Chapter 247
“I waited over eight months, and they still rejected my petition!”
The woman’s voice cracked with disbelief, her breath catching. “The judgment even said something about how twenty years of marriage wasn’t easy, and that we should weather the storms together… stay loyal and never abandon each other…”
She broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.
The people around her, moved by the rawness of her grief, began to offer words of comfort.
“If he hits you again, just call the police. Get him arrested. With evidence, the court will be more likely to grant the divorce.”
“Yeah, it the first trial doesn’t work out, file an appeal. As long as you’re determined, the second one usually goes through.”
She cried harder, tears and mucus mingling without care.
“The second appeal requires a six-month wait.” Her voice was hoarse, ragged. “I want to report him, too. I want him in jail. I want him to have a record. But he threatened me with our child’s future.”
“If this ends up on his record,” she said, her voice shaking, “our son won’t pass a background check for any federal job. And in this economy? Good luck finding something stable outside government work. That’s the only reason I’ve put up with him this long.”
She paused to catch her breath, as if speaking the next words would undo her.
“But this year, he got worse. He broke a few of my ribs. I couldn’t take it anymore. I decided to leave with nothing-give him everything. I’d decided to take my son, raise him alone, and not ask for a single cent of support.
“Only then did he finally, reluctantly agree to the divorce. And even so, it’s taken me two months just to book an appointment for the divorce cooling-off period… If I wait any longer, the second trial will start before I even get divorced.”
The crowd around her fell silent, sighs and murmurs of sympathy rippling through them.
Sharon listened quietly, a dull ache rising in her chest.
She understood this woman.
She, too, had once chosen endurance.
Too many worries.
She couldn’t bear to part with Theo. She wanted to give him a whole and happy home. The Biggs family had access to the best
educational resources…
Those reasons, those fears, had become shackles that kept her trapped in a marriage that was long past saving.
If Theo hadn’t grown so fond of Kelly…would she still be forcing herself to stay?
She didn’t know the answer.
Outside the courthouse, a breeze caught the loose strands of hair at her temple, brushing away the suffocating heaviness that had clung to her.
But life didn’t run on ifs. She was who she was now-the best version of herself.
“Carter, did you file for the divorce?”
A voice broke through her thoughts. It was Nate, bounding over out of nowhere, visibly excited.
Carter’s eyes narrowed slightly at the spark of glee in Nate’s expression.
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“What are you doing here?”
“I came to…”
‘Congratulate you on the divorce.’
But halfway through, Nate faltered, realizing how inappropriate it sounded.
He cleared his throat. “I’m here to pick up the letter of forgiveness and the antidote.”
Carter gave a quiet nod and turned to Sharon.
“You can give me the letter now, can’t you?”
Sharon didn’t waste time. She handed it over.
Carter read through it carefully, then asked, “What about Carter’s antidote? And Kelly’s medicine?”
Nate stood there, his bandages now removed, but his face covered in jagged scratches and darkened bruises.
Some wounds had turned a sickly bluish-black, giving his face a disfigured appearance.
He looked like someone who’d had his features deliberately ruined.
Over the past few weeks, he’d seen countless doctors—he even tracked down the most highly praised old-school herbalists.
None of them could do anything about the poison on his face.
Now, every time he stepped outside, he wore a mask.
The one time he forgot, he scared passersby so badly that people screamed and called the police-thinking he was pulling some kind of grotesque public prank.
He’d never been so humiliated in his life.
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