Three days after giving birth, I finally got my massive payout. During my labor, my husband, Liam, was busy having a blast with his mistress on a private island. On the third day, he finally came home to see our baby: “The little guy’s tougher than I thought. Oh, and by the way, that time you almost miscarried? It was because I touched you right after being with her, without washing up, and you caught an infection.” I stared at him in disbelief, but he just kept going: “Don’t get your panties in a twist. The baby’s healthy, isn’t he? Those other women don’t threaten your position.” Watching him walk away, I didn’t scream or cry this time. I already had fifty-two million dollars in compensation. I could finally get my divorce in peace. Liam pushed his phone towards me, a cruel, knowing smirk playing on his lips, barely contained. The screen showed a photo of my shocked face from just moments ago, when he’d told me he’d infected me. My swollen eyes and sallow face were magnified countless times across the horizontal display. I instinctively reached to snatch the phone and delete the picture. He quickly pulled it away. “It wasn’t easy to snap that shot. I told her I’d send her your face when you heard the news.” “She’s been fuming ever since you had our son, hasn’t let me touch her for three days. What else could I do? I had to use you to cheer her up.” His flippant expression felt like a knife, slowly slicing away at my dignity. He talked about his affairs with such casual indifference, like he was just discussing what to have for dinner tomorrow. The man who’d promised to love only me forever on our wedding day had finally, completely shattered his vows. A “ding-dong” chime. His special notification for her went off. Brittany saw me and gasped dramatically: “Wow, Scarlett, you look terrible! Giving birth really does make women ugly. I’m never having kids!” “I’m serious, you have to use protection with me from now on! I refuse to turn into some haggard old housewife!” His eyes crinkled in a smile. There was no trace of the anger he’d shown the first time he’d heard a girl mock me for being too plain for him. “Of course. The family heir is taken care of. You, my little side piece, just need to keep me happy outside the home.” “You’re not mad anymore, are you? Let’s review that position we tried last time. Go get clean and put on that sheer outfit for me, waiting in the bedroom!” Beep! The voice message ended. He switched off his phone, still savoring the moment. Looking at my reddened eyes, he chuckled and pinched my cheek. “Yeah, a bit saggy. Alright, it’s not the first time you’ve heard me flirting with her. What’s there to be sad about? She’s just a distraction. Once the novelty wears off, I’ll move on. You have the child, no one can shake your position. Just get over it.” With that, he shoved his hands into his pockets and strolled away. He said it so casually, yet for two years, his “novelty” had never ended. My “unshakeable position” felt like an identity anyone could challenge. Ten minutes later, a debit notification from the pharmacy popped up on my phone. Purchased item: three boxes of strawberry-flavored ultra-thin condoms. Immediately after, he sent me a message. [The pharmacy fund is almost depleted. I’ve been using it a lot lately. Remember to top it up.] Looking at that almost provocative message, I no longer felt the fiery rage and impulse I’d had the first time I got a debit notification for contraceptives, rushing to crash his little rendezvous. I simply ordered five more boxes for delivery to Brittany’s address. Half an hour later, two million dollars appeared in my account as a ‘reward’. The total was now exactly fifty-two million. I calmly screenshotted the transaction history and sent it to Eleanor, Liam’s mother, who was abroad handling private matters. [The money’s enough. Please expedite the divorce papers.]
