Over the years of their marriage, Vivian Mercer had watched her husband, Adrian Pierce, change before her eyes.
She had watched his attitude toward his secretary, Chloe Baxter, shift from irritation to concern, then affection, then open favoritism. In the process, she had witnessed his affair unfold from beginning to end.
On Adrian's birthday, Vivian prepared a lavish dinner and waited for him at home. She had even spent 2 months learning how to bake a cake, all because she wanted to surprise him.
When everything was ready, she waited at home, full of anticipation and love.
But the food went cold, and Adrian never came home.
Uneasiness crept over Vivian. Had he had too much to drink with business partners again? Or had work gotten so busy that he'd simply lost track of time and forgotten to eat?
The possibilities made her more anxious by the second. She picked up her phone and called him.
Adrian had always hated it when she called during work hours, but Vivian was too worried to care. She called again and again. Not once did he answer.
"Did something really happen to him?" she whispered, staring at her phone as she dialed again. She grabbed her coat and hurried toward the door. The cake had collapsed and smeared frosting over her clothes, but she barely noticed. She was ready to run out exactly as she was and search for him.
Then the call suddenly connected.
"Adrian, where are you? Why aren't you home yet? I've been so worried..."
"Vivian?" A woman's voice came through the phone. "Don't worry. Adrian's perfectly safe. We're at a hotel right now, and he's right here beside me..."
Vivian froze as if she'd been struck by lightning.
She knew that voice all too well.
It was Chloe, Adrian's new secretary.
Chloe had started working for him 1 year earlier.
That had been one of the busiest periods of Adrian's career. When Vivian learned that her husband had hired a capable female secretary, she'd actually been relieved. Finally, someone could help shoulder his workload. Maybe he wouldn't have to work until the middle of the night anymore. Maybe he would stop missing every important day in their lives.
But as time passed, Chloe grew closer and closer to him. The two of them became unmistakably intimate and crossed one boundary after another.
The happy life Vivian had imagined never became a reality.
Adrian began traveling constantly. At first, he would be gone for a few days. Eventually, he would stay away for months at a time.
He started missing important dates without a second thought, including their anniversary and her birthday.
Every time, Vivian waited at home, hoping he'd come back, only to receive a curt message from his assistant:
Assistant: Business trip. Not coming home.
After each curt message, she would inevitably see an update on Chloe's social media. Chloe and Adrian celebrated holidays together. Adrian even chartered a yacht for Chloe's birthday and spent the day with her.
"Hello? Vivian, are you still there? Why aren't you saying anything?" Chloe asked, her voice smug and gloating.
Vivian went cold from head to toe. Her hand shook around the phone.
She had once convinced herself that Adrian's concern for Chloe was nothing more than a boss looking after an employee.
Only now did she understand that she'd been lying to herself all along. They had already been together behind her back.
"Put Adrian on the phone..." Vivian's voice trembled.
Chloe merely laughed. Then, as though deliberately making sure Vivian heard every word, she called out, "Adrian, you have a call."
"Hang up. Don't let her interrupt us."
"You heard him, right?" Chloe laughed openly, savoring Vivian's humiliation.
Tears streamed down Vivian's face as she clutched the phone. "No! I don't believe you! Put Adrian on the phone. Hand it to him and let him tell me himself!"
"But Adrian just said you're interrupting us. If you really have something to say, wait until he gets home tomorrow and talk to him then."
The call ended.
'Home? Will he even come home anymore?'
Now that Chloe was with him, he would probably do what he'd always done and invent excuse after excuse to brush Vivian off.
No. She had to get an answer tonight. She had to know whether there was still any place for her in his heart.
She wiped away her tears, picked up her phone again, and kept calling, as if she were punishing herself with every unanswered call.
Every call ended the same way.
Vivian had no idea what else to do. Her heart felt as though it had been ripped apart. Without even realizing it, she ended up sitting motionless in the living room all night.
The front door finally opened the next morning.
Adrian came in smelling of alcohol. When he saw the mess in the room, he frowned. "What are you doing?"
Vivian sat there in a daze and didn't answer. His irritation deepened. He bent down, picked up the ruined cake and her coat, and snapped, "You're acting crazy again. All you ever do is make trouble for other people..."
"You won't have to worry about me anymore."
Adrian gave a humorless laugh. "If I don't look after you, who will? Don't..."
"Let's get divorced." Vivian cut him off. The words hurt even as she forced them out. "Adrian, if you agree to the divorce, you can be with Chloe openly."
"This is about Chloe again? She's kind. She's never tried to take anything from you. Why can't you just leave her alone?" Adrian impatiently pulled a debit card from his bag. "There are 500,000 dollars in the account linked to this card. That should buy me 1 month without hearing about divorce. Stop bothering me with this divorce nonsense."
Vivian stared at him in disbelief, tears filling her eyes.
When had their marriage become a cold transaction with no feelings left in it?
