Reyona was beyond furious by the time she got home that night.
Just as she left the park with the intention to put that bastard out of her mind, she realised that she would have to come to a fast decision about Thomas. She berated herself for deciding to take the revenge path. She should have simply divorced the bastard and focused on building her life back, she thought.
"What were you thinking, Rey?" She asked herself in self-anger. "I looked at that bastard's face every day while he went out there to fool around and lie about everything. Sleeping with the scum when you should have simply kicked him out on his fake ass and made sure he never comes near you again?"
She blamed herself for still having a little bit of hope. She berated herself for that tiny, silly seed somewhere in her mind that hoped she would just wake up one day and realise that everything was just a nasty dream.
"Silly," she said to herself. She decided to end it all. She made up her mind to do what she should have done a long time ago. She was divorcing that piece of garbage. Still having him around with the thought of her silly, elaborate revenge plan was the main reason why that idiot who claimed to be the bitch's brother could have access to her anyway.
She wondered briefly how he came to the conclusion that she had anything to do with the bitch's detention. She believed it must have something to do with the people who handled it.
"So much for discretion," she muttered to herself in anger as she waited at the intersection for the traffic lights to change to green. She deliberated calling the number she had been in contact with and then stopped at the last moment.
"What if Rohan is working with them and they were expecting me to send a message so that he can finally have concrete evidence?" Reyona decided to let go of that angle.
She was startled as the car behind her honked, and that was when she realised that the lights had changed.
Shaking her head for being made by the whole lot of them, she headed home with one thing in mind. She had to divorce Thomas. If she was going to start piecing her life back together, she needed to start now. What will be the reason she gives him? At the moment, she couldn't even think of an alternative accusation to base her divorce reason on, but right now? She knew she had to do it, or her mental health might be in trouble.
Just as she got to the junction that led up to their place, she got a notification on her phone. She opened it to see that Thomas had withdrawn $100, 000 from the joint account before.
Apart from the anger that she felt that the bastard would still dare to take from her after everything he had done, she felt an elation about the timing.
"There goes your reason," her subconscious said, and she tried to hold on to that despite the boiling anger in her.
He dared to take from her again after everything he had done. Reyona had no idea that the man she had given herself to was such a selfless man. She parked the car in front of the house after seeing that he was already around. She wanted to get her emotions under control before she went in there to meet him or say anything. Reyona knew that if she went in there immediately with the anger in her, she might do or say things she was sure to regret later.
She knew that Thomas would have no idea that she had received any notification regarding the current withdrawal. Even though it was their joint account, which she majorly contributed to, she trusted him enough that it was his number that was on the account for notification. That was the major reason why he had been able to squirrel away that much money without her awareness.
The money was meant for when they finally started having their kids. "I know what it means for a child not to have any guarantee or financial backing. Let's keep saving in this account in preparation for our unborn children." That was the bullshit he had constantly fed her, and she trusted him because she believed that it was his insecurity as a child who had lived in poverty that made him not want to subject their children to the same fate.
Reyona scoffed at herself as she remembered how she had even admired him for it then. For the first two years of their marriage, she had also been trying her best to stabilize her company, and she had been so grateful for having such an understanding husband who was not pressuring her into starting a family immediately. Then two years became three years, then four. She could remember how long it took her to finally express her discontent about their childless marriage.
"You and I are together forever, babe. Why should we rush?" was the highlight of his answers every time. "Once we start making a family now, then things might start going haywire if we are not as financially stable as we thought we were. I appreciate the hard work you have put into your company and your help with mine. Can you just let me get my businesses in shape too?"
That was three years ago. Reyona had agreed to support him, even though she was getting antsy by the day. "Stupid," she scoffed at herself as she looked back at many things she had done gullibly, all in the name of being a loving and supportive wife.
Just like Grandma had taught her.
She laughed lightly through the tears that were forming in her eyes as she looked up at the sky through the windows "I guess I can say this is your fault too, Grams. You thought me to love without reservations after all," she said as she wearily placed her head against her window.
The cold night wind buffeted her face, but she hardly felt it as she pictured her grandma's smiling face in her mind perfectly. She could almost hear the sound of her infectious laughter in the dark. It felt to her like she could feel her grandmother's presence around her. That warm, safe feeling she had come to know growing up.
She remembered how people used to tell her grandmother that her granddaughter was her carbon copy. Reyona shook her head sadly as she remembered the joy on her grandmother's face whenever anybody said that.
"They were wrong, Grams," she whispered into the night as she closed her eyes wearily. "I am not as strong as you are, Grandma. Despite all my intentions to get rid of him,. I still find it hard to go inside and decisively say to his cheating face that I am sending him out of my life. I am a coward, Grams. I still do not want to let go, despite how much that bastard hurt me. It's been six years, Grams. I gave him all my love, like you thought of me, for six good years. I was… I am a good wife, Grams. I tried to be everything he wanted. I supported him with all I had. I loved and accepted him for who he is but...
Reyona sniffled as she tried to stem her tears, but it was of no use. She turned her head aside to see the stars twinkling in the sky, and she felt an enveloping sensation like her grandmother could hear her.
Her tears flowed freely for the first time since she found out, as if her tear ducts also recognised that everything was going to end. She stopped trying to stem them when they wouldn't stop, even when she closed her eyes tightly against the torrents.