Chapter 8
“You’ve misunderstood me too,” I said bluntly. “I don’t want Stellan
anymore–he’s trash. Do me a favor and talk him into signing the divorce. papers.”
Rowