“Are you insane?”
“Who gave you permission to mortgage our home?”
Leah frowned along with him.
“Deidre, how could you be so unreasonable?”
“Otto loves you so much, and here you are scheming after his money.”
“How is that any different from those gold diggers?”
I looked at her and smiled.
“Shut up.”
Her face went white.
I turned to Otto.
“I told you long ago that I wanted a divorce.”
“Sell the house. All I'll take back is the $1 million down payment I put into it.”
“Weren't you afraid I was after your money?”
“Divorce me now, and I'll guarantee you won't have to cover this debt.”
Otto stared at me, hard.:
“I won't divorce you.”
“However much you borrowed, I'll pay it off for you.”
My smile turned colder.
“You pay it off, and I'll borrow more.”
“Once the house is fully mortgaged, I'll borrow on the strength of being Mrs. Gilbert.”
“Otto, tell me, if I really turned into a deadbeat debtor, would you and your company get dragged down with me?”
Otto finally froze, as if he were seeing me for the first time.
“Deidre, you're insane.”
“I can get a lot more insane.”
Right in front of him, I dialed my mother-in-law.
“I want a divorce from Otto. I won't take a cent except the down payment on my house.”
“Within ten minutes, I want to see $1 million in my account, and I want to see his signed divorce agreement.”
“Otherwise, I'll go take out a predatory high-interest loan right now, using the name of Mrs. Gilbert.”
“Every minute late, I'll borrow another $1 million. As long as Otto and I are husband and wife, even for one minute, that debt lands on the Gilbert family. I'll drag the Gilberts, I'll drag Otto, I'll drag every last one of you straight down to hell with me.”
My mother-in-law's shrill voice came back at once.
“Deidre, are you insane?”
I said calmly,:
“The clock starts now.”
Ten minutes later, Mrs. Gilbert arrived at the hospital with the Gilbert family's lawyers and bodyguards.
A bodyguard pinned Otto by the shoulder and forced him down in front of the divorce agreement.
Otto wrenched against the grip and looked at me, eyes bloodshot.
“Deidre, do you really have to do this?!”
“Do you really have to come to this with me over money?!”
All I said was, “Sign.”
The light in his eyes died, bit by bit. He stared at me in despair, his voice going hoarse.
“I can pay the money back. I can pay for your father's treatment too.”
“Stop this, please?”
“We can't divorce.”
“We have a child.”
I looked coldly at my mother-in-law, and she immediately signaled the bodyguards.
A bodyguard shoved the pen into his hand, and the lawyer flipped the agreement to the signature page.
He gripped the pen so hard the veins stood out on the back of his hand.
“Deidre.”
“Say something.”
“Say you were wrong, say you won't borrow the money. Tell them to stop.”
I stood right where I was, not even a flicker in my eyes.
Otto's eyes were terrifyingly red.
Held down by the bodyguard's grip on his shoulder, his fingers trembled so badly he could barely hold the pen.
When the tip touched down, it gouged deep lines into the paper, but he signed his name all the same.