The first time I received a ‘compensation’ transfer from Liam was when I accidentally saw his flirtatious messages with his secretary. I argued with him, I screamed, and he accidentally pushed me to the ground, causing a miscarriage. That night, he transferred all his assets to me, knelt, and begged me for another chance. I didn’t take them. I just told him. “From now on, every time you betray me, you transfer two million to me. When it reaches fifty-two million, I’ll leave you for good!” He thought I was just saying it in a fit of pique, joking. What I didn’t tell him was that his mother, Eleanor, had begged me not to divorce him even before he did. Back when he married me, he’d settled tens of millions in gambling debts for my terminally ill, deadbeat father. Eleanor had said I couldn’t divorce him until the debt he’d cleared was essentially ‘paid back’ to the family. Until then, she insisted I had no right to leave. I knew she wasn’t actually trying to make me repay the money. She just wanted to use me to keep her son, who’d inherited his father’s philandering ways, tied down. When I first found out I was pregnant, I considered aborting the baby several times. But then he suddenly came back to the family, doting on me just like in our dating days, saying he wanted a home. By the fifth month, he knew the baby was too far along for an abortion, so his old habits resurfaced. After I sent the message, I received a draft of the divorce agreement electronically. I breathed a sigh of relief. The day I was discharged from the hospital and transferred to the postpartum recovery center, Liam came to pick us up. The nurse, Brenda, sat in the back with Leo and a pile of baby supplies. I took my place in the passenger seat, a spot I hadn’t occupied in a long time. The seat was adjusted far back. My hand brushed against the seat adjuster and snagged on a ripped pair of pearl-studded lace panties. “That girl is just too wild, wants to try it everywhere.” He raised an eyebrow, watching me. He expected to see the wild, uncontrollable rage he was used to in my eyes. But I just dropped my hand expressionlessly, leaving the item where it was. He paused, then chuckled. “Your poker face is getting good lately. And you’ve become much more generous. Good thing you ordered those five extra boxes last time, otherwise, with her clinginess, they wouldn’t have been enough.” “You know, if you’d been this understanding earlier, we might have had our second child by now.” I didn’t reply, just quietly closed my eyes, resting. A moment later, that familiar phone ringtone sounded, and a faint sense of dread settled in my stomach. Sure enough, he slammed on the brakes, pulling the car onto a deserted shortcut lane. “You guys wait here. Brittany has a toothache, I’m taking her to the hospital first. I’ll be back for you guys soon.” He opened the car door, threw all our things onto the roadside, and roughly pulled me out in just a few quick movements. Whoosh! The car sped off. Meeting Brenda’s confused, angry gaze, I gritted my teeth against the incision pain and pointed to the car turning the corner nearby. “Take that one. It’s Eleanor’s car.” She looked at me, surprised. I managed a weak smile. A year ago, he’d abandoned me halfway, believing his words to ‘just wait’. During the dead of winter, I stubbornly waited until I was hypothermic and passed out from the cold. When I was finally taken to the hospital, he even blamed me for being stubborn, saying my emergency call had interrupted his time comforting Brittany. After that, I avoided riding in his car whenever possible. And if I did, I was always prepared to be abandoned at any moment. I was used to these ‘unexpected’ events by now. That evening, Liam, panting, tracked us down after returning to the original spot and not finding us. “Why didn’t you tell me you hailed a cab? I went back and looked for ages.” “I messaged you. You didn’t see it.” He instantly flared up. “Then why didn’t you call? I thought something had happened to you both.” I paused, then quickly regained my composure. “Didn’t you say not to bother you when you’re with Brittany?”
