The venom in her was unreal.
I mean it.
After hearing her out, everything I thought I understood about people had been turned on its head.
I stubbed out my cigarette, let out a breath, and said,
"Here's what we'll do. We get divorced first."
"As for how the assets get split, there's no way we'll ever agree on that."
"So we settle it in court."
Glenda and her family traded a glance, weighing it out.
Right then my phone rang and I picked up without thinking. It was my assistant, Dave Sanford. "Dave, what's up?"
I held the phone a little away from my ear, because Dave talks at full volume.
"Tommy, the bank's chasing the loan again. They want that three million paid back fast!"
I didn't make anything of it, just said, "All right, got it."
Then I hung up.
Glenda's eyes darted, and suddenly she spoke.
"We can divorce first, and I know people, so we can skip the waiting period."
"The rest of the assets, fine, we'll go to court."
"But I have one condition. That junk studio of yours has to have nothing to do with me. Otherwise you owe millions and I'll end up paying it off for you!"
I almost laughed out loud. "Fine, I agree. But honestly, I never figured you'd be this considerate of me."
What she didn't know was that the game my studio built, Gilbert Group had put fifty million on the table for it, and that money went straight into the studio's company account.
So the next morning, Glenda's texts came at me like a death summons, hurrying me off to sign the divorce.
We went to the county clerk's office and divorced. The corners of her mouth, the look in her eyes, all of it was joy she didn't bother to hide.
Once we walked out, I headed straight for a big Mercedes G-Wagon parked at the curb.
She pulled open the passenger door, then turned back to me and said, "Thomas, leaving you, I get to ride in a G-Wagon. Staying with you, this would've been my whole life, and that's it."
I didn't say anything. I just smiled.
But after Glenda climbed in, the G-Wagon backed up, the passenger window rolled down, and I got a look at the driver.
A man so fat his eyes were nearly swallowed by the flesh of his face. Glenda's old suitor, Julian Lawrence.
He sneered at me. "Thomas, once your cancer kills you, I'll toss your folks a lousy couple hundred for the funeral, and I'll take real good care of your ex-wife for you."
I said nothing, walked past a curbside food stand, and headed straight for Gilbert Group.
By now I felt nothing at losing Glenda, not a trace of regret.
Getting to divorce her was heaven finally opening its eyes.
When I reached Gilbert Group, the receptionist came jogging over at once, all deference. "Mr. Swanson, you're here. Ms. Gilbert is waiting for you in the rooftop banquet hall."
Then she led me up to the top floor.
Inside the banquet hall there were already a few dozen people, a lot of them Gilbert Group's senior executives, along with the company's shareholders.
Amy Gilbert, in a black gown that made her look every bit as beautiful and regal, came toward me too.
She held out her hand with a smile, and only after we shook did she say, "Besides the executives and shareholders, I've invited quite a few game streamers as well. It's to get ready for the game's launch push down the line."
Then, with a conspiratorial air, she took my arm and steered me over to a corner, where we sat down on a couch.
And she sat right up against me, close enough that the two of us looked a little suggestive.
Amy lowered her voice. "Mr. Swanson, I hear you got divorced?"
I gave a rueful laugh and told her the short version.
When she'd heard it, her mouth fell open in shock. "How can there be a person like that? Even if she just didn't want to weather the hard times with you, I could understand that. But to bleed you dry, and to use you for insurance fraud on top of it!"
I only smiled. "Whatever the case, the divorce is a good thing for me."
Right then, someone walked over.
Glenda's voice carried across the room. "Thomas, have you got any shame left? A man who's dying, and you're still out chasing women?"
Julian patted her hand and put on a show of scolding her. "Don't go running your mouth. That's Ms. Gilbert!"
Then he turned to Amy, all smiles. "Ms. Gilbert, I'm Julian Lawrence. My family used to run a toy factory, and now I mainly deal in game and anime merchandise. I'm hoping we might have a chance to work together."
He shot me a glance. "As for this one, Thomas, he's got cancer, he'll be dead any day now. You'll want to be careful you don't get taken in by him."
Amy's face went cold, her brow drawing together. "From what I understand, the one with cancer is the woman standing next to you!"
