Deborah said it, then immediately clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Oh no, Maud—did I say something I shouldn't have?"
Then she pulled out her phone, opened her photo album, and held up a picture of me sitting inside a Maybach for the entire room to see.
"Maud, I just happened to see you that day, I swear I wasn't trying to say anything! You're not going to hold it against me, right?"
Her words turned every pair of eyes in the room on me—scrutinizing, contemptuous.
"Wait, Maud's been cheating? No wonder she's throwing a fit over a glass of juice and demanding a divorce. Shameless!"
"I was wondering how she could bear to give up a man like CEO Harding. Turns out she already had someone lined up on the side!"
Thaddeus's face darkened instantly. He jabbed a finger at the man in the photo and rounded on me.
"Who's that pretty boy? Are you divorcing me for him?"
I was done wasting breath on any of them. I sent Thaddeus the divorce appointment I'd already booked.
"Tomorrow morning, ten o'clock. The registration office."
I turned to leave.
Thaddeus rushed forward and blocked my path, his eyes full of earnest sincerity.
"Honey, I know I've been busy with work, I know I neglected you. And I don't blame you!"
"As long as you're willing to cut things off with that man on the side, I guarantee you—I'll pretend none of this ever happened. Just come back to me!"
His words sent a wave of emotion through the room.
"Maud, if you have even a shred of conscience, you should know you're wrong! Don't throw away a family for some random man!"
I shook Thaddeus's hand off without a trace of warmth.
"This divorce is happening."
Something flickered in his eyes. He hadn't expected me to actually mean it.
"Honey, tell me. What do I have to do to make you stay?"
Looking at that false, devoted face, I swallowed down the nausea churning in my stomach, turned around, and poured ten glasses of peach juice.
"You love peach juice so much? Go ahead. Drink every last one."
Thaddeus stared at the row of glasses lined up in front of him, and his expression went cold.
"Maud, you know I'm allergic to peaches. One sip could kill me. You're trying to force me to die!"
I raised an eyebrow and let out a cold laugh.
"Then why did you drink the peach juice Debbie poured for you just now and come out perfectly fine?"
"Or was what you drank not peach juice at all?"
The crowd heard me and turned to Thaddeus, confusion spreading through the room.
"That's right—CEO Harding's peach allergy is supposed to be serious. Last time we went out to eat, the kitchen squeezed a little peach juice into a dish for flavor, and he took one bite and swelled up all over. Nearly died!"
"So how come he drank a whole glass of Debbie's peach juice and nothing happened? I watched him finish the entire thing!"
The murmuring hit a nerve. Thaddeus's face twisted with rage, and he swept the entire row of glasses off the table. They shattered across the floor.
"Maud, when did you become this unreasonable?"
"You want a divorce that badly? I'd love to see how you survive without me!"
Shattered glass and sticky peach juice spread across the floor, and my eyes stung looking at it—because Thaddeus had always been certain that a caged bird he'd fed for five years would never actually dare to fly.
The others piled on, one after another.
"You're a housewife. How are you going to survive once you leave CEO Harding?"
"Exactly! You've been out of the workforce for years. What company is going to hire a woman your age with zero experience?"
Not a word of it reached me. I held my eyes steady on Thaddeus.
