Chapter 5
Charlotte ignored him.
She picked up her bag and turned toward the door.
"Charlotte Nolan!" her mother shouted after her. "If you walk out that door today, don't ever come back!"
Charlotte's steps paused for a second.
She didn't turn around.
She just stood there at the entrance of the coffee shop while the autumn sun fell over her, stretching her shadow long across the floor.
She thought about every single day of the past three years: getting up before dawn to cook, sitting alone in the living room late at night waiting for him, the guilt she felt every time she reached out for living expenses, every dismissive little "mm" he gave her.
She thought about all those days fighting over discount vegetables at the supermarket, all those nights watching herself slowly wilt in the mirror.
She thought of the girl from three years ago, standing on the runway. That girl had light in her eyes.
"Mom," she said softly, but with a steadiness that didn't shake, "from today on, there are only two words left between us. We're done."
Done. Not forgiveness. Not resentment. She just didn't want any kind of connection left.
She pushed the door open and walked out.
Sunlight spread out before her, making the whole street glow.
Behind her, she could hear her mother crying and her brother cursing, but she didn't look back.
She stepped out of the coffee shop, into the sunlight, and toward a future she couldn't yet see clearly.
She was no longer the woman who hesitated for five seconds over a head of broccoli in the produce aisle.
She was Charlotte Nolan.
And she was taking back everything that belonged to her.
Attorney Carter's office was on the seventeenth floor of a downtown office tower, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the entire skyline. Charlotte sat in the conference room with a thick stack of materials spread out before her while Attorney Carter flipped through them page by page, his expression shifting from focused to genuinely impressed.
"How did you even get all this evidence?" he asked, looking up at her. "Bank records, transfer logs, hotel expenses... Some of this stuff is hard even for a private investigator to dig up."
Charlotte didn't explain.
She couldn't. She couldn't exactly say that her mind could replay things like a video, letting her remember every suspicious transaction, every odd amount, and then trace them back piece by piece. It was her gift. It was also her curse.
"Is it enough?" she asked.
Attorney Carter closed the folder and nodded. "More than enough. This proves he transferred marital assets during the marriage. Add the affair evidence, and the court will support your claims."
Charlotte took a deep breath. "I want him to walk away with nothing."
"We can fight for that."
After signing the representation agreement, Charlotte walked out of the office building and stopped on the steps outside. The autumn wind hit her face with a cool edge. She looked up at the sky. It was high and brilliantly blue.
Her phone buzzed. A message from Edward popped up: [Got a work dinner tonight. Won't be home for dinner.]
She didn't reply.
Three days later, Edward was served with divorce papers.
That night, for once, he came home early. Charlotte was cooking in the kitchen. When she heard the lock turn, she didn't look up.
Edward stood in the kitchen doorway, divorce papers clenched in his hand, his face dark.
"You're divorcing me?"
Charlotte turned off the stove and faced him. She had been married to this man for three years, yet right now he looked like a complete stranger.
"Yes."
"Are you out of your mind?" Edward slammed the papers down on the counter. "You're a housewife. How are you supposed to live after divorce? Do you know how expensive rent is out there? Do you know no company wants someone who hasn't worked in three years?"
Charlotte listened quietly all the way through, then said, "That's none of your concern."
Edward took a deep breath and changed tactics. He stepped closer, his voice softening. "Charlotte, I know I haven't paid enough attention to you lately. Work's been stressful, and sometimes I lose my temper. But can't we just live our life properly? Tell me what you want and I'll change."
Charlotte looked at him. This was what he always did. Anger, emotional neglect, apology, promises to change, then the whole cycle over again. Every single time, she had believed him.
"Edward," she said, "I know about you and Ms. Harper. I know about the 67,000 dollars you transferred to Everstyle Studio. And I know about the 2,000 dollars a month you gave my mother to keep her quiet. I know all of it."
All the color drained from Edward's face for a split second.
"You... how do you know that?"
"You don't need to know."
His expression shifted from shock to anger, then from anger into a strange kind of cold calm. Leaning against the kitchen doorway with his arms crossed, he gave a low, mocking laugh.
"Fine. If you want a divorce, then get one. But listen carefully. I earned every cent in this house, and you're not taking a dime of it."
Charlotte didn't rise to it. She walked to the dining table, opened the document folder, and laid out the materials neatly in front of him.
"These are the records of the luxury goods you bought for Ms. Harper, totaling 41,000 dollars. These are the records of the assets you moved under the label of 'project consulting fees,' totaling 67,000 dollars. And these are the records of the 2,000 dollars a month you sent my mother, totaling 48,000 dollars. All of that came out of marital property, and you disposed of it without my consent."
She paused and lifted her eyes to his.
"Edward Lane, maybe you should ask a lawyer whether this is enough to make you walk away with nothing."
Edward stared at the documents as the color slowly drained from his face.
Then he suddenly laughed, the smile on his face cold. "Charlotte Nolan, do you think you're something special now? You think once you're divorced, you'll magically bounce back? You've been stuck at home for three years. Do you really think the outside world is still the same world you left behind?"
Charlotte gathered the documents back into the folder and zipped it shut.
"I don't know what kind of world is out there," she said. "But I do know that if I stay in this house, I'll die."
Her voice was calm, so calm it didn't even sound like she was talking about life and death.
Edward opened his mouth, but in the end, nothing came out.
The divorce case lasted a month.
During that month, Edward hired two separate legal teams and tried every trick he could think of to stall, deny, and move assets around. But Charlotte's evidence was ironclad. Every transfer had a record. Every expense had proof. She had even identified the woman he was cheating with down to her full personal information.
In the end, the court ruled that Edward had transferred marital assets during the marriage and had committed infidelity. The marital property was split 70 percent to Charlotte and 30 percent to Edward. With the damages Charlotte also demanded, it was practically the same as him walking away with nothing.