Chapter 4

There was no funeral for Eleanor. In accordance with her wishes, her body was handled directly through the anatomical donation protocol.

Everything concluded in complete silence, as if she had simply slipped away into the night.

My attorney sent me a notification: our court date for the divorce trial was set for three days from now.

The day I had been waiting for was finally arriving.

While getting a facial at an upscale spa, I crossed paths with Chloe.

Lying on the treatment bed next to mine, her slight bump was visible.

Without any shame in front of the estheticians, she smirked at me:

"A woman who isn't loved and desperately clings to a dead marriage will look pathetic no matter how much skincare she gets."

"Do you know how Julian talks about you? He says you're boring, stiff as a board in bed. If his mom hadn't been standing in the way, he would've dumped you eight hundred times over."

Her words didn't leave a scratch on me.

I laid there calmly, my voice dropping to an icy chill:

"A lawful wife carries herself with class. Unlike a full-time mistress whose only trade is peddling her body in bed."

"Julian once mentioned that your 'technique' rivaled the most expensive escorts in the city. When a woman has serviced as many clients as you have, I suppose you learn not to be stiff."

Chloe shot straight up from the bed, her face contorting with rage.

I looked down at her with pure disgust:

"And let me clear something up for you: it's not that I refuse to divorce him. It's your precious Julian who's on his knees, begging me to stay."

"He 'loves' you so much that he keeps you around as a filthy little secret. Only a homewrecker like you would wear that like a badge of honor."

I grabbed my bag, opened my message logs, and shoved the screen in her face:

"Open your blind eyes and take a damn good look. See how this man who supposedly loves you so much is begging me not to leave him!"

Chloe's expression twisted into something uglier than stepping on garbage.

I turned and walked toward the exit. Out in the lobby, I spotted Julian striding toward the entrance.

His assistant was hurrying beside him, offering a cautious reminder:

"Mr. Moore, your wife filed for divorce over a month ago. She hasn't withdrawn the petition. The hearing is scheduled in three days."

Julian waved his hand dismissively:

"Ignore it. She saw me take Chloe on vacation and she's just throwing another fit."

The assistant looked uneasy. "Sir, if we fail to appear, the court could issue a default judgment that might severely damage your interests."

Julian sneered with absolute confidence:

"She won't actually divorce me. She just feels slighted because Chloe is pregnant. It's a power play."

"If she really wanted to leave, she wouldn't have stayed at the hospital caring for my mother. Besides, she has nobody in this world except me!"

A cold laugh bubbled up inside me.

Julian, your arrogance is going to bury you alive.

Three days later, neither Julian nor his legal team showed up in court.

The judge deemed his absence a willful failure to appear without justifiable cause—a massive advantage for my case.

My evidence of his infidelity and financial contributions was airtight. With Mr. Miller's relentless execution, I walked out of the courthouse with a final decree of divorce.

And an equitable distribution order granting me half of the marital estate—worth twenty-three billion dollars.

At that moment, an immense weight lifted off my shoulders. I booked a flight to the Maldives that very afternoon.

The day before my departure, I was picking up some travel essentials at a luxury boutique when I ran into Julian and Chloe.

The moment Chloe saw me, her face fell, and she began whining to Julian with tears in her eyes:

"Look at her! She's clearly fully recovered! You swore to me you would force her to get that tubal ligation!"

"It's been over a month, and she hasn't touched the operating table! That day at the spa, she called me a cheap escort to my face!"

"You said you'd stand up for me! What have you actually done?!"

"I can see it clearly now—you don't love me at all! Julian, I've had enough of your empty promises!"

Her hysteria escalated as she pulled her usual guilt trip:

"My baby and I are just an inconvenience to you! Fine, go back to your wife!"

Julian panicked, scrambling to wrap his arms around her:

"Sweetheart, she was busy looking after Mom at the hospital, wasn't she? I'll have the clinic prep her for the procedure right now, okay?"

Chloe wept dramatically:

"Right now! Either you finalize your divorce, or you make her get that surgery! Pick one right this second!"

Julian didn't hesitate for a beat. He turned to his two private bodyguards:

"Take my wife to the surgical center. Have the doctor perform the sterilization immediately."

"Yes, sir!"

The two towering men stepped toward me.

I let out a scathing laugh:

"Julian, we are already divorced! Even if we weren't, you have zero legal or physical right to touch my body!"

He looked at me as if I were talking nonsense:

"We've been married for seven years and you haven't conceived once. It's obvious you're infertile anyway."

"So stop throwing a fit over a simple procedure."

He paused, adding with a patronizing sigh:

"Mom's condition just stabilized. You can threaten me with divorce behind closed doors, but don't you dare bring it up to Mom. She'll never let us split."

I sneered, pulled the certified divorce decree from my purse, and slammed it straight into his chest:

"Look closely! The judge signed the final decree three days ago!"

"And guess what? You don't have a mother anymore! She died while you were busy screwing your mistress in Paris!"