During my last prenatal check-up, our baby was misdiagnosed with Down syndrome. I was so terrified I could barely stand. When I called him, Brittany switched to video mode. She was wearing a tight nurse uniform, giggling provocatively. “Scarlett, Liam says if there’s something wrong, fix it, or just abort it. Calling him won’t help.” “We’re role-playing right now, too busy for you.” “And he said stop using these excuses to check up on him. If you like hearing his voice so much, he’ll record a lullaby for you to soothe your baby bump.” She hung up shortly after. Liam sent a message. [From now on, text me if you need anything. If I don’t reply, I’m with someone else. Stop calling and interrupting us.] He paused, a flicker of satisfaction on his face. “Finally listening, huh? Good, commendable. Though that time, I genuinely didn’t know it was about our son. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have let her talk like that.” He pulled two necklaces from his pocket. One was a solid gold longevity charm for good luck for our son. But the moment he touched Leo, our son burst into tears, as if he couldn’t stand being near him. Blocked, Liam then offered the other necklace, a delicate piece with small diamonds, to me. “Here. I was at an auction with Brittany yesterday and saw this necklace. Thought it might suit you.” It was true he’d bought it at an auction. But I’d seen on Brittany’s Ins feed yesterday that it was a bonus gift that came with a two-million-dollar pink diamond, practically worthless on its own, not even a few hundred bucks. As he spoke, he reached to put the necklace around my neck. I flinched and pulled away. He frowned, annoyance in his eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean? I give you two compliments, and now you’re playing hard to get?” A wave of sarcasm washed over me. He always thought I could be won over by his occasional acts of kindness. “You misunderstand. I’m allergic to this kind of material.” His face stiffened. He seemed to have forgotten the millions he’d once spent to craft a gold diamond ring that wouldn’t irritate my skin. In the past, when I most desperately wanted him to change his mind, I’d accepted everything he gave me, even if I was allergic, even if it was uncomfortable. As long as he showed even a sliver of kindness. I would never contradict him. For that fading flicker of love, I’d humiliated myself beyond measure. In the end, it was all for nothing. After that day, he seemed to find a convenient excuse and stopped coming to see us. I was glad for the peace and quiet, focusing on my recovery, postpartum care, and playing with Leo. But on Ins, I often saw him with Brittany: one day on a Ferris wheel, the next shooting an advertisement. Mornings he’d cook for her, afternoons they’d check out trending restaurants. Sometimes, in the dead of night, there’d be posts about their exciting nightlife. Everyone at his company said she was his longest-standing mistress. They all speculated when he’d finally kick me, his loyal, long-suffering wife, out for her. Truth be told, from my fifth month of pregnancy until just before delivery, I’d brought up divorce countless times. But Liam refused. He didn’t want to give up the image of a perfect family. If he had truly agreed, I wouldn’t have minded being shown the door. The day before our divorce was finalized, it was Leo’s one-month celebration. Liam made a grand entrance with Brittany. He even arranged her seat right beside him, the seat reserved for the lady of the house. He held Leo, playfully teasing him for a while. Brittany leaned in, looking at the baby with him. “Hello,Leo. I’m your stepmom.” At her words, everyone present’s expression shifted. But Liam, before anyone could react, quickly smiled at me. “I forgot to tell you, Brittany’s prepared a gift for Leo. She’s going to be his godmother.” Brittany slipped a gold bracelet onto Leo’s wrist. She smiled sweetly at me. “I’ll help Scarlett take care of the baby from now on.” Listening to her provocative declaration, I gently pressed Eleanor’s hand, stopping her from reacting. I smiled faintly and took Leo from their arms. “A psychic recently said Leo’s aura was a bit too strong, and he needed a godparent to balance it out and ward off bad luck.” “Brittany, you truly are a saint, saving me so much trouble. I’ll accept the gift, thank you.” Both their faces instantly fell. Brittany’s eyes welled up, her voice choked. “It’s okay, Scarlett. It’s my honor to do something for Liam’s child. Warding off bad luck? I’d even die for him.” “Perhaps it’s best if I, a harbinger of bad luck, just leave now, before I spread my misfortune to everyone.” With that, she cast a tearful glance at Liam, grabbed her bag, and started to leave. Liam glared at me, displeased, and made to go after her. Eleanor grabbed his sleeve, her eyes sharp. “Today is your son’s one-month