Susan’s expression flickered with guilt, but a well-practiced mask of elder superiority quickly replaced it.

“Claire, don’t talk like that. Julie only wanted to help James. Her intentions were good. And honestly, you’re a successful attorney with all the resources in the world. Shouldn’t you want to share some of that with your husband to let him shine too? Why are you being so petty about it?”

Hearing that Susan was backing him, any lingering hope of understanding extinguished itself.

“Her intentions were good?”

I snorted. “Stealing confidential client data and conspiring with my husband to betray me, that’s what you call good intentions?”

Seeing that I was not backing down, James sighed.

“This is exactly it. You’re always so literal, so uptight. No fun at all. And Julie’s right, you’re like a machine. You work, and that’s it. What I need is a soulmate. Could you even be that?”

Hearing that, Susan chimed in tentatively.

“That’s right. James is an artist. And you’re just a businessperson who only knows numbers. You were never a match for him. If you weren’t so useful financially, our family would never have accepted you in the first place.”

James glared at me with a darkened expression and said with a harsh voice, “Claire, I’ve tried to be reasonable with you, but you can’t sabotage my career and bully Julie just because you’re my wife! Would anyone still dare to be nice to me if you keep acting like this?”

My heart was pounding with rage. “I sabotaged you? I bullied her? Go on—tell me how!”

James snapped at me angrily, “What, am I wrong? I only wanted to learn from your success, and you responded by freezing my accounts! Julie was only trying to help me share the burden! What did she ever do wrong? You, on the other hand, not only refused to help me, but you even tried to nuke my career and get her fired! How is that not bullying?

I stared at the man I had loved for a decade as a wave of disappointment washed over me.

“James, I can’t believe I married you!”

Hearing that, he simply snorted. “There it is. You’re finally speaking your mind. Julie was right about you. You couldn’t stand to see me succeed. The moment you realized my career might actually eclipse yours, you had to pull the rug out from under me!”

Slap!

I felt an intense stab of pain in my heart. Before I could stop myself, I hurled the divorce papers straight into James’s face.

James clutched his face and glared at me in disbelief. “You’re actually divorcing me?”

Susan rushed to his side to steady him with a look of concern. Then, she shot me a look of reproach and said, “Claire, how could you threaten divorce over something so small? Every marriage has bumps. Are you really going to blow this out of proportion?”

As they stood there united against me, I received a text.

It was Julie.

[Just accept it, Claire. Men will always choose the sweet, adoring girl over an intimidating career woman like you. Do you really think you can beat me? When I become Mrs. Marshall, the first thing I’ll do is wipe your name off the house deed!]