"Slut!"
"You see that?!"
"You see that?!"
"Justin loves ME, not you!"
"That slap was a lesson for you!"
"If you ever lay eyes on my man again..."
"I'll kill you!"
Odette grabbed Justin, who was still standing there in a daze, and her eyes turned red.
"I hadn't seen you come out for so long. I was worried. I was afraid she'd pull some dirty trick on you again."
Tears spilled down Odette's cheeks, her voice cracking.
"Thank God."
"You love me."
"Thank God."
"My husband loves me. He hasn't changed."
Odette broke into a tearful smile, and Justin seemed to finally snap out of it. He rushed to wipe her tears, cooing at her softly.
"Of course I love you."
"I only love you." He turned to look at me, something complicated shifting behind his eyes. His gaze settled on my cheek, swollen and red from the slap. "Louisa, what happened today was wrong of me."
"But when it comes down to it, you brought this on yourself by being so stubborn."
"Louisa."
"I don't love you anymore."
Justin stroked Odette's belly with a gentle hand.
"I love Odette, and I love our unborn child. Whether you agree to the divorce or not, I'm giving her the rest of my life."
He took Odette's hand and said to her, "Let's go home."
I watched Odette nod like an obedient little thing, following Justin to the foyer. At the door, she turned back and shot me a look of pure contempt, a smile so sharp it stung my eyes.
And I remembered.
The night I caught them. The hotel room. Justin on top of her. I'd lost my mind the same way, charging at Odette, ready to claw her face off, ready to tear her apart, ready to destroy the woman who was ripping my family to shreds.
But Justin grabbed me. Shoved me hard.
My lower back slammed into the sharp corner of a table. What followed my scream was the hot rush of blood between my legs, and Odette's voice.
"Louisa."
"I'm not breaking up with Justin."
"I love him."
"I'm staying with him for the rest of my life."
"No matter what that makes me."
......
"Justin."
I called out to him. In the instant before he shut the door, I snatched the fruit knife from the table and lunged, aiming to bury it in his body. He caught my wrist first, and threw me to the ground.
"Louisa."
Justin looked down at me with something close to disgust.
"You're out of your mind."
The door closed.
He didn't look back.
The living room went quiet. Horribly quiet.
I remembered the first time Justin sat me down to negotiate. This same living room. This same couch. He'd been turning his wedding ring between his fingers, a trace of guilt still in his eyes, trying to explain.
"Odette isn't like other women."
"She's straightforward." He looked at me, freshly discharged from the hospital after the miscarriage, still too weak to sit up straight, and praised his mistress without a second's hesitation. "She doesn't have a mean bone in her body. Everything she said to you was just because she loves me too much."
"Don't hold it against her."
"Louisa."
He placed the divorce papers on the table.
"I've thought about this for a long time, and I still want to end things between us. I want Odette to be able to stand in the light. I don't want people whispering about her behind her back."
"I hope you can understand."
Justin had shoved me into a miscarriage.
I lost our baby at four months. I listened to the doctor say what a shame it was. I listened to the nurses complain that they couldn't reach my husband by phone. I listened to the caretaker explain that Mr. Simmons was too busy, but that he'd paid generously for my care.
Even the caretaker had advice for me.
"That's just how it is for women."
"If you want to be happy in this life, sometimes you've got to look the other way."
