Alia sucked in a breath to steady herself. Caleb was still dressed to the nines, an outfit that looked incredibly out of place from their little shabby apartnt. In another happier ti, it would have signified that Caleb's business ventures were successful and their fortunes were turning for the better.
Now, it was a mockery of all the sacrifices she had made to keep his dream alive.
"Look what the cat dragged in," Caleb drawled out, his judgental eyes roving all over her drenched shivering figure. "Guess you finally decided to co back after all."
"Where else am I supposed to go? In case you forgot, I am the one paying for this house," Alia pointed out, narrowing her eyes at his impudent words.
"You have a lot to explain," Alia continued, the hurt surging through her like a river current the longer she stared at Caleb's face.
Questions erged from her mouth in a torrent.
"How could you do this to , Caleb? Do all the years we spent together an nothing to you? If you didn't love , why did you stay married to ?!"
Caleb scoffed and put his feet up on their rickety coffee table. "You were awfully convenient. Which man would say no to a warm body who willingly enslaved themselves for you? Alia, you only have yourself to bla for how things ended up between us. Why were you such a doormat?"
Alia gasped at Caleb's sheer audacity. How could he insult all the sacrifices she made to keep their little family afloat? "A doormat? How... I did all these things because I loved you! You told you had nothing to your na, so I was willing to help you succeed!"
Caleb shrugged at her declaration, as though it was nothing more than the wind between his ears.
"And I suppose sucking Matteo Montgory's cock was part of your job description?"
"What?" Alia exclaid faintly, taking a step back at Caleb's insinuation. "You think I― you think I'm sleeping with Mr. Montgory?"
"I know you are," Caleb said, rising up in one quick motion, twisted viciousness in every line of his face, a dark look in his eyes. "Why else would soone like him help a bug like you? I saw how he looked at you tonight. And how he treated . You seduced him and spread rumors about , didn't you?"
"I didn't do anything to him!" Alia protested. Caleb's accusation was bordering on lunacy. "I've never seen him before!"
"A likely story," Caleb's nostrils flared in anger, "But I will not be fooled again. Sign the papers, Alia."
"The... papers?" Alia repeated dumbly, finally turning her eyes to the stack of docunts on the table. Her heart stuttered in her chest as she read the first line.
'DIVORCE AGREENT'
"You're divorcing ?" Alia demanded, storming forward to grab the docunts so she could read them closely. There was nothing wrong with her eyes; the words were in black and white, Caleb was effectively accusing her of infidelity and using it to take whatever tiny joint assets they had.
His signature was already at the bottom, underneath his na. The ink had long dried, and Alia couldn't help but wonder how long her loving husband had been planning this betrayal.
"Who is she?" The question escaped from Alia's lips, unbidden. The papers shook in her hands.
"She?"
"The woman you're leaving for, Caleb! I know you're having an affair!" Alia yelled, her voice cracking in anger. Since Caleb was so quick to accuse her of infidelity, he must have been guilty of sothing similar. After all, it was always the ones who had sothing to hide that made the biggest fuss.
Suddenly, Alia recalled that she had been slling a new perfu scent wafting off her husband in the past few months, but Caleb kept claiming it belonged to one of his important clients, telling her there was nothing to worry about. He had also been staying out late more often, but Alia was too tired to confront him about it.
Alia could only shake her head at her own stupidity. How could she have believed his words? Seeing a client? More like he had a mistress!
"You definitely have a mistress," Alia hissed. "That perfu... the late nights... Do you take for a fool?"
Caleb let out a bark of laughter. "Please, like Kelsie would ever be a mistress to ."
Alia's heart stuttered. Caleb could only be referring to Kelsie Friesent, the heiress of Friesent Corporations. Alia had worked part-ti for them before as a janitor, and she had always heard good things about Kelsie Friesent from her coworkers.
Caleb was the one who introduced this job to her. Back then, Alia eagerly accepted, as the pay was better than expected.
Alia's eyes welled up with tears. Was this all just a ga to the both of them? She was effectively made a fool!
"You... you..." Alia blinked back tears, trying her best not to sob.
"Let's make this clear, Alia Kentwood. You are not worthy to even lick my shoes, let alone to share my life with," Caleb said, with a derisive curl of his lips.
"Kelsie is the woman that I love, the woman who truly deserves to be by my side," Caleb continued. He took out a pen and pressed it into Alia's cold clammy hand. "Now, sign the papers and I can end this farce of a marriage."
Alia stared up at her husband's face, and only found the eyes of a stranger staring back at her. She knew that if she were to fight him now, he would have no qualms about hitting her, or worse.
She bit her lip and sucked in a quick breath; there was only one course of action. Her shaking fingers wrapped around the pen, and she gathered the strength to pen her na down on the docunt, her signature a crooked thing next to Caleb's elegant flourish.
"Fine, it's done," Alia declared, moving away from Caleb, her soon-to-be-ex-husband. "From now on, we will have nothing to do with each other. Don't you regret it!"
Caleb threw back his head and laughed uproariously as though she had told a good joke. "Oh, Alia, who would ever regret throwing out the trash?"
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