Chapter 6: Divorce Granted

It was the most tiring and longest week of my life. Finn didn't stop bothering me, even though I already made myself clear I would continue the divorce I filed. I was not crazy to just forget what he did to me, not like his poor mom who had been cheated on several times, but still hadn't divorced her unfaithful husband.

Finn didn't deserve a second chance, and I didn't feel his sincerity whenever he tried to ask for forgiveness. I was sure his dad was the only one who motivated him to negotiate with me for their reputation and the assets they might lose. That manipulative man thought he could use me as one of his puppets. As for his son, who couldn't refuse his order — even after getting married, he continued interfering with his son's life's decisions — with our lives.

‘I would be glad once Finn and I are finally divorced. He is no longer my in-law.’ I thought.

It wouldn't come to that if Finn's relationship was new maybe — just maybe I still could still forgive him, but hello — he had been cheating on me for a year and a half! That was longer than I thought.

What was more annoying was, they were trying to turn the table. They tried to twist the truth. Trying to point the gun at me.

They told the judge reviewing the petition for our divorce that I made everything up because I wanted money from my husband and those pictures we showed as evidence that he had a lover were fake and edited. They even planned to make it out that I was the one who failed — that it was my fault that he searched for someone else because I couldn’t give him a child just to protect their name and make me look awful.

'Wow!' I couldn't believe they would take those kinds of measures to make me look like a gold digger as well. He was getting on my nerves. They were playing dirty, so I thought maybe it was best to play along.

***

Finn, being a cheater, was widespread in their company. One of the employees who had been texting me told me that the company put a new policy regarding privacy — for those confidential issues.

I laughed when I found out. They were too late. Everyone already knew and Diane was the reason. 'What else would they want to hide?'

Because of their reversals, I needed to contact the private investigator to show the camera he used and the original copies of the pictures he took. Fortunately, he didn't delete it. He knew it would happen. He said he was expecting it and thanks a lot to him; he made my name clean.

After all, it shouldn't have come to that if he signed immediately. He would have been free to spend his life with Diane and he wouldn’t be a bother for us both.

The day finally came, and we were finally getting the result. I received a call telling me to come to the judge's office so both sides would hear it for once. My lawyer and I arrived almost at the same time. He was my dad's trusted lawyer as well. I had my lawyer who became my friend here in England, but Finn knew him and they were quite close. That was why dad suggested to let his lawyer handle the issue.

We both entered the building, and it seemed I was the only one who was nervous. It was still annoying after knowing adultery was not a huge issue in England. Cheating while married to someone had been removed from the list of crimes. Honestly, it seemed unfair, but to find out that it could be used as a reason to set themselves free from their spouse and the consequences were something I liked about it, but I was left wondering why Finn’s mother stayed on her husband’s side despite him being caught several times in the act.

The truth was — I was close to Finn's mother. She was a kind and loving woman. I learned a lot from her and if there was anyone in their family that I could say the sane; it was only her. It was heartbreaking to think that she just let her husband manipulate her. I didn't know the whole story behind it because Finn didn't want to talk about that topic and every time I mentioned it, he just avoided me as if he was afraid to tell me the whole truth.

I found that strange. It seemed there was a mystery within their family that only the three of them knew about.

As I thought about those, I didn't realize that we had already reached the judge’s office. We knocked, and a lady opened the door for us. Nobody else was there aside from her, the judge’s secretary.

She asked us to sit. It was still early, though. We were just excited to come early. We waited. The judge arrived after a few minutes, but despite that, no Finn showed up yet.

"Did Mr. Willems call?" I heard the judge ask her secretary.

"No, Ma'am." The secretary answered.

After more than half an hour, he finally came, but there was something I noticed — there was a cut right on the side of his lip.

I suddenly felt worried. Made me want to ask what happened, but I chose to not when I saw my in-laws entering the open door. Finn’s dad shut the door, and they sat on the sofa right on the opposite side.

The Willems was in full force when it was just me there, all alone. My parents returned to Turkey, but they made sure they were updated on what was going on. It surprised me they didn't come with their lawyer. Either he was late like them or he wouldn't come at all.

I could sense something was going on. I could sense it after they entered.

I saw Finn looking at me with a dark expression on his face. He looked like a child who had just come from a long sermon. When his father turned to look at me, he gazed at me while Finn’s mom gave me a kind of stare that I found so confusing, like she was happy and sympathizing with me.

Finn's mom and I didn't have any problems. I was the one she called once when she found out her husband was cheating again. I remembered that was also the last time she cried at me. She avoided me after that day and I knew who made her do it.

She had been one of the nicest women I know and I felt sad that she was surrounded by cheaters, from her husband and now his beloved son, who was following in his dad's footsteps.

"Are we still waiting for someone or could we start now?" the judge asked when she noticed that the lawyers on the other side were not there yet.

"We could start now." Finn didn't answer, even though the judge was looking at him because it was his dad who spoke.

"Okay then, let's start." The judge took the envelope placed on top of her desk and stood up from her seat. She transferred to the single-seater chair near us.

She started reading what was on the printed paper, and we all listened silently. I was looking at the judge as she spoke, but I could feel the sharp gazes someone was giving me. I just shrugged even though I felt uncomfortable with it, and silently prayed the day would go smoothly and all this will be put to an end.

She read the entire content she had in the printed result of her analysis of the divorce petition I filed, and with the help of the evidence of Finn's unfaithfulness, she gave her final verdict.

Finn didn’t have a choice but to sign the papers. We both signed after almost a week of stress, pain, and tears. It seemed my heart has been revived. I felt I got freed from being trapped in a cage. Like I was given a new life.

It felt so good. I suddenly wondered if all the women who experienced what happened felt the same joy. Maybe yes, if they know in themselves their worth and they were the ones who got cheated on after staying faithful to their spouse. I was happy because I was clean with my intentions of cutting my ties with them and not with those reasons they made up to make me look like I was the reason behind it.

It was fair to cut the ties. It would only make it more difficult if it was prolonged. A faithful woman doesn't deserve a cheating husband. She deserves more, a great man, respectful and not someone who would try to manipulate her like she doesn't have the will to decide for herself.

I was glad I'm finally free from Finn. Not only from him, but from his dad as well, but I somehow felt sad for my ex-mother-in-law. I hope she found her way out too after I showed her what to do.