Chapter 9
I pulled out the injury report: “Talking about cold blooded, who can beat you? Your people beat up my whole family, caused internal injuries. That’s another charge of assault!”
In the end, Lincoln got twenty years for multiple crimes. By the time he got out, he’d be almost fifty with no more power to act like a big shot.
Vivian got eight years. Thinking of her young kids, she cried and grabbed my legs, kneeling:
“I’m sorry, Sophia Carter. Please write me a forgiveness letter. The kids are still small and need care.”
I grabbed her wrist and pulled away: “Did you ever go easy on me?”
“I’d already signed the divorce papers and made room for you and the kids, but you wouldn’t let me go-you screwed over my family.”
“You should be grateful property management showed up early that day. If my parents had been hurt worse, I would have wanted your kids to pay for what you did too!”
Seeing the in-laws bringing the children, she rushed out to hug them but got shoved away by my mother-in-law.
“One last look is enough. Don’t touch the kids-you might corrupt them!”
Vivian cried and tried to grab Lincoln’s hand but got kicked to the ground. She looked at Lincoln angrily: “How can you treat me like this? We’re husband and wife!”
“Who’s your husband? Sophia and I are married! We’ve been married for years. If you hadn’t gotten in the way, we would have been really happy.”
The two fought outside the courthouse, getting cursed at and shoved by people walking by.
Finally breaking free from Vivian’s clinging, Lincoln stopped me: “Sophia, I’m sorry. I didn’t know she was so vicious, bullying you behind my back like
that.”
“I know I screwed up-I’ll break it off with her. If you want kids, we can have as many as you want.”
“You don’t know you screwed up-you just can’t bully me anymore.”
“From nastily mocking that I wasn’t good enough to have kids, to letting your people get called away by Vivian to mess with me-did you really not know what she was trying to do?”
He paused: “I really didn’t want to divorce you, or I wouldn’t have been good to you all these years.”
“Who signed the divorce papers, who slept with Vivian, who fathered the kids? And who was it that tried to shut me up for Vivian at the police station, trying to smooth things over?”
“You like playing dumb. I’m not playing along.”
I ignored his attempts to make me stay and got in the car to go home and share a warm lunch with my family.
Maybe Lincoln was right-he really didn’t like Vivian that much, and he still had feelings for me, which was why he was willing to go through the trouble of lying to me.
But ultimately this was because he loved himself too much. Even with a woman he didn’t love that much, he wasn’t willing to inconvenience himself by dumping her.
As for Vivian and me, we were just things that could be sacrificed to fulfill his selfish desires.
Luckily, I was already divorced from him and had no kids tying us together.
Raising glasses with my family, celebrating today’s courtroom win with our favorite drinks, my smile was bright.
I could choose what I liked instead of what others thought I should do. That was happiness.
Lucia Morh is a passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.