Divorce: The Only Way Out

Divorce: The Only Way Out

Tang Doudou

5.0
Comment(s)
89
View
22
Chapters

The launch party for my company was supposed to be the peak of my life' s ambition, but my eyes were glued to the door, waiting for my wife, Olivia. Just last week, she' d finally warmed up to me, hinting at starting a family after three years of a marriage that felt like a contract. Then the doors opened, and Olivia walked in, but she wasn' t alone; beside her, with a possessive hand on her back, was Dr. Marcus Thorne, her former mentor. He was a ghost from her past, and she was smiling at him in a way she never smiled at me. I watched them, trying to convince myself it was nothing, as he leaned in to whisper, and she laughed, an intimacy that screamed of a shared history I was not a part of. Dave, my business partner, clapped me on the shoulder, telling me we were "killing it," but my gaze was fixed on Olivia taking a glass of wine from Marcus, their fingers brushing. It felt like a punch to the stomach, seeing the effortless familiarity he had, everything I' d bled for in three years of trying. The anger and humiliation choked me, until I finally stumbled over to them, my voice hoarse. Marcus turned, looked me up and down, and with a condescending smirk, called me "the boy genius," belittling my entire existence. Then the room tilted, my chest tightened, and the world went black. I woke to the sterile smell of a hospital, Olivia asleep beside me, but the warmth turned to bitter self-mockery as I remembered her denial in front of him. Our marriage had been a transaction from the start-a deathbed promise to my father to "look after me." I was 21, grieving, hopelessly infatuated, and agreed, hoping forced proximity would blossom into love. Three years of trying to earn her affection, culminating in last week' s "validation," now felt like just another concession. A cold resolve settled over me; I couldn' t live as a child she was obligated to care for anymore. I disconnected the IV, and when Olivia stirred, I looked her in the eye and said, "Let's get a divorce." She was pale, shocked, but I had never been more clear; I signed the papers and walked out, leaving everything behind. For two days, I hid in a cheap motel, suffocating the voice that replayed her smiling at Marcus, until there was a loud banging on my door. It was Dave, and behind him, a pale and frantic Olivia, who pushed past him, calling me unthinking and childish. "I'm not a child, Olivia," I said, my voice dangerously quiet. "Then stop acting like one!" she shot back, as I pulled the signed divorce papers from my bag and pushed them into her hands. "I'm letting you off the hook. You don't have to keep your promise to my father anymore. You're free." She stared at the papers, her eyes widening with disbelief, then she whispered, "No." And with a sudden, violent movement, she ripped the papers in half, declared she would not divorce me, and threw the shredded pieces at my feet. It was never about me; it was always about the promise.

Introduction

The launch party for my company was supposed to be the peak of my life' s ambition, but my eyes were glued to the door, waiting for my wife, Olivia.

Just last week, she' d finally warmed up to me, hinting at starting a family after three years of a marriage that felt like a contract.

Then the doors opened, and Olivia walked in, but she wasn' t alone; beside her, with a possessive hand on her back, was Dr. Marcus Thorne, her former mentor.

He was a ghost from her past, and she was smiling at him in a way she never smiled at me.

I watched them, trying to convince myself it was nothing, as he leaned in to whisper, and she laughed, an intimacy that screamed of a shared history I was not a part of.

Dave, my business partner, clapped me on the shoulder, telling me we were "killing it," but my gaze was fixed on Olivia taking a glass of wine from Marcus, their fingers brushing.

It felt like a punch to the stomach, seeing the effortless familiarity he had, everything I' d bled for in three years of trying.

The anger and humiliation choked me, until I finally stumbled over to them, my voice hoarse.

Marcus turned, looked me up and down, and with a condescending smirk, called me "the boy genius," belittling my entire existence.

Then the room tilted, my chest tightened, and the world went black.

I woke to the sterile smell of a hospital, Olivia asleep beside me, but the warmth turned to bitter self-mockery as I remembered her denial in front of him.

Our marriage had been a transaction from the start-a deathbed promise to my father to "look after me."

I was 21, grieving, hopelessly infatuated, and agreed, hoping forced proximity would blossom into love.

Three years of trying to earn her affection, culminating in last week' s "validation," now felt like just another concession.

A cold resolve settled over me; I couldn' t live as a child she was obligated to care for anymore.

I disconnected the IV, and when Olivia stirred, I looked her in the eye and said, "Let's get a divorce."

She was pale, shocked, but I had never been more clear; I signed the papers and walked out, leaving everything behind.

For two days, I hid in a cheap motel, suffocating the voice that replayed her smiling at Marcus, until there was a loud banging on my door.

It was Dave, and behind him, a pale and frantic Olivia, who pushed past him, calling me unthinking and childish.

