My lawyer wife’s assistant got into trouble again.

This time, he had been driving at nearly sixty miles an hour in a residential neighborhood and crashed into my seventy-year-old mother, sending her flying.

My mother had gotten paralyzed from the accident after suffering fractures in dozens of places. She would be bedbound for the rest of her life.

My wife represented her assistant in court again.

She claimed that my mother had intentionally gotten in the path of her assistant’s vehicle to get compensation money, and that was how the crash happened. She pushed all the responsibility back on my mother.

In the end, her assistant was pronounced innocent and released, while I had to pay him for damages.

“Tyson, he’s just a twenty-five-year-old kid. He knows nothing. If he got sent to jail, his life would be ruined. Don’t pursue this with him.”

After the lawsuit, the assistant rushed to make an online post.

[My lawyer’s so gorgeous. She’s an angel of justice!]

Florence liked the post right in front of me.

Meanwhile, I stayed so calm it was scary. “Let’s get a divorce, Florence.”

Florence Hanson looked at me impatiently and said, “Aren’t you just doing this because you want me to try to win you back? You’re too old to be throwing such tantrums, Tyson.”

I had asked for a divorce many times, but Florence had never believed that I would really leave her.

What she did not know was that, as she was signing the closing statements for the lawsuit, she had also signed a divorce agreement.

“I’m serious, Florence. Let’s get a divorce.”

When I brought up getting a divorce again, Florence’s smile finally faltered.

“Stop messing around, Ty. Divorce isn’t something you can just throw around whenever you want.”

Then, she patted me comfortingly and said, “Enough. I’ll just think of this as a joke this time, but you’re not allowed to do this again. Besides, everything is already done and dusted, and no one can change the past. Maria will be fine after some intensive treatment.

“It’s true that Isaiah went a little overboard, but it was Maria’s fault for not looking where she was going. You have to let it go.”

I pushed Florence away and looked at her in disbelief.

Her tone was casual and light. It was as if Isaiah Jordan had crashed his car into an animal instead of my mother, Maria Schultz. My mother had once tirelessly cared for Florence for three days straight when she had a high fever.

Isaiah was standing to one side. He spoke up after hearing what Florence said.

“It’s my fault for not being more aware of how fast I was going. That’s why I accidentally hit Mrs. Schultz. Flo, I think you should spend more time with your husband tonight. You don’t have to stay with me while I work overtime.”

“You don’t need to worry so much about this, Isaiah. It’s not your fault.”

Florence looked at Isaiah as if her heart was breaking for him. She caressed his face. Meanwhile, she treated me as if I had committed a horrible, unforgivable crime when I had said nothing at all.

I took a deep breath and turned to walk away.

Florence must have been surprised at my silence. She called for me to stop. “Isaiah told me to spend time with you tonight, so let’s go home together.”

After getting in the car, I found a pair of men’s underwear in the passenger seat. My blood turned to ice when I saw it.

The car slowly started on its way.

I said gently, “Take me to the hospital. I’d like to see Mom.”

Florence’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. “I’ll go with you.”

Before the car could get even a foot further, Isaiah called.

“Florence! I was joking earlier! Are you really spending time with Tyson? I even gave you a few minutes to change your mind, but you didn’t even notice that I was mad? I’m not talking to you anymore!”

Isaiah cut the call, but his shrill voice resounded in my head for a long time after.

Florence abruptly hit the brakes. She seemed apologetic as she handed me 200 dollars and asked me to get out of the car.

“Ty, you should take a cab to visit Maria. You should also use the money to get her a fruit basket. I’ll visit later. When Isaiah gets mad, it takes some effort to get him out of his mood. I’ll have to deal with him for days.”

Isaiah stood outside the car, and his expression was dark.

Florence hurriedly got out of the car to defuse his temper.

I stood to one side in the cold breeze as Isaiah started to throw kicks and punches at the car.

“This is such an awful and ugly car. Who knows how old it even is? I’m not getting in!”

Florence tried to comfort him softly. She said, “I think it’s old and ugly too. I’ll sell it off, so you won’t have to look at it.”

After saying that, Florence immediately made a call to her company to get someone to deal with the car.

She must have forgotten that she had wanted to own her own car back in the year she started the company.

Back in the day, I did my very best while entertaining clients and working so that I could help her fulfill her dream. I had gotten health issues from all the alcohol I was forced to drink.

When we went to collect the car, she hugged me and danced around. “Honey, I won’t ever let you down!”

As I watched the car I bought get towed away, I felt my heart clench in agony.

Florence did not even take a second look at me. She and Isaiah got into another car and left.

I grimaced before calling a number I had blocked five years ago.

The call was answered instantly. “Send me your location. I’ll go back to the country and see you immediately.”

…

At the hospital, I headed up to my mother’s ward.

