Chapter 2
Alice reached the bus stop and sat on the wet bench there.
Her phone rang. It was a call from Steve.
Staring at his name on her phone screen, Alice didn't answer his call for the first time in her life.
Seven seconds later, Steve hung up the phone himself.
Then, a message arrived: [Where are you? Let's discuss Betty's funeral.]
'Discuss?' Alice thought with a wry smile.
'When Betty was alive, you didn't care about her at all. After she died, you want a discussion about her funeral. How absurd!' she thought.
She replied: [In the funeral home. 9 AM tomorrow.]
Alice: [Come or not, as you please.]
Then, she turned off her phone. Nobody could disturb her again.
The next day, Alice chose a small mourning hall in the funeral home to hold the funeral for Betty.
There weren't many mourners. None of Alice's relatives or friends showed up, and neither did Steve's.
Rebecca called Alice and said, "Betty was a kid, so it is inappropriate to hold a grand funeral for her. Both Steve and you are still young, so you two will have children again."
Alice said nothing and just hung up the phone.
At 9 AM sharp, Steve showed up. He wore a black suit and looked a bit tired.
His assistant followed behind him with a briefcase.
It seemed as if he would hurry away for an important meeting at any second.
He walked up to Alice and asked, "Why did you choose such a small room? Have you thought of the Jacobsen family's reputation?"
Alice raised her head and gazed at Steve.
She had loved him for five years, and he was the father of her daughter.
At that moment, she found him unfamiliar, as if he were a stranger to her.
"Betty liked small rooms," Alice explained calmly. "She said that she would feel scared at night if the room was big."
Steve frowned. "How can you take what a kid said seriously? Let's make this quick. I have a meeting at 10:30."
Hearing this, Alice laughed. She laughed so hard that tears came into her eyes.
"Steve." She rose to her feet. She asked word by word, "Where were you yesterday?"
Steve's eyes flickered. "In the company."
"Which company?"
"Is there another one? My own one."
"Really?" Alice pulled out her phone and then showed Steve a photo. "How do you explain this?"
The photo had been snapped by her in the hospital's corridor yesterday afternoon.
It was blurry, but Steve in it was recognizable.
In the photo, he held Anna with his arm around her waist, and her belly bulged slightly.
At the doorway of the obstetrics and gynecology department, they whispered to each other with their heads close together. They looked so intimate.
Instantly, Steve's face darkened. "Did you trail me?"
"Did I need to do that?" Alice turned her phone screen to Steve. "St Thomas' Hospital, 3 PM yesterday, the obstetrics and gynecology department. Do you want me to pull the security footage from the hospital?
"Or send the photo to the group chat of your company? In this way, your employees will know what their boss were doing when his daughter was on her deathbed."
Steve snatched the phone from Alice and smashed it onto the floor. "Alice, are you done?"
The phone screen shattered, and its fragments cut the back of Alice's hand.
Blood oozed from the wound, but Alice felt no pain.
"Done?" She repeated the word and then laughed. "Steve, Betty is dead. Your daughter died at 4:17 PM yesterday.
"Back then, you were with the other woman at her prenatal appointment. Do you really think I am making a fuss over nothing?"
Steve's lips moved, but not a word was uttered in the end.
Steve turned his face and looked away.
His assistant reminded him in a low voice, "Mr. Jacobsen, time..."
"I know," Steve cut his assistant off. He then turned to Alice and said, "Let's talk after the funeral."
"About what?" Alice asked.
"Divorce," Steve replied. His tone was so casual, as if he were talking about the dinner.
Alice nodded. "Okay, but there is nothing to talk about. Let me make myself clear now. I want a divorce, and I want every penny you have."
This speech sounded like a joke to Steve. "Alice, are you out of your mind?"
"No." Alice pulled a pile of documents out of her bag. "These are Betty's medical bills, 600 thousand dollars in total.
"To pay the bills, I borrowed 400 thousand dollars and sold my small apartment for 200 thousand dollars.
"The valuation of your company is more than 30 million dollars, but you didn't pay a single cent. All these are evidence."
She slammed the documents onto Steve's chest. "Pay the debts and then give me all your wealth, or see me in court. I'll take all these documents and photos to the court. Let's see who will get humiliated in the end."
Steve changed his expression. He stared at Alice as if she were a stranger to him. "Have you been scheming against me?"