? Why are you alone? Where’s Tyler?"
I didn't answer. I slipped off my shoes, walked in, and sank heavily onto the couch.
My dad peeked out from the kitchen, spatula still in hand. "Chloe’s back? Have you eaten?"
"No."
Mom shut the door and sat across from me, examining my pale face. "Did you two fight?"
"Mom," I looked up at her, my voice shaking slightly. "I want a divorce."The living room fell dead silent.
Dad turned off the stove, set the spatula down, and came over to sit beside Mom.
"What happened?" he asked quietly.
I pulled out the crumpled medical papers from my bag and set them on the coffee table.
Mom picked them up, her face instantly darkening. "Another infection? The third one? How did this happen?"
"Tyler never lifts the toilet seat. He leaves a mess every single time. I told him over and over, but he refused to listen. The bacterial infections keep coming back. The doctor told me it’s putting my kidneys at risk."
Mom’s hands began to shake.
Dad’s expression turned grim.
"Just because I brought up divorce over this, he called me crazy. He said other women never have these problems and asked why I was being so difficult."
I let out a dry, hollow laugh, folding the papers and putting them back in my bag.
"'Other women,'" I echoed. "Mom, how does he even know what other women deal with?"
Mom’s eyes welled with tears.
Dad bolted to his feet, walked out onto the balcony, and lit a cigarette.
I knew he was fighting his temper.
Dad had a fiery temper. Back when he worked in construction, he once led a dozen workers to corner a shady contractor who refused to pay them.
Yet ever since I married Tyler, he had forced himself to endure everything.
Tyler’s mother had told all their relatives that my family had no class, that I was marrying above my station. Terrified of making life harder for me, my dad had swallowed his pride for five miserable years.
"Chloe," Dad's gravelly voice drifted in from the balcony. "Have you made up your mind?"
"Yes."
"No regrets?"
"None."
Dad turned around and looked at Mom. "Get the savings bankbook."
Mom blinked. "Arthur..."
"Get it," Dad insisted, stubbing out his cigarette as he walked back inside. "Our daughter needs a good lawyer. If I hadn't let you talk me into putting his name on the deed, that bastard wouldn't be trying to take half of her home right now."
A wave of guilt washed over me.
When we bought the apartment, Dad wanted it solely under my name.
Tyler threw a fit, arguing that he contributed to household expenses and demanding his name be on the title.
Caught in the middle, I begged my dad to let it go, saying we were family now.
Family.
The word felt like a sickening joke now.
While Mom went to the bedroom to get the bankbook, Dad sat beside me and gently patted my hand.
"Chloe, I used to tell you to compromise because I thought you two could build a life. But if a marriage destroys your health, you get the hell out."
I nodded silently.
My phone buzzed again.
Tyler had sent seven or eight messages in a row. The last one read: Chloe, don't think running to your mommy and daddy is going to scare me. My mom said if you don't come back and apologize on your knees, she’s coming over tomorrow to take back that wedding check!
The wedding check.
Three thousand dollars.
Five years of pouring my soul into their family, and to them, my worth boiled down to three thousand dollars.
Mom came back and handed me the bankbook. "There's forty thousand dollars here. Take it for your attorney."
I pushed it back.
"Mom, I have my own money."
"Your paycheck barely covered that mortgage! Where would you get money?"
I didn't explain.
Over the past five years, I had quietly saved up nearly thirty thousand dollars in a personal account. Tyler didn't know about it, and his mother certainly didn't either.
From the second I threw those medical papers on the table, I was done taking their abuse.First thing the next morning, I contacted a lawyer.
Not some flashy celebrity attorney, but Marcus, a sharp, thirty-something divorce lawyer recommended by a friend. He was straightforward and wasted no time.
After hearing my story, Marcus adjusted his glasses. "Your parents paid the down payment, and the mortgage was debited from your personal account. We need solid paper trails for all of that."
"Also, regarding the money he funneled to his sister and mother—if we can prove those were marital assets, we can legally claw them back."
"How much are we talking?"
"Over five years? Easily seventy to eighty thousand dollars."
I took a sharp breath.
Eighty thousand dollars.
That would hit them right where it hurt.
Marcus instructed me to gather bank statements and SnapChat logs so he could review them.
The second I stepped out of the law office, Tyler's call lit up my screen.
I answered, staying quiet.
"Chloe, where the hell are you?" His tone wasn't as explosive as last night, but it still dripped with arrogance.
"None of your business."
"You—!" He swallowed his anger. "Mom said you must come home for dinner tonight. Apologize to the family properly, and we’ll drop this whole thing."
Apologize?
I laughed out loud. "Why on earth would I apologize?"
"You slapped me and stormed out! The whole family knows about it, and my mom was humiliated! You come back, apologize, and comfort my mom, and this blows over."
"Tyler," I said, enunciating every syllable. "I am divorcing you."
The line went dead quiet for two seconds.
"Are you insane?!" His voice cracked into a screech. "Chloe, have you lost your mind? Who else is going to want an out-of-state nobody like you? If my family hadn't taken you in—"
"Say that again."
"I said you’re an outsider! If we hadn't let you stay, you wouldn't even have a roof over your head!"
I hung up immediately.
My hands shook—not with fear, but with boiling fury.
An outsider.
I had endured that label for five years.
Right after our wedding, Tyler’s mother boasted to the neighbors right in front of me, "My son was so charitable, picking a girl from out of state. At least she won't be running home to mommy every few days."
During holidays, Tyler refused to visit my hometown, claiming my parents' small town was embarrassing.
My parents had moved to the city just to be near me, just so I wouldn't be bullied for having no family around.
And what about his family?
When his father lost money gambling, Tyler came to me for cash. When his mother fell for scams and bought thousands of dollars in fake wellness supplements, Tyler demanded my card.
For five years, they lived in my apartment, spent my hard-earned money, and then dared to look down their noses at me as an 'outsider.'
I blocked Tyler's number and hailed a cab back to my parents' place.
As the car entered the community, I spotted a white sedan parked out front.
My stomach dropped.
It was Brenda’s car.
Or rather, the car I bought.
When Tyler insisted his mother needed a car because her knees were bad, I took pity on her. I paid the ten-thousand-dollar down payment and covered the monthly lease, even putting the title under Brenda's name.
And now?
She was driving the car I paid for to ambush my parents' home.
I took a deep breath and marched into the building.
Before I even reached the third floor, a shrill screech echoed down the stairwell.
"Eleanor! Your daughter ran away from home, and you’re defending her?! Do you know she slapped my son across the face?! She humiliated our entire family!"
It was Tyler's mother, Brenda.
"Exactly! Chloe has completely crossed the line! My brother treats her like a queen, and she’s still ungrateful!"
That was Tyler's sister, Megan.
My mom's voice remained steady. "Wait until Chloe gets back. Screaming out here won't solve anything."
"Wait for her?!" Brenda's screech hit a fever pitch. "She's hiding like a coward! I’m telling you right now, she comes home with us today and gives my son a formal apology, or this marriage is over!"
Chapters (3)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Watch & Promotions
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