celebration. In front of all these people, you’re going to chase after a mistress? Do you want our family to be shamed forever?” He paused, about to speak, when I smiled at Eleanor. “Mom, let him go. Leo is the star of today.” She hesitated, then sighed. “Get out! If you ever bring these low-class women into our house again, don’t bother coming in yourself!” Liam’s gaze was probing, as if he expected to see the familiar clinginess and bitterness in my eyes that used to reassure him. But there was nothing. I looked away and toasted the guests with tea. The one-month celebration wasn’t exactly dignified, but thankfully, Leo was too young to be sad. And I wasn’t sad either. Tomorrow, with the divorce papers, everything would be over. Eleanor took us to the old mansion to stay with her for one last night. Leo fell asleep on the sofa, and Eleanor went to get him a handmade cotton blanket. Suddenly, the heavy door of the old mansion slammed open. 4 Liam stormed in, carrying Brittany. “Scarlett! I truly underestimated you. Where’s that bracelet? Give it back! Do you know Brittany suddenly got a fever this afternoon, and then got into a car accident on the way to the hospital?” “I initially thought it was just a coincidence, but then I met a spiritualist collecting donations who told me you tampered with the bracelet, putting a curse of bad luck on her! How could you be so malicious?” Back when I was bleeding during my pregnancy and prayed for days for our child, he’d called me superstitious and old-fashioned. I scoffed. “Those were just words to provoke you both. You actually believed them? Where did this mystic come from, and how did you ‘just happen’ to meet him? Ask him which temple I supposedly put the curse in.” He was speechless, about to retort. Brittany, still sobbing, pulled out a bracelet and approached Leo. “It’s okay, maybe I just have a weak constitution and these things coincidentally happened. This is a blessed bracelet I got from a temple. I want to exchange it for that gold one.” I stepped sideways, blocking her. “I won’t take your item. I’ll return the bracelet to you tomorrow. Leo is asleep. Please leave now.” Liam glared at me. “Why can’t you give it to me now? What else do you plan to do with it?” I frowned, about to speak, when Liam suddenly scooped up the sleeping child. “What are you doing! Don’t touch him!” Brittany grabbed Leo’s arm, forcibly trying to take off the bracelet. “Scarlett, I’m doing this for your own good. No matter how much you hate me, you can’t use our child! What if… what if you persist in this delusion, and the bad karma falls on Leo? What will you do then?” “It’s better to take it off now.” Leo cried out, startled by the rough handling, and my heart clenched. I rushed over and slapped Brittany, sending her sprawling. “What nonsense are you talking about! I told you there’s nothing going on! You are not to touch my child!” She looked at Liam, tears streaming down her face. The next second, his eyes blazed red. He shoved me violently, sending me tumbling, and carelessly tossed Leo onto the sofa. Then, with agonizing care, he helped Brittany up. “We’re doing this to lessen the bad karma for you and the child! Look at you, acting like a lunatic!” The incision from my pain-free delivery hit the corner of the coffee table, a searing pain coursing through my body. But what chilled me more was his callousness towards his own flesh and blood. Eleanor, hearing the commotion, rushed over and helped me up. She picked up Leo, whose face was red from crying. Then, she slapped Liam across the face. “You animal! Even a wild animal protects its young, but you’re worse than your own heartless father! Abusing your son for some cheap mistress!” “You’ll regret this someday! Get out! Get out of my house, don’t disturb our final family moment!” “It was her first…” Liam’s previously dark eyes suddenly froze. He paused. “What do you mean, ‘final’?” But before he could finish, Brittany suddenly collapsed to the ground, unconscious. He instantly lost his composure and hurried to pick her up. As he turned to leave, he glanced back at me. A flicker of unease crossed his eyes. “I’ll be back tomorrow for the bracelet. Don’t try any tricks!” Eleanor, wiping away tears, slammed the door shut. The next morning, Mr. Davies, the butler, brought back our finalized divorce certificate. I didn’t disturb Eleanor. I placed the divorce certificate under the gold bracelet, inside the large box that once held the gold engagement ring Liam gave me. I put it in a prominent spot on the coffee table. Looking at Leo in his swaddling clothes, my voice was lighter than it had ever been. “Baby, let’s start a new life with Mama.” He suddenly grinned, his eyes curving into little crescents. Amidst his innocent, unburdened laughter, We boarded a plane to a new world.
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