Outgrowing Love

[Andrea, I know Sean is an outstanding guy. You’ve worked with him at the firm for years, and if you accidentally fell in love with him, I don’t blame you. But I just found out I’m pregnant, and you’re already messaging my husband, forcing him to leave me and divorce me in court. What am I supposed to do? What about the child in my womb? If you care this much, I can leave the firm. I’m only begging you to spare my unborn child and me. Please don’t take my husband away, okay? @Andrea]

The moment Brittany sent those messages, the usually quiet client group chat exploded. Messages flooded the screen in seconds.

[I feel so bad for Ms. Donovan. She just started a family with Mr. Larson, and now some jealous older woman is trying to ruin it.]

[You really can’t judge a book by its cover. Ms. Brown always seemed kind and reliable. I never thought she would be so vicious. Targeting someone’s marriage while they’re pregnant? How disgusting.]

[@Andrea, stop playing dead and show yourself. You call yourself a lawyer? You should be ashamed of yourself!]

[@Mr. Larson, if you don’t kick this kind of scum out of the firm, I’m canceling my contract and reconsidering which firm to trust with my case.]

In an instant, the group chat of hundreds of clients was filled with insults and accusations, every single one directed at me. Meanwhile, Brittany, the one who started it all, disappeared right after spreading her lies, hiding safely behind her screen.

I was so exasperated by her shamelessness that I burst out laughing. She stole my wedding, destroyed my marriage, and now she was twisting the story, accusing me of seducing Sean while she was pregnant?

What surprised me even more was Sean himself. He had always been a silent observer in the group chat, never speaking since the day it was created. Yet now, he suddenly stepped forward and responded publicly.

[What my wife said is true. I apologize for disturbing everyone. Please rest assured that there is no emotional or inappropriate relationship between Andrea and me. For the sake of the firm’s reputation, starting today, I will immediately begin the process of removing Andrea from the firm.]

Seeing his confidence in lying, as if it were second nature, I felt nothing but irony. Maybe even Sean himself had forgotten that once upon a time, he had been a lawyer who despised lies and betrayal above all else.

Back when the law firm had just been established, a client once offered him an outrageous fee of three million dollars to win a divorce case. However, after investigating, Sean discovered that the client was hiding his true intentions. In reality, he wanted to transfer his assets and run away overseas with his mistress.

Without hesitation, Sean dropped the case immediately, fully aware that he would offend the client and risk being blacklisted. It was because when he was young, his father had abandoned him and his mother in the same way, and it had remained a thorn in his side ever since.

Even so, back then, he had apologized to me with red eyes, saying that by dropping the case, he couldn’t give me a better life and that he wasn’t a good husband. Who could have imagined that in just one year since Brittany arrived, he had become the very person he once despised?

Love sure was powerful. It was powerful enough to change someone who once held firm to his principles, to the point where he could turn a blind eye to Brittany slandering me.

Fortunately, as the firm’s top lawyer, I wasn’t someone to be bullied. The next second, I directly uploaded the recording of my phone call with Sean into the group chat.

[Andrea, I told you, the wedding with Brit is just for show… Do you really want to force things into the open? If people find out Brit got pregnant before marriage and was abandoned by some man, they’ll mock her and call her a sl*t. Am I supposed to stand and watch as her parents kill both her and the baby?]

Almost instantly, the once chaotic group chat fell silent. Not a single message appeared. Sean probably never expected that I had recorded our call.

After a brief silence, the mood in the group chat flipped. Many clients began tagging Sean and Brittany, demanding an explanation.

I simply chuckled and exited the group chat. They could clean up their own mess for all I cared.

The next day, I arrived at the court on time, as scheduled, waiting for the divorce hearing. Sean, the defendant, however, never showed up. The court staff called him several times, but no one answered.

Just as the court was about to rule against him for his absence, Sean suddenly called.