Chapter 5
Laura froze.
I kept going, "You don't have to answer. Let me spell it out for you.
"You're not here because you feel sorry for me. You're here because you're scared. Scared the Coleman family will drag you down, scared you'll get nothing when we split, scared the life you've spent two years carefully keeping together is about to fall apart.
"You're not here to check on me. You're here to see if I can still cover your back."
Her lips trembled, and she wanted to explain, but not a single word came out.
Because every word I said was the truth, and Laura knew it better than anyone.
"Let me spell out the money part for you," I said, my voice flat and emotionless. "Everything I had before we got married belongs to me. You have no claim to any of it.
"As for the assets we accumulated during our marriage, I separated them two weeks ago and moved everything into a trust account. I named my mother as the beneficiary."
"W-When did you—" Laura stammered.
"The second weekday after that message popped up on your phone on June 30th," I replied.
Laura's face went ashen. It wasn't a figure of speech. The color drained from her lips, leaving them a sickly gray. The blush on her cheekbones clashed sharply with her skin, creating a morbid, unhealthy contrast.
"Y-you knew it all along?" she asked.
"Yeah," I said.
"Then why didn't you—"
I pressed the phone to my lips, my voice so low only she could hear. "Speak up? Cause a scene? Call you out?
"Because talking wouldn't have changed anything. Making a fuss would've made me look desperate. If I'd confronted you, you'd have spun a hundred lies to cover it up. I know exactly what kind of person you are. Better than you do yourself.
"So I picked a way you couldn't twist, couldn't fake, couldn't flip the script on.
"Brian's knees are shattered.
"No matter how much you cry, throw a fit, spin your stories, or beg for sympathy online, none of it changes the fact.
"His knees are wrecked. His ligaments are snapped. His bones are shattered. None of that is going to grow back because you shed a few tears.
"That's exactly what I want.
"Not about public opinion. Not about morality. Not about making everyone root for me.
"I wanted him to hurt. Hurt for the rest of his life. Every step he takes, if he can still walk, he'll remember exactly why his legs got ruined."
Laura couldn't hold back anymore. Her tears burst out, big drops hitting the table and soaking her fingers where they rested.
I felt no satisfaction at all. This was just payback, a reckoning that should've happened ages ago.
I said, "David's already got the divorce papers ready. Whether you sign or not, it's up to you.
"If you refuse, I've got every shred of evidence you cheated: hotel receipts, chat logs, and the video from July 14th. If we go to court, you're the one at fault, and the court will make sure you walk away with even less.
"It's your choice."
Laura was sobbing so hard she couldn't speak. Her shoulders shook, tears and snot smeared all over her face. Her once picture-perfect face was now a wreck.
I stood up. "We're done here."
The guard opened the door.
Right before I hung up the phone, I tossed out one last line. "Don't bother coming again. Seeing your face kills whatever good mood I have in this place."
*****
Back in my cell, Mike Lewis, my cellmate, sidled up to me.
Mike was in his fifties, doing six years for fraud. He'd already served four, and he was the old hand in this place.
He was skinny and tanned, and when he smiled, his missing front tooth showed. He spoke with a thick accent.
"Who came to see you? Your wife?" he asked.
"Ex-wife," I replied.
"Already divorced?" Mike asked.
"Almost," I replied.
I climbed onto the bunk, turned my back to the room, and closed my eyes.
It wasn't Laura's face in my head. It was another one. A round face with two faint dimples. Bangs right at her brows, and when she smiled, her eyes turned into little crescents.
It was Emily Stone's face.
It's been fourteen months and seven days since I last saw her.