"We're done. Courthouse. Tomorrow!"
Thaddeus's face went dark.
"Fine! You want a divorce so badly? Let's see how you survive without me."
"You've lived off me for five years. I'm cutting your cards off right now—fend for yourself."
He pulled out his phone and made a call, freezing every card under my name.
I didn't bother with him. I turned and walked toward the door.
A server stopped me before I could leave.
"Ma'am, you poured ten glasses of juice and haven't settled the bill. Will that be cash or card?"
I looked at the POS machine in her hand and understood instantly.
Thaddeus watched me with a sneer.
"Weren't you just full of fight? Since you're so set on divorcing me, don't think you're spending another cent of my money. You poured the juice yourself, so you pay for it yourself."
He'd frozen my cards. He knew I couldn't pay. This whole thing was about making me bow in front of a room full of people.
Deborah was watching me too, lips curled.
"Maud, this is a five-star hotel. Juice is two hundred and eighty a glass. You poured ten—that's two thousand eight hundred. And you don't have a single cent on you, do you?"
"Looks like you'll have to wash dishes in the kitchen to pay it off!"
My nails dug into my palms hard enough to break skin.
"Two-eighty a glass still beats whatever you give away for free."
Something shifted behind Deborah's eyes, and her expression went cold.
"Maud, you'd better get on your knees and apologize to Thaddeus right now. You think a man like him grows on trees? Walk away and no one else is picking you up."
I let out a cold laugh.
"You like garbage. I don't."
Thaddeus's expression hardened the second the words left my mouth. He turned to the server.
"Take her to wash dishes."
"Maud, I'll be waiting for the day you regret this."
I looked at him and smiled.
"Then you won't be waiting. You'll never see that day."
Because the one who should regret it was him.
My hands were nearly raw by the time I came out of the kitchen, fingers swollen and stinging, and my legs barely held as I stumbled through the hotel lobby toward the exit—but Thaddeus's driver was already walking over.
He looked at me with open amusement.
"Maud, CEO Harding says that since you two are getting divorced, everything you're wearing was bought with his money. He'd like you to take it off and return it."
I stared at the driver, teeth clenched so hard my jaw ached.
Thaddeus knew perfectly well all I had on was a black evening gown. He was telling me to strip in public.
He wanted to break me.
When I didn't move, the driver's smirk widened.
"A housewife who lives off her husband, and you're dumb enough to throw your marriage away over a glass of juice. Starting to see how hard life gets without a man to take care of you?"
I ignored every word. I clenched my teeth, reached behind me, and pulled the zipper.
The driver had his phone out before the dress loosened. He opened a livestream and pointed the camera straight at me.
"Come watch, everyone! This woman wanted to divorce her husband because he drank a glass of juice. Unbelievable!"
The viewer count spiked. Comments flooded in, every one of them mocking me.
"Divorcing over a glass of juice? That's got to be a first in human history."
"Thinks she's a princess. Thinks the whole world should cater to her. Guess her husband stopped playing along."
"Stripping in public? How is that any different from a stripper?"
I clenched my teeth and peeled the dress off, inch by inch.
