“No idea what you’re talking about.”
I sounded completely relaxed.
“I gave him the company, didn’t I?”
“You have the nerve to bring up the company?” Brenda shrieked. “If you hadn’t interfered…”
I laughed.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Business is about money. If people don’t want to work with Ethan, that’s because he isn’t capable of running the business.”
And I hadn’t lied.
I really hadn’t done anything after the divorce.
I’d known Ethan’s company would struggle without Sinclair Group’s protection. I just hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly.
Ethan hadn’t been the only one who’d overestimated himself.
I’d overestimated him too.
I’d thought he had at least some business sense.
Brenda was speechless for several seconds.
Then she screamed again.
“You vicious woman! You’re absolutely vicious!”
I smiled.
I didn’t mind the title at all.
In fact, I rather liked it.
Just before hanging up, I added casually, “Oh, and one more thing. I sent the video of Richard checking into that hotel with the other woman to her family. Apparently, her husband is looking for your husband now.”
Silence.
Brenda suddenly stopped yelling.
A second later, I heard her break down on the other end of the phone.
I hung up, blocked her number, and finally enjoyed some peace and quiet.
A few more months passed.
Ethan’s company officially filed for bankruptcy.
Then my private investigator sent me a message.
[Renee Miller secretly sold all the jewelry Ethan bought for her. She’s planning to run.]
There was a photo attached.
Under cover of darkness, Renee was carrying several large suitcases out of an apartment.
She hadn’t even taken Leo with her.
Her face was filled with desperation and calculation.
I wasn’t surprised.
Renee had spent too many years struggling.
After getting a taste of the life money could buy over the past six months, there was no way she was going back.
Maybe she really had loved Ethan once.
Maybe she’d once been so obsessed with him that she’d secretly had his child just to keep him from leaving.
But she’d regretted it a long time ago.
Now that Ethan was broke, there was no reason for her to stay.
Before she left, Renee even sent a message to my social media account.
[You can have that man. I don’t want him anymore.]
I had to chug an entire glass of water just to keep myself from throwing up.
As for Ethan, I’d heard that after the bankruptcy, he was buried under a mountain of debt.
Then, when he was already on the verge of losing it, he discovered that Renee had run away.
The moment he realized he’d ended up in this mess because of her, whatever reason he had left disappeared.
He spent the little money he had remaining to hire a private investigator and track Renee down.
Then, under cover of night, he broke into the apartment she was renting.
And stabbed her to death.
Ethan was arrested at the scene.
When his parents heard what had happened, they nearly collapsed.
They had once adored Leo.
But now that they believed his existence had led to their own son’s downfall and death, they couldn’t stop blaming him.
They beat Leo constantly.
They verbally abused him.
They even refused to let him attend school.
When I heard what had happened, I could only shake my head.
Life really could change in the blink of an eye.
Then Mia came running toward me, bouncing with excitement.
She was clutching a medal in her hand.
“Mommy! I won first place in the art competition!”
I crouched down and pulled her into my arms.
“That’s my girl. I’m so proud of you.”
Mia rarely mentioned her father anymore.
She was still young, but she understood enough to know what had happened.
The setting sun stretched Mia’s shadow across the pavement.
I took her hand and started walking home with her.
Far ahead, the sky was glowing with brilliant shades of gold and pink.
And as I looked at my daughter beside me, I knew it.
Mia and I were finally beginning a new life.