I actually laughed, the kind of laugh that comes when you're too furious for anything else.

My daughter was first in her grade. Olympiad gold medalist.

Her guaranteed placement at Ashford was "gaming the system"?

But hand it to Bobby, who scored zeros across the board, and suddenly he deserved it?

Joe's double standard turned my stomach.

I tore the transfer request in two and tapped the badge pinned to my chest.

【School Board Trustee】

A quiet reminder of who ran things in this room.

Maybe it was that my refusal had made him lose face in front of Audrey.

His brow knotted, and his voice dropped.

"I'm very unhappy with how you handle things."

"But I'll give you a chance to fix it."

"I'm taking Audrey to a meeting now. When we come back, I expect—"

"—that you'll have made the right choice."

I watched the two of them leave arm in arm, and the last thread of illusion in me snapped.

When a man's rotted through, you don't hang on to him.

"You little tramp, go get me a soda."

The second they were gone, Bobby propped a foot up on the table, insolence all over his face.

His eyes swung to my daughter.

She flinched, hurt welling up until the rims of her eyes went red.

"So this is how you were raised?"

I put her behind me and looked at him coldly. "Given your record, you can leave the school now."

"This is just how I am. You don't like it, you swallow it."

He spat toward me, that little troublemaker's grin on his face.

"Uncle Joe said everything your family has is gonna be mine sooner or later."

"You two are gonna be my big maid and my little maid. Wait on me hand and foot."

I called security.

Bobby jumped straight onto the table, jabbing a finger at me.

"What do you think you're doing!"

"Uncle Joe said anybody who makes me unhappy, he'll deal with them!"

"You think I won't call him right now?"

"Go ahead."

My tone stayed flat and businesslike. "You're expelled. Leave the premises."

"Fine! You just wait!"

He kicked a chair over and stormed out to make his call.

My daughter threw herself into my arms, her voice shaking but steady.

"Mom, whatever you decide, I'm behind you."

She was headed off to college soon. Of course she'd seen what was happening.

Something in me trembled, and I held her close.

"Okay."

"If your father can't be a father, then we don't need him."

Joe came back, exactly as I'd known he would.

He didn't bother signing in at the gate. He rammed straight through the barrier arm and burst inside.

For Audrey's son.

Not even the dignity he prized above everything could hold him back now.

I laughed at myself.

I should have known it would end like this. What had I even been waiting for?

I pushed the bitterness down and called my lawyer.

"Draw up divorce papers for me."

His foot slammed the office door open.

Audrey came in and dropped to her knees, sobbing, tears streaming down her face.

"Miss Pruitt, you have money, you have power. I can't fight you."

"If you have a problem, take it out on me. I'm begging you, don't bully my son. Just because he has no father, does that make it fair for people like you to trample him?"

Quite the accusation to pin on me.

"With your son's conduct, he could be expelled ten times over."

I let my gaze drift, cold, to Joe, who had the grace to look uneasy. "If someone hadn't given false testimony to vouch for Bobby, he'd never have gotten through the front gate."

"Enough, Naomi!"

Joe brought his palm down flat on my desk. "Look at you, all bared teeth. Where's the teacher in that?"

"Apologize to Audrey and Bobby, right now!"

My face didn't change. "Get out, or I'll have officers handle this by the book."

"Naomi, don't push your luck."

Joe swept the files off my desk.

The cup shattered on the floor, and a flying shard sliced open my ankle.

Blood welled up at once.

"Don't hurt Mom!"

My daughter rushed forward in tears and pressed down on the wound to stop the bleeding.

I'd given up on this man completely, and still my heart ached against my will.

Years ago, when a rival came after me, it was Joe who took three knife wounds and pulled me out of that mob's hands.

He couldn't even stand from the injuries, and still he smiled and tried to reassure me.

"Don't be scared. As long as I'm here, no one can touch you."

And now the one hurting me was him.

"That's enough. Don't make me slap you."

Joe advanced on me, his face livid.

"Dad, aren't we a family? Why are you helping outsiders go after Mom?"

Carol's eyes reddened, and she finally broke down sobbing.

"What does a child know! I stand with what's right, not with my own blood."

Joe glared and shouted.

"I'm your Aunt Audrey's boss. It's only right that I look out for someone who works under me."

"A widow raising a son on her own—she's pitiful enough, and now she's being bullied by people with power. Of course I'll stand up for her."

"But Mom didn't lie to you. Bobby really was out of line. He forced his way into the girls' dorm more than once, and he took secret photos—"

"How dare you! Who taught you to talk back to your father?"

Joe cut her off, harsh: "Is that how you speak to your elders? Did you throw your whole upbringing to the dogs?"

Bobby's eyes darted around, and he sniffled, playing the pitiful one.

"Uncle Joe, since the trustee has no room for me, I'll just go."

Audrey covered her face and whimpered too.

"Joe, don't you two fight over the both of us. You're husband and wife."

