Chase, full of concern, steadied her and explained coldly, “Addison is my assistant now. I gave her the door lock code for convenience at work.”
“What, you're making a fuss over something this small?” His eyes were filled with disdain.
“Mirabel, your jealousy is truly suffocating.”
His words struck me like a bolt of lightning. I stood frozen.
He said I was suffocating him?
Hadn't it been me suffocating under the weight of Addison’s constant intrusion for the past two years, under his silent consent and indulgence?
She had invaded every corner of our lives without restraint.
From dropping off documents to eating and spending nights at our home, she had done things like wearing my clothes without permission and even using my sanitary pads.
All of it, these so-called small things, had added up, until our two-person marriage was twisted into a three-person farce.
And I… was the extra.
I tilted my head back, forcing back the tears, and looked up at Chase. “Since this marriage brings nothing but pain to both of us, let’s just sign the divorce papers.”
He frowned and brushed the papers aside. “Enough. Stop making a scene.”
“Just apologize to Addison, and let’s move on. We’ll still be good friends in the future.”
That single word, friends, coming from his mouth again, instantly dragged all those bitter memories back to the surface.
I could no longer hold it in. My voice rose, sharp and trembling. “Even if I stay single for the rest of my life, I will never be friends with someone who once bullied me!”
Apologize to her? Not in this lifetime.
Back then, just to blend in with the others, I had hidden my family background, only to become the prime target of Addison’s cruelty.
On the very first day of school, my books and backpack had been thrown into the filthy pond behind the hill, and my uniform pants were slashed with a knife.
Later, under pressure from my family, the school forced Addison to apologize publicly and was ready to expel her.
It was Chase who persuaded me otherwise. “Mirabel, enemies should be resolved, not deepened. Since she knows she was wrong, just let her go.”
Because I was foolishly infatuated with him, I swallowed my pride, shook hands with Addison, and even helped her keep her place at school.
Looking back now, his favoritism had started even then. I was just too blinded by love to see it.
Addison’s face turned even paler, and her tears began to fall like shattered beads, scattering across the floor.
“I was wrong… I crossed the line. I shouldn’t have hoped we could be friends just because we were classmates.”
“I forgot, I’m just a lowly employee in your company now. I deserve to die. I’ll leave.”
Chase’s eyes turned red in an instant. He pulled Addison behind him and snapped at me.
“I gave you the title of Mrs. Hudson, not so you could use it to bully others!”
Then he turned, gently patting Addison’s trembling shoulder, his voice soft and comforting.
“Addison, don’t belittle yourself. In my heart, you’ve never been just an ordinary employee.”
Gazing at the fragile woman before him, his eyes burned with emotion. “You’ve always been the most special one to me.”
Watching my legal husband confess his feelings to another woman, I didn’t lose control like I used to.
I just felt disgusted, pure and bitter.
With her degree from an unknown overseas university, Addison was never qualified to be Hudson Corporation’s CEO assistant.
But Chase insisted on keeping her, brushing off every objection.
He not only gave her a sky-high salary unheard of in the industry but also showed her a level of favoritism so outrageous, even I, his rightful wife, was pushed aside.
