Sid just looked at me coldly.
"Kate."
"Apologize to Wallis."
Each word was deliberate.
"Otherwise."
"I can't guarantee your position as Mrs. Sanchez will remain secure."
The Sid who once took thirty lashes of the family whip for me. Who spent billions without blinking. Who lit up the entire night sky over the ocean with fireworks just for me. Who bought a cruise ship and named it after me. Who flew in the world's best medical team for my mother—all just to see me smile.
That Sid seemed to have truly vanished.
It was like being yanked back to reality.
I finally understood.
Nothing was more unreliable than a heart freely given.
Just as Sid was certain I would cave to keep my title as Mrs. Sanchez, I pulled out a divorce agreement and placed it on the table.
"Since you've made your choice," I said, watching the shock spread across his face, "here's mine—"
I looked at Wallis cowering behind him, her face lighting up with undisguised glee.
I smiled.
"Sign it."
"Sid."
I took out a pen and held it out to him.
"Let's get divorced."
I watched confusion flicker across his face. He stepped forward, mouth opening—but before he could speak, Wallis snatched the pen from my hand, her voice dripping with triumph.
"Well, since you know your place."
"Then hurry up," Wallis shoved the pen into Sid's hand. "She's already signed. Your turn."
"Once you sign."
"Our child won't be illegitimate. Once you sign, we can register our marriage and give me and the baby a proper status."
"Sid."
Wallis pushed at his rigid form, then suddenly burst into tears.
"You don't want to give me and our baby legitimacy, do you?"
She pointed at me through her sobs.
"You still love her, don't you?"
"Everything you did for her back then—every single thing became gossip for the whole city! Sid! You told me she was your past—"
"Kate..."
Sid suddenly shoved Wallis aside. She stumbled, her foot catching on the table leg, and crashed to the floor. Porcelain shards sliced across her palm and cut into her calf, blood seeping steadily from the wounds. Sid's brow furrowed, and he instinctively moved to pick her up.
But Wallis stubbornly demanded he sign first.
Even in that state, she cried and insisted.
"I won't let my child be a bastard!"
"I won't let my child have no status!"
I watched Wallis spiral into hysteria. Watched Sid waver and hesitate. Watched him finally make his decision and meet my eyes.
"Kate."
"Don't regret this."
Sid carried Wallis out. I watched her shoot me a silent, mocking smile over his shoulder. Then Howard's voice reached me.
"Ma'am."
"Why put yourself through this?"
I looked at the wreckage scattered across the floor. At the red staining Wallis's path. At the dried blood crusted around my own ankle. I met Howard's worried gaze and simply smiled.
"I'm fine."
I looked at my phone. Headlines flooded the screen without pause. Sid and Wallis were trending, climbing to the top with that bright red HOT tag beside their names. I tapped on one.
Sid sat at a hospital bedside, tenderly feeding Wallis soup.
The caption read: The Sanchez heir falls for someone new, deaf to his old love's tears.
I tapped another.
Wallis leaned against Sid, knitting tiny baby shoes. Her face glowed with sweetness as she asked him:
"What should we name the baby?"
"Do you want a boy or a girl?"
Sid smiled, soft and warm.
"A girl."
His gaze turned tender.
"If she's like you, that would be perfect."
The caption: The Sanchez heir's happy family—a handsome couple made for each other.
