"You're so good at playing the lapdog. Why don't you bark a few times so I can learn from the best?"
I'd grown up surrounded by the works of master calligraphers and painters. I'd recognized Noel's handwriting on that slip of paper the moment I saw it.
Noel's face flushed crimson, his voice dripping with wounded innocence. "Ms. Sanchez, how could he humiliate me like this..."
A glass of red wine splashed over my head without warning.
Lauren yanked Noel into her arms protectively, glaring at me with open contempt.
"Laurence, enough! You won't do this, you won't do that, all you're good for is bullying someone younger than you. There's a limit to how unreasonable you can be!"
"You're a part-time calligraphy teacher making pocket change. Your salary's so pathetic I'd be embarrassed to use it for gas money."
"You only live the life you do because of me. Where do you get off thinking you can tell me what to do?!"
A sneer curled at the corner of her mouth.
"Noel actually helps me carry the load at the company. Forget swapping him into a party game. If he wanted the moon, I'd pluck it from the sky for him!"
"And what can you do for me? You wormed your way into a wedding with me without so much as a decent betrothal gift. You're nothing but a freeloader trying to cash in!"
"So, Laurence, take the money and sit down. If it's not enough, I'll give you more. But if you keep making trouble, I won't go through with the marriage license. Period!"
My chest ached, tight and suffocating.
So refusing to accept my wife kissing another man was "making trouble."
And five years of devotion, of building her empire beside her from nothing, amounted to freeloading.
But Lauren didn't know.
The betrothal gift had been ready for months. The assets were so extensive that cataloging everything had taken time. I'd planned to present it all the day we signed the marriage license, as a surprise.
Now I saw she didn't deserve it.
"Well, that works out perfectly. I was thinking the same thing."
My voice came out cold and flat. I turned, grabbed my coat, and headed for the door.
The moment I pulled open the villa's front door, a voice rang out behind me.
"Hold on!"
Lauren descended the staircase, chin tilted up, wearing a smile that wasn't really a smile.
"Laurence, that Canada Goose parka you're wearing. A hundred thousand dollars. I paid for it."
"If you've got the nerve to talk about breaking up, then don't walk out in my things. Or can you not afford to dress yourself?"
"Oh, and don't forget to leave every card I ever gave you."
The front door gaped wide open. Frigid wind laced with snowflakes bit into my neck.
But it wasn't half as cold as what I felt inside.
Last winter, right when the cold set in, she'd complained that the jackets I bought were cheap brands that couldn't keep me warm. She'd thrown them all out without asking. The next day, she handed me a Canada Goose parka and told me that things were better now, that she'd never let me freeze again.
Lauren knew all of this perfectly well. She was doing it to humiliate me on purpose.
In that moment, regret hit me like a wall.
Regret for misjudging who she really was all those years ago.
One of the guests stepped in, trying to smooth things over. "Lauren, it's below zero out there. Laurence is barely wearing anything underneath. Without that coat, he'll freeze. It's supposed to be a happy occasion. Don't let it end on a sour note. Just swallow your pride and make up with your husband. There's no shame in that."
Lauren, of course, saw it differently.
Her lips twisted into a mocking smirk.
"We haven't even signed the papers. What kind of husband is he? I spoiled him too much, that's all. Now he thinks he can throw around words like 'break up' whenever he pleases. He should be grateful I'm not making him walk out naked."
"Laurence, don't say I never gave you a chance. Apologize right now. Promise to get along with Noel from here on out. I'll forgive you, we'll sign the license like planned, and you'll still be the man of the Sanchez household."
Noel settled in close beside her, all smiles.
"That's right, Laurence. You already lowered yourself to being a kept man. What's with the pride all of a sudden? I'd quit while I was ahead if I were you."