She couldn't remember anymore. All she remembered were the times she'd been neglected and ignored. The pain had been gnawing at her for so long that she hadn't noticed how completely it had consumed her.
She didn't move or reach for the card.
Once, she would have accepted it happily and said in a sweet voice, "Thank you, honey."
Now she didn't even want to look at it. All she could see in her mind was Adrian tangled up with Chloe.
For the 3 years of their marriage, Vivian had given up the career she loved and become a full-time housewife, devoting herself to taking care of Adrian and their home.
Her friends used to envy her. They thought she had a husband who adored her and that, after marrying into a wealthy family, she had all the money and leisure she could ever want. They believed she never had to worry about making a living.
Only Vivian knew it had all been a lie.
Without a job, she had to ask her husband for money whenever she needed to cover basic living expenses. There was something deeply humiliating about living that way.
Adrian's betrayal made the choice she'd made to give up her career and depend on her husband feel like a cruel joke.
Vivian left the debit card untouched, its very presence now a cruel mockery. Fighting back tears, she looked at him through blurred vision. "I don't want your money! I don't want anything from you, and I won't fight you for your assets. All I want is a divorce!"
Every sentence felt like carving a fresh wound into her own heart. Her whole body shook uncontrollably.
Adrian finally lost his temper and snatched the card back. "Fine. If you want to throw a tantrum, keep throwing one! If you've got nothing else to do, go to Pierce Manor and wait on my parents instead of acting like a lunatic!" His voice turned cold. "Quit acting up. You'll always be Mrs. Pierce, but if you take this too far, I can always replace you."
With that, he strode out and slammed the door behind him.
The strength left Vivian's body. She collapsed beside the sofa, her cheeks soaked with tears.
She wanted a divorce, and to him, that was nothing more than a tantrum, something he thought he could smooth over by throwing money at her.
She didn't care about his money. She didn't care about the status that came with being his wife either. She had suffered enough in a marriage that had long been dead in all but name.
If he refused to divorce her, all she could do was stand by and watch her husband carry on with his mistress.
And then what?
The way Adrian protected Chloe, would he eventually bring her into their home, let her use the things they shared as husband and wife, or even sleep in their bed?
Where would Vivian be then?
She cried for a long time. Only when she had almost cried herself dry did her heart finally settle into numb calm.
She couldn't keep living like this.
Vivian braced herself against the table and stood, intending to leave. Only then did she notice the butler standing near the doorway. He seemed to have been waiting there for quite some time, too hesitant to approach after seeing her cry.
"Mrs. Pierce, are you all right?"
"I'm fine..." Vivian wiped her face. Her expression had gone numb and distant. "Did you need something?"
"There's a banquet at Pierce Manor tomorrow. Mr. Pierce's mother asked you to go over now and make the arrangements. Please get ready. The car will be here shortly."
'Of course.'
Adrian's birthday banquet was held at Pierce Manor every year. This year would be no different.
Every year, Vivian handled everything from beginning to end and never received a single word of praise.
This year, Adrian already had someone new at his side, and Vivian was planning to divorce him. Whoever wanted to organize his birthday could do it.
"Tell Diane that Adrian already has a new wife waiting in the wings. She can ask the new Mrs. Pierce to organize it."
Vivian turned and went upstairs. She took the divorce agreement from her nightstand and placed it somewhere impossible to miss.
She had already signed it. If Adrian wanted to make Chloe official, sooner or later he would sign too.
Once that was done, Vivian made a phone call and left the house.
Meanwhile, after his argument with Vivian, Adrian was too wound up to stay at his friends' gathering and left early.
He didn't even know what he was upset about.
His car pulled into the drive. The moment it stopped, he opened the door and got out.
The butler came to meet him and looked visibly surprised. "Mr. Pierce, why are you home this early?"
Adrian ignored the question and walked straight inside. "Where's Vivian?"
"She's gone upstairs to rest."
Adrian glanced instinctively toward the living room. The lamp beside the sofa was on, but no one was sitting there.
At this hour, Vivian usually sat there reading. As soon as she heard him come through the door, she would hurry over and ask if he was hungry or wanted her to cook something.
He'd always found it annoying and told her not to wait up.
Eventually, she stopped waiting as often, but whenever he came home, the living room lamp was always on.
Tonight the light was still there.
Vivian wasn't.
An inexplicable irritation rose inside Adrian.
'Why is she suddenly being so obedient? Why isn't she waiting for me like she always does? Isn't she worried I've had too much to drink and might come home feeling sick with no one there to look after me? Vivian is really getting more and more disrespectful. I haven't done anything wrong. Why is she making such a fuss about divorce?'
Adrian walked to the table and looked down.
A document lay on the table beside a pen.
He reached for it. His fingertips touched the edge of the paper, then stopped. The paper was cool beneath his fingers, as cold as the look Vivian had given him earlier.
He glanced down. His eyes widened instantly. It was a divorce agreement.
He flipped frantically to the last page.
Vivian had already signed her name in neat, deliberate strokes.
Aksara