He Regretted It the Moment I Asked for a Divorce

"Sorry," Aveline said coyly, swaying over to Thayer with feigned weakness. "Mr. Alcott doesn’t like using protection with me."

Her low-cut dress exposed her chest, covered in kiss marks. Thayer smiled and pulled her into his arms, indulging in a long, passionate kiss.

"I thought your legs were too weak to walk. What are you doing sneaking over here?"

"I missed you, Mr. Alcott..."

Seeing him getting intimate with different women had become so common that I was numb to them.

But I never imagined that even during a hospital visit for me, he’d still find time to sneak in a quick session with another woman without protection—something even I, his legal wife, had never experienced.

Just then, three knocks sounded at the door. A man wearing gold-rimmed glasses stepped in, interrupting their shameless display.

“Mr. Merrick," I said, my voice weak and pale.

"Lucien, why are you here?" Thayer’s expression turned cold, a flash of displeasure in his eyes.

"I’ve come to deliver the divorce papers."

Lucien lifted the documents in his hand, his voice indifferent. “Divorce papers.”

Divorce?

Thayer let out a cold chuckle, his eyes slicing toward the man like frost-tipped blades.

I took the divorce papers from Lucien and smiled lightly. “Thank you. I’ll buy you a coffee sometime.”

“Althea, do you really need to thank me?” Lucien pretended to be offended and, with a firm gesture, re-save my number after I had previously deleted him.

“If you need anything, just call. Divorce lawsuits happen to be my specialty.”

As soon as he walked out, the man in front of me gripped my wrist tightly. Disgust dripped from the corners of his eyes. “What? Already climbed into Lucien’s bed, huh? No wonder you're so defiant today. Turns out you spent the night with another man!”

“How much for one night? Say it!”

I stared wide-eyed at the man, furious, stunned by his senseless rage.

“One grand? Two? Don’t tell me it was for free. You’re cheaper than a hostess at a club.”

My dignity was ground underfoot like trash. I finally went cold, face expressionless and handed him the divorce agreement. “Sign it. I’m too cheap for the Alcott Family anyway.”

My patience and pleading had only fueled his escalating cruelty and humiliation.

For the past five years, I had been like a gambler putting everything on the line, always thinking we could return to how things once were.

But love had long since become unrecognizable, overgrown with twisted thorns that cut deeper the closer I got.

Then, to my surprise, Thayer’s expression froze for a split second. But instead of signing, he raised his hand and tore the divorce agreement to shreds, flinging the pieces in my face.

“Althea,” he sneered, “You’re nothing but a dog under my feet. What right do you have to choose?”

A doctor called out for the patient’s family and Thayer hurried out of the room.

Only Aveline and I remained.

“Althea, did you know?” Aveline said with a soft, fragile smile. “I told Thayer I wanted a baby, and from that moment on, he never used protection again.”

“Last time, when you ran through the rain late at night to bring him an umbrella and almost got hit by a car, that umbrella was for me. I was completely worn out after all that and Thayer was just worried I might hurt my body.”

Smiling, she handed me a glass of water, but just as I reached for it, she spilled it all over herself.

“Althea, I kindly brought you water and you threw it on me?”

Thayer's smile vanished the moment he looked over. He yanked me off the bed and helped Aveline up, his gaze vicious.

“Throw it back at her. I’ll protect you.”

He took Aveline and splashed ten full glasses of water onto my face, each one like a slap across my cheeks.

My heart turned bitter and I stopped trying to explain.

After all, it was always like this. No matter what happened, he never believed me.

The first mistress said I made her kneel and kowtow. He forced me to kneel with her, banging my head against the ground until it bled.

The second one said I tore her dress. He ripped my dress with her, leaving me naked in the villa for ten days.

The third one accused me of stealing her research. He signed my technical work—something I stayed up nights for over a month to complete—under her name and let others scold me as a plagiarist.

And the list went on.

Perhaps... he never needed my explanation at all.