Chapter 3 · I Divorced the Cheater and Ruined His Family

Chapter 3

When the plane touched down, the warm, humid air rushed at me, thick with the smell of salt and ocean. I skipped the hotel I'd booked and caught a seaplane straight from the airport to a smaller island, farther out and much quieter.

For the next three days, I disappeared from the world completely.

My phone stayed off the entire time, like a stone sunk to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

I changed into a sundress and walked barefoot along the white sand.

I watched sunsets from the infinity pool until the sky burned red from edge to edge.

I ordered the strongest cocktails on the menu, drank until I was pleasantly buzzed, and slept until my body decided to wake up.

I even signed up for a beginner's scuba lesson.

When I sank into that deep blue water and watched schools of colorful fish drift past me, I felt like I'd been born all over again.

The photo, the people, everything that had happened, it all felt like another lifetime.

Their names still floated through my mind, David, Sophie, Margaret, but they were fading into nothing more than blurry shapes.

I never knew that letting someone go could feel this easy. Or maybe "letting go" wasn't the right word. I'd thrown them away, like tossing out that broken flowerpot.

On the fourth morning, I lay on a beach chair with an iced coconut water in my hand, and I decided it was time to head back and see how that fire I'd started was burning.

I pulled out my phone. The black screen stared back at me like Pandora's box.

I pressed the power button, and the phone buzzed once before the screen lit up.

Then the digital storm hit.

It took a full three minutes to boot up as the flood of incoming notifications nearly crashed the system. The screen flickered and vibrated nonstop, and notification badges jumped from "99+" to actual numbers, each one more staggering than the last.

I looked at those numbers and calmly took a sip of my coconut water.

The phone finally settled down.

I opened the call log and found 299 missed calls.

A hundred and forty-seven of them were from David. From the timestamps alone, I could picture exactly how it played out: the early ones full of rage, the later ones turning desperate. I could almost see him pacing, furious and helpless all at once.

Eighty-eight were from Margaret.

The rest came from coworkers and numbers I did not recognize.

I ignored them all.

I opened WhatsApp to find 999+ unread messages, with dozens of chat threads blowing up at once. The pinned chat at the top was our family group, which included David, Margaret, his dad, his sister, and his sister's husband.

By now, the group had turned into a full-blown pile-on against me, filled with insults so vile I could barely stand to read them.

I kept scrolling, my face blank.

Sophie had sent me hundreds of messages too, ranging from vicious curses to hysterical threats. She swore she would destroy my reputation.

I smiled. She had no idea she was already the one making headlines.

I deleted every last one of those messages, one by one.

When I was done, only one remained at the top of the screen. It was from Margaret, sent three hours ago. No long lecture, no wall of text. A single line, punctuated by three red exclamation marks. [Have you lost your mind!!!]

I stared at the message. Had I lost my mind? No. I was more clearheaded than I had ever been. I held up my phone and snapped a photo of the ocean stretching out before me, where the water and the sky blurred into a single seamless line.

Then I opened my chat with Margaret and sent her the photo with one line of text.

[Margaret, I haven't lost my mind. I'm done pretending I don't see what's right in front of me.]

After I sent the message, I dialed a number I knew by heart. It belonged to Jessica Turner, a college friend of mine who had become the most sought-after divorce attorney in the city.

She answered. "Naomi?"

"Jessica, it's me." My voice was steady. "I need you to draw up a divorce agreement. David at Brightwell Corporation has been cheating on me and funneling our marital assets. I want him to walk away with nothing."

Chapter 3

For the next three days, I disappeared from the world completely.

My phone stayed off the entire time, like a stone sunk to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

I changed into a sundress and walked barefoot along the white sand.

I watched sunsets from the infinity pool until the sky burned red from edge to edge.

I ordered the strongest cocktails on the menu, drank until I was pleasantly buzzed, and slept until my body decided to wake up.

I even signed up for a beginner's scuba lesson.

When I sank into that deep blue water and watched schools of colorful fish drift past me, I felt like I'd been born all over again.

The photo, the people, everything that had happened, it all felt like another lifetime.

Their names still floated through my mind, David, Sophie, Margaret, but they were fading into nothing more than blurry shapes.

I never knew that letting someone go could feel this easy. Or maybe "letting go" wasn't the right word. I'd thrown them away, like tossing out that broken flowerpot.

On the fourth morning, I lay on a beach chair with an iced coconut water in my hand, and I decided it was time to head back and see how that fire I'd started was burning.

I pulled out my phone. The black screen stared back at me like Pandora's box.

I pressed the power button, and the phone buzzed once before the screen lit up.

Then the digital storm hit.

I looked at those numbers and calmly took a sip of my coconut water.

The phone finally settled down.

I opened the call log and found 299 missed calls.

Eighty-eight were from Margaret.

The rest came from coworkers and numbers I did not recognize.

I ignored them all.

By now, the group had turned into a full-blown pile-on against me, filled with insults so vile I could barely stand to read them.

I kept scrolling, my face blank.

Sophie had sent me hundreds of messages too, ranging from vicious curses to hysterical threats. She swore she would destroy my reputation.

I smiled. She had no idea she was already the one making headlines.

I deleted every last one of those messages, one by one.

Then I opened my chat with Margaret and sent her the photo with one line of text.

[Margaret, I haven't lost my mind. I'm done pretending I don't see what's right in front of me.]

After I sent the message, I dialed a number I knew by heart. It belonged to Jessica Turner, a college friend of mine who had become the most sought-after divorce attorney in the city.

She answered. "Naomi?"