She lay in the bed, attached to a respirator.

I put the fruit basket on the table and forced myself to smile. “Mom, Flo bought you this. She’ll be here in a bit.”

Mom could tell that I was not happy, so she said, “Tell her not to come. She’s so busy with work; she should rest well after she finishes up. I’ll be fine. Flo’s a nice girl. You two should be happy together. Don’t get into a tiff because of me.”

The phone rang, and I picked it up. Florence’s voice came through the line.

“Ty, it’ll be a while before I can get there.”

Suddenly, I could hear some withheld moans from her end of the line. “Don’t mess around, Isaiah.”

I quickly hung up. The room was quiet, and only the noise from the medical equipment remained.

As I expected, Florence did not come by at all that night.

The next morning, I wiped Mom’s face. After washing up, I went to Florence’s law firm, ready to grab the divorce agreement from the stack of other papers.

What I did not expect was to be stopped at the door. The security personnel there refused to let me in.

The security guard laughed when he saw me. “Why, isn’t this Mr. Schultz, who tried to badmouth Mr. Jordan out of jealousy? Ms. Hanson really is quite magnanimous. She only fired you instead of having your reputation as a lawyer ruined. You can still find work.”

I did not bother to respond to this.

I looked at the security guard and said, “Let me in. I’ll leave after I pick up my things.”

“I’m sorry. I only take orders from Ms. Hanson and Mr. Jordan.”

Despite his apology, it was clear that the security felt nothing but disdain for me.

I was about to say something when there came the sudden rumble of a motorcycle engine starting up.

A car sped past, and I got caught in its path and was dragged several hundred yards.

I felt my insides rearrange themselves, and my body was one huge bruise.

I spat out a mouthful of blood. I yelled angrily at Isaiah as he languidly stopped the car.

“Have you gone mad, Isaiah? You were going so fast! Aren’t you afraid of killing someone? Why didn’t you stop when you realized I was caught with you?”

Isaiah looked at me condescendingly. “It’s not my fault that I’m special to Florence. Of course, I can go that fast. Besides, you’re still alive, aren’t you?”

Ignoring the pain, I forced myself upright. However, it seemed that my clothes had been torn from where the car had caught me. Half my body was on display.

Isaiah burst into laughter. This got many of the law firm’s staff to come over and see what poor shape I was in.

I tried my best to get the tattered remains of my clothes to cover up the important bits. “Enough! Shouldn’t you call the police?”

Right then, Florence came over, frantically pushing aside her nosy staff and jogging toward me.

She took off her coat and placed it over me, helping to hide my exposed body.

When she saw that I was injured, she looked somewhat guilty. She asked in confusion, “What happened, Ty? How did you get hurt?”

The staff hurriedly avoided Florence’s gaze. None of them dared to say a word.

Isaiah said in a sad tone, “I saw Tyson sneaking around, so I thought he wanted to steal the dashcam footage from my accident with Mrs. Schultz. That’s why I accidentally went too fast. I didn’t think that would get Tyson hurt. He was cursing me out for it just now.”

Florence quickly started to comfort him, but she also turned to shoot a glare at me.

“Tyson, can’t you be more understanding about this? Isaiah didn’t do this on purpose, so why did you scold him? Besides, Maria’s accident was so long ago, and she’s been paralyzed for a while. Why are you still so mad about it?

“If you really think I didn’t do a good job handling this and want to get justice for her, you can tell me that directly. You don’t have to use such despicable methods to get what you want! I really never expected this of you, Tyson!”

I gave up on trying to defend myself. The injuries only hurt more after I witnessed Florence’s display of apathy and judgment.

This was all such a joke. As long as Isaiah was present, I was at fault for everything. What was the point of trying to get justice?

I laughed self-deprecatingly before speaking up. “I’m not looking for justice or anything. I only want a divorce.”

Florence looked at me disapprovingly. She was about to say something when Isaiah cried out. “Tyson, how could you scratch my car in revenge? Florence bought it for me!”

There was indeed a scratch on the luxury car near the window. It was from where my clothes had been caught. My buttons had scratched the paint.

I explained subconsciously, “I didn’t do that on purpose.”

Before I could react, I felt a sharp sting on my face. Florence had slapped me.

I could taste blood in my mouth as I looked up in disbelief.

I could not believe Florence had hit me because of an almost invisible scratch.

Worse, this was the car that caused my injuries and Mom’s paralysis in that accident.

My voice was hoarse and shaky as I said, “Am I really worth less than this scratch, Florence?”

Florence’s gaze shifted away. However, then, she got even more insistent. “Well, who asked you to scratch Isaiah’s car? Don’t you know I gave it to him for his birthday?

“Even if you’re jealous, you shouldn’t damage his gift! I’ll forgive you this time, but if it happens again, I’ll sue you for property damage.”