Ex Wife's Collapse After Divorce novel Chapter 5

The security guards at Lockwood Industries didn’t even blink. They knew Ethan’s face this time.

One nod, the gate lifted, and Ethan walked straight through the lobby to the elevator.

He reached Vivian’s office on the fourteenth floor and pushed the door open without knocking.

Laughter.

Vivian was perched on the edge of her desk, legs crossed, leaning toward Damian who sat in the guest chair with his bruised face tilted up at her. His split lip had been cleaned and bandaged, but he was smiling — that soft, wounded smile.

And Vivian was looking at him with an expression Ethan had never seen directed at himself.

Not once. Not in five years.

Her eyes were soft. Warm. Full of something that went far deeper than fondness.

Ethan’s blood went cold.

“Am I interrupting?” His voice hit the room like a bucket of ice water.

Vivian flinched. She shot off the desk so fast she nearly knocked over her coffee, putting three feet of distance between herself and Damian in half a second.

“Ethan!” She smoothed her skirt, tucked her hair behind her ear, laughed — too loud, too quick. “You’re here! I was just — Damian was just telling me about a project. Work stuff. You know how it is.”

Damian didn’t move. He just turned his head slowly, that gentle smile still in place, and nodded at Ethan like they were old friends.

“Hey, man. No hard feelings.”

Ethan ignored him. “It’s fine,” Ethan said. His voice was flat. “I understand perfectly.”

Vivian’s shoulders dropped. Relief flooded her face so fast it was almost pathetic.

She completely missed Ethan’s hidden meaning. She just thought it had finally clicked for him, and that he was done being jealous and was starting to understand her completely innocent relationship with Damian.

“Really?” She stepped toward him, her heels clicking on the marble floor. Her eyes were bright. “Oh, Ethan, you have no idea how happy I am to hear that. I knew you’d come around. I knew it. I told Damian — I said, ‘He’s stubborn, but he’ll come around.’ And here you are!”

She clasped her hands together, practically glowing.

“So? Go ahead.”

Ethan stared at her. “Go ahead and what?”

“Apologize.” She gestured toward Damian like she was presenting a gift. “To Damian. For hitting him. You said you understood, so just say sorry and we can put this whole ugly mess behind us.”

Ethan didn’t move.

Vivian’s smile flickered. “Ethan?”

“Ethan, come on. Don’t do this. Just say it. Two words. It’s not that hard.”

He looked at her the way you look at a stranger on the street.

“Why,” he said slowly, “would you think I came here to apologize?”

The smile died on Vivian’s face.

“What?”

“I said —” Ethan tilted his head, a cold smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth — “why would I apologize? What exactly do I have to apologize for?”

Vivian’s mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.

“You — you hit Damian! You attacked him! You accused us of — of something that wasn’t happening, and you humiliated both of us!” Her voice climbed with every word. “How can you stand there and ask me what you should apologize for?!”

“Wasn’t happening.” Ethan repeated the words like he was tasting something rotten. “He kissed you. Right in front of me. Is that what ‘wasn’t happening’ looks like?”

Vivian’s face went red.

“We broke up years ago! You know that!” She jabbed a finger at him. “He was just — we hadn’t seen each other in a long time, and he was expressing how much he missed me. That’s all. It didn’t mean anything!”

“Expressing how much he missed you.” Ethan let out a short, ugly laugh. “With his tongue.”

“You’re twisting everything!”

“I’m stating facts.”

Vivian’s chest heaved. Her fists were clenched at her sides, knuckles white.

Behind her, Damian let out a quiet chuckle, shaking his head with an almost pitying smile.

They both thought they knew what was coming. A property agreement. A settlement demand. All she needed to do was to give a small amount of money, and that would be enough to handle this seemingly difficult husband.

“Okay.” Vivian nodded, her voice turning magnanimous. “I’ll sign it. Whatever it is, I’ll sign. But after this, you leave Damian alone. No more scenes, no more jealousy.”

She glanced at Damian with a reassuring look. “And Damian — be patient with him. He’s just… insecure.”

Damian smiled graciously. “Of course.”

Vivian turned back to Ethan and held out her hand.

“Let me see it.”

Ethan opened the envelope. He pulled out the document and placed it on her desk, face up.

Vivian looked down.

The words hit her like a freight train.

DIVORCE AGREEMENT

Petitioner: Ethan Carter

Respondent: Vivian Lockwood

The room stopped breathing.

Vivian’s hand hovered over the paper, frozen. The color drained from her face — from flushed to white in the space of a heartbeat.

“What… what is this?”

“Exactly what it says.” Ethan’s voice didn’t waver. “Sign it. And next week, you come with me to City Hall to finalize the process.”

Vivian looked up at him. Her eyes were red. Her lips trembled.

“You’re… you’re really divorcing me?”