Derek was standing near the bar with a woman in a tight red dress. Brenda, his boss. He was laughing at something she said, looking completely relaxed and happy. Not like a man whose wife had been missing for almost a week. Not like someone who cared at all.
Something cold settled in my chest.
This was who he really was. And I’d spent five years making excuses for him.
Derek’s eyes swept across the room and landed on me. I watched his face change. Confusion, then shock, then something that looked like panic. His champagne glass actually slipped from his hand, shattering on the floor. He started pushing through the crowd toward us, and Brenda followed, looking annoyed.
“Olivia.” His voice was too loud. People turned to look. “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been worried sick. I filed a police report.”
Catherine stepped slightly in front of me. Her voice was calm but carried across the room. “Excuse me, young man. But that’s quite a tone to take with my granddaughter.”
Derek blinked. “Your granddaughter? What are you talking about, Olivia? What’s going on?”
“You must be the husband,” Catherine said, and there was ice in her voice now. “The one who abandoned dear Alexandra at a bus stop in the worst part of town with no money and no phone. Tell me, is that how you normally treat your wife?”
The people around us had stopped talking. Everyone was listening.
Derek’s face went red. “That’s not— It was a misunderstanding. Olivia, tell her. Tell them this is just a misunderstanding.”
I found my voice. It came out stronger than I expected. “The only misunderstanding was me thinking you were a good man. You left me there to teach me a lesson, Derek. Those were your exact words.”
“You’re being dramatic. I was coming back for you. I just wanted you to think about your spending habits.”
“My spending habits?” I felt anger rising in my chest, hot and fierce. “I bought groceries and a gift for my sick mother. Meanwhile, you’ve been spending thousands of dollars taking another woman to expensive restaurants and hotels.”
Brenda’s face went pale. Someone nearby gasped. Derek looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him.
“That’s not— how did you—” he stammered.
Patricia, Catherine’s lawyer, appeared beside us. She’d been at the gala already, waiting. She handed Derek a manila envelope.
“This contains documentation of financial misconduct, including withdrawals from joint accounts without your wife’s knowledge, and evidence of infidelity. Mrs. Henderson has secured legal representation. Any further contact should go through her attorney.”
Derek stared at the envelope. Brenda stepped away from him, her expression disgusted.
“Derek, you told me you were separated,” Brenda hissed. “You said she left you. This is completely unacceptable. We’ll discuss your employment status on Monday.”
She walked away, and several other people from Derek’s dealership followed her, shaking their heads.
Derek turned back to me, desperate now. “Olivia, please. We can work this out. I made mistakes, but we can fix this. Don’t throw away five years of marriage.”
I looked at him. Really looked at him. I saw the calculation in his eyes. He wasn’t sorry for what he’d done. He was sorry he’d been caught. Sorry he was being humiliated in front of people who mattered to him.
“You threw away our marriage when you left me at that bus stop,” I said quietly. “You threw it away every time you made me feel worthless. Every time you controlled our money, every time you chose her over me. I’m done, Derek. You’ll be hearing from my lawyer about the divorce.”
“You can’t afford a divorce. You have nothing without me.”
