4: 4
Sara froze.
Clearly she hadn't expected me to say that.
"Quit dragging it out. If you want to kneel, then kneel."
Vanessa watched her not move, then stepped forward and kicked her hard behind the knee.
"Ah!"
Sara's knees buckled and she dropped straight to the floor.
Everyone around us turned to look.
Her cheeks flushed a deep red, and she raised her tear-filled eyes to glance at Barnaby beside her.
Barnaby's brow creased. He pulled her up and turned on me. "Jemima, this is going too far, don't you think!"
Sara whimpered, "Don't blame Jemma, it's all my fault, it's all because I'm shameless—"
"Of course it isn't my fault!" I cut her off with a cold laugh. "You are shameless. No, wait—"
I looked at Barnaby. "You're shameless too. My best friend calls herself my boyfriend's future mother-in-law, and my boyfriend gets this close to my best friend. There's no way you two had any boundaries at all."
"It's my fault! It's all my fault!"
Sara suddenly lifted her hand and slapped herself across the face, again and again.
"It's all on me, I'm the slut, I'm shameless, I seduced my best friend's boyfriend."
She looked at me through the tears. "Jemma, it's all my fault. You and Barnaby finally made it official after so long. Please don't split up over a slut like me. I swear, once you forgive Barnaby, I'll never appear in front of either of you again. Even if I die, I'll find the farthest place from you two to do it—"
"Enough!"
Barnaby yanked her hand down, his face dark as he looked at me. "Jemima, will you only be satisfied once you've dragged us through something this ugly?"
I laughed out loud. "Barnaby, I'm not dragging you through anything."
"The divorce, I mean it."
"The lawsuit, I mean that too."
"As for you two—"
I swept my gaze over Sara, who was crying so hard she could barely breathe, and said it one word at a time. "I hope the two of you are locked together for the rest of your lives."
With that, I took Vanessa's arm and turned to leave.
I'd barely stepped out the door when Barnaby suddenly called after me. "Jemima, you're really going through with a divorce over some petty little thing like this?"
Petty little thing?
After everything, it was still just a petty little thing in his mouth.
I turned back to look at him, my voice cold as ice. "Yes. Over this petty little thing. I'm divorcing you, and that's final."
Barnaby clenched his fists. "Are our five years together worth nothing at all to you?"
I scoffed.
"Don't act like I owe you something. You're the one who first—"
"Fine," he cut me off with a cold laugh. "No need for a lawsuit. I'll divorce you."
He snatched the divorce papers out of my hand, bent his head and signed them with quick strokes, then flung them in my face. "Jemima, don't you fucking regret this!"
I watched his back as he walked off with Sara.
For some reason, a bad feeling settled in my chest.
Then early the next morning, Vanessa's call went off like an alarm bell.
"Jemma, something big has happened! Look at the link I just sent you!"