"I'm not a child, Olivia," I said, my voice dangerously quiet.

"Then stop acting like one!" she shot back, as I pulled the signed divorce papers from my bag and pushed them into her hands.

"I'm letting you off the hook. You don't have to keep your promise to my father anymore. You're free."

She stared at the papers, her eyes widening with disbelief, then she whispered, "No."

And with a sudden, violent movement, she ripped the papers in half, declared she would not divorce me, and threw the shredded pieces at my feet.

It was never about me; it was always about the promise.

Continue Reading

Other books by Tang Doudou

More
Six Months Pregnant: My Fiancé Buried Me

Six Months Pregnant: My Fiancé Buried Me

Fantasy

5.0

Six months pregnant, my heart swelled with love and dreams for the future. Jack, the ambitious game developer, was my world, and our baby, a girl, was going to complete our picture-perfect life. I poured everything into supporting him, my art echoing the passion in his studio plans. But then a phone call changed everything. Sophia, a ghost from Jack’s past, painted a venomous lie on the tiny phone screen, accusing me of sabotaging her stream, fueled by 'jealousy'. Jack, my Jack, turned on me instantly, his eyes colder than the Chicago wind outside our window. ‘This is your fault, Emily,’ he hissed, his voice a stranger’s. He advanced, seizing my arm, his grip bruising despite my swollen belly. Dragged to the musty spare room, I saw the old steamer trunk, a dark, heavy relic. ‘You’re going to feel what she felt,’ he snarled, forcing me inside. I pleaded for our baby, for our love, as he folded my limbs into the impossibly small space. The lid slammed down, and the metallic click of a padlock sealed my fate, extinguishing light and air. I died there, suffocating, my last thought of our child, our innocent daughter. He didn’t come back, even as my body decomposed within inches of his everyday life. Instead, Sophia moved in, wearing my robes, rearranging my life, celebrating her triumph on our sofa. My existence, erased; my memory, maliciously rewritten. How could the man I built a life with, the man who put a ring on my finger, leave me to rot, just a few feet from where he slept? But death was not an end, merely a new beginning for my silent wrath. My spirit lingered, an unseen tormentor in the home where I died. I would whisper in his dreams, shatter his carefully constructed lies, and guide new eyes to the darkness he hid. Jack and Sophia thought they could bury me, but they would soon discover that some truths refuse to stay buried. Justice would come, even if I had to orchestrate it from the other side.

Billionaire Heiress's Humiliation: A Brother's Fury

Billionaire Heiress's Humiliation: A Brother's Fury

Romance

5.0

My fiancé' s mistress hacked off my hair in the middle of Van Cleef & Arpels while he laughed on the phone. He told her to "teach the stalker a lesson," having no idea the woman in the hoodie was actually the billionaire heiress he was arranged to marry. Ten minutes later, my brother' s private army shut down Fifth Avenue, and I picked up the scissors to return the favor. I had spent a year doing humanitarian work in war zones, so I arrived at the jewelry store in jeans and a worn hoodie to collect my custom engagement tiara. Glennie Kramer, a supermodel and Ashton' s "true love," sneered at my appearance and claimed the diamonds for herself. When I tried to stop her, she grabbed gift-wrapping scissors and violently severed my waist-length hair while the staff watched in terror. Desperate, I called Ashton, but he mocked me as a "pauper" and authorized security to hold me down while Glennie finished the job. They smashed my phone, thinking I was helpless. But the call hadn't disconnected before my brother, Ason Kane, heard everything. The King of Wall Street arrived with a fleet of armored SUVs and a rage that froze the room. Ashton collapsed when he realized he had just assaulted the sister of the most powerful man in New York. I walked over to the trembling supermodel, the scissors cold in my hand. "You said a nobody doesn't deserve beautiful hair," I whispered. I didn't just ruin their looks; I sent them to the Black Cell and erased their existence from high society forever.

No Mercy for the Merciless

No Mercy for the Merciless

Modern

5.0

My volunteer work was simple, a quiet act of kindness. For two years, I drove underprivileged students to their SATs, finding genuine joy in helping. Then my phone buzzed, and a sharp, high-pitched voice introduced me to Tiffany. She wasn't just demanding a ride; she was demanding a luxury SUV for five, not three, and a perfectly pristine car. "Make sure your car is clean. We don' t want to show up to the most important exam of our lives covered in dog hair or smelling like old takeout." Her voice dripped with an entitlement that left me breathless, and I knew this was different. I brushed aside the unease, telling myself it was just one difficult person. But from the moment they sauntered out, laughing, holding expensive coffees, the verbal jabs began, culminating in Tiffany grabbing my steering wheel on the highway. The car swerved violently. A truck narrowly missed us. "What is wrong with you? You could have killed us!" I yelled, my body shaking with rage. "Me? You' re the one who can' t drive! You almost got us killed!" she shrieked back, her eyes wide with indignation, not remorse. To my horror, Jessica, one of the others, nodded in agreement with Tiffany's outrageous lie. The unfairness of it all made me sick. My good deed had been twisted into an obligation, and I was being made the villain. My husband' s calm voice echoed in my head: "Don't give them a single thing they can use against you. Be polite, be professional…" I decided I would be a robot. A chauffeur. No emotion, just function. I would finish this, and then wash my hands of them forever.

A Husband's Ultimate Retribution

A Husband's Ultimate Retribution

Billionaires

5.0

My life with Victoria, a tech mogul with billions, was a gilded cage. I was her house husband, an artist reduced to chores, all to stay close to Emily, seven, and Josh, five, my children. Her protégé, Liam, a smirking young man with hollow ambition, made every day hell, spilling wine for me to clean, complaining about my cooking, even shrugging when he killed our cat. Victoria saw my suffering and encouraged it. Then came the day that broke the world. Victoria brought Emily and Josh downstairs, both terrified. "Get in the crate," she commanded, pointing to a new dog crate. "And bark." My blood ran cold. "They' re children. You can' t do that," I whispered. But she grabbed them, dragging them towards the door. "If they can' t make it a few days in the urban park downtown, they' re too weak to be my children anyway," she snarled, then sped off, leaving me screaming on the driveway. Three days later, the detective called. They found Emily and Josh, two small bodies under a pile of cardboard, dead from exposure. That same evening, Victoria was at a charity auction, laughing and buying Liam a three-million-dollar car. My grief turned to cold, hard resolve. I walked onto the stage at the auction, holding the two small urns. "I' m not here to bid on a car," I announced. "I' m here to buy two souls." Victoria tried to pull me off the stage. "They' re dead, Victoria," I whispered, louder than any shout. "Emily and Josh. They' re dead." She called me insane, a liar. Liam played the brave protector, faking fear. The public bought their story, condemning me, a pathetic, unhinged husband. But they didn't know the truth. They didn't know about Liam's cruelty, or Victoria's chilling threats to send my children away, a threat that had kept me captive. Now, that threat was tragically meaningless. With nothing left to lose, I set my purpose. I began attending auctions, asking a strange question that would change everything. My family's old money, long ignored, would now become my weapon.

You'll also like

Too Late: The Spare Daughter Escapes Him

Too Late: The Spare Daughter Escapes Him

SHANA GRAY
4.3

I died on a Tuesday. It wasn't a quick death. It was slow, cold, and meticulously planned by the man who called himself my father. I was twenty years old. He needed my kidney to save my sister. The spare part for the golden child. I remember the blinding lights of the operating theater, the sterile smell of betrayal, and the phantom pain of a surgeon's scalpel carving into my flesh while my screams echoed unheard. I remember looking through the observation glass and seeing him-my father, Giovanni Vitiello, the Don of the Chicago Outfit-watching me die with the same detached expression he used when signing a death warrant. He chose her. He always chose her. And then, I woke up. Not in heaven. Not in hell. But in my own bed, a year before my scheduled execution. My body was whole, unscarred. The timeline had reset, a glitch in the cruel matrix of my existence, giving me a second chance I never asked for. This time, when my father handed me a one-way ticket to London-an exile disguised as a severance package-I didn't cry. I didn't beg. My heart, once a bleeding wound, was now a block of ice. He didn't know he was talking to a ghost. He didn't know I had already lived through his ultimate betrayal. He also didn't know that six months ago, during the city's brutal territory wars, I was the one who saved his most valuable asset. In a secret safe house, I stitched up the wounds of a blinded soldier, a man whose life hung by a thread. He never saw my face. He only knew my voice, the scent of vanilla, and the steady touch of my hands. He called me Sette. Seven. For the seven stitches I put in his shoulder. That man was Dante Moretti. The Ruthless Capo. The man my sister, Isabella, is now set to marry. She stole my story. She claimed my actions, my voice, my scent. And Dante, the man who could spot a lie from a mile away, believed the beautiful deception because he wanted it to be true. He wanted the golden girl to be his savior, not the invisible sister who was only ever good for her spare parts. So I took the ticket. In my past life, I fought them, and they silenced me on an operating table. This time, I will let them have their perfect, gilded lie. I will go to London. I will disappear. I will let Seraphina Vitiello die on that plane. But I will not be a victim. This time, I will not be the lamb led to slaughter. This time, from the shadows of my exile, I will be the one holding the match. And I will wait, with the patience of the dead, to watch their entire world burn. Because a ghost has nothing to lose, and a queen of ashes has an empire to gain.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book