"I'll resign tomorrow, so your wife can cool off."

"You're not the one who should resign."

Joe ground his teeth, his eyes bearing down on me.

"Naomi, you've disappointed me. Throwing your little bit of authority around to bully the weak."

"I'm ordering you—step down as trustee, right now."

Then he turned to Audrey.

"Audrey is my assistant. Her ability and her character are both first-rate."

"You'll submit your resignation to the board yourself, then recommend her for the next term as trustee."

He'd made me laugh with fury again.

A wave of exhaustion hit me, and I lost even the will to argue.

I signaled for security to throw the three of them out.

"I'm warning you, Naomi. Don't take this too far."

Joe was shoved along, shouting in humiliation.

"If I walk out that door today, you can beg me all you want and I still won't come back."

Security, faces full of disgust, dumped the three of them out into the corridor.

"I never realized you were this cold-blooded kind of animal!"

Joe's face went black with rage.

"I will not let you run wild just because I've spoiled you."

He helped Audrey up and soothed her gently.

"I'll move Bobby to a better school. We don't need this dump."

Then he left, taking the two of them with him.

But barely ten minutes later, a message from him landed on my phone.

【I'm giving you one more chance to win me back.】

【Whatever it takes, make Audrey and Bobby happy again, and get Bobby's enrollment restored.】

【You have one week, or you lose me forever.】

It wasn't a request. It was an order.

He was certain I loved him to distraction.

Certain that no matter how outrageous the demand, I'd cave for his sake.

But Joe, this time I'm not playing along.

Divorce papers take time to prepare. One week was just right.

【Fine.】

I replied with a single word.

No surprise there.

In the days that followed, Joe moved straight into Audrey's place.

I knew what it was. A show of force, meant to put me in my place.

Those few days, Audrey's feed never stopped, one post after another of her breezing through luxury boutiques, buying and buying.

【Guess who got ten designer bags from her man? Oh, that's right. Me.】

【A man who loves you doesn't hand you empty promises. He hands you a penthouse.】

【Baby wanted it, so baby got it.】

I looked at the property deed, the bags, the stacks of cash piled up in her photos.

Screenshot. Saved. My face didn't move.

If there was no love left, at least I wasn't going to let myself lose the money too.

Once the divorce agreement was drawn up, I called my father. "I'm getting a divorce."

He didn't ask a single question. He only said:

"You decide, I'll handle it."

With everything confirmed, I checked the time.

One day left before Joe's deadline ran out.

Right then, another taunting message from Audrey came through.

【Wherever a man's money goes, that's where the love is.】

I screenshotted it and saved it, same as always.

Inside, I gave a cold laugh. Enjoy your last days together.

The next day, I took the divorce agreement to Joe's company.

I'd barely stepped into the lobby when I froze.

Every wall was papered with photos of me.

Written across them: Homewrecker. Slut. The woman who broke up a family.

There was even a photo of Bobby crying in my office.

Caption: Bullying a child. No shame, no conscience.

From the angle, Joe had taken it himself.

I gave a bitter smile.

So he'd already been setting me up, even back then.

He'd thought of everything for her.

The staff pointed at me, faces full of contempt.

"What a vile woman."

"Not only did she steal a man, she went after Audrey's kid too."

"Someone has to report her. A person like that isn't fit to teach students."

Plenty of these people had been at my wedding to Joe.

For them to twist it this completely, it was obvious whose orders they were following.

I didn't lash out. I just fixed each of their faces in my memory.

Splat—

A cup of hot coffee, dumped over my head without warning.

Then Audrey's shrill sobbing broke out:

"You slut! You seduced my husband, and you still had the nerve to bully my son!"

"I'll kill you!"

She rushed at me and slapped me hard across the face.

The burning sting spread across my cheek in an instant.

I moved to hit back on reflex, but Joe clamped my wrists down and held them there.

I lifted my head and looked at him, my eyes ice-cold. "You don't have anything to clear up?"

For an instant Joe's eyes wavered.

Then it was gone, replaced by cold indifference. "I gave you seven days. You're the one who didn't value them."

"You bullied someone first. Letting Audrey blow off a little steam is better for everyone."

"As for us, you don't need to care what other people think."

My heart went cold as ice.

There was a time when the moment I suffered the slightest wrong, he was always the first to step in front of me.

Now he was the one pushing me into the abyss with his own hands.

Seeing Joe take her side, Audrey turned even bolder.

She swung her fist at me.

In the chaos came a crisp "crack."

The jade bracelet on my wrist hit the floor and shattered into pieces.

"Stop!"

Joe's face went white in an instant.

All three of them froze at once.

That bracelet was the first gift Joe ever gave me.

I'd treasured it for over a decade.

Someone had once offered ten times its worth to buy it off me, and I'd never once thought of selling.

Once, when someone bumped into me and jostled it, I beat them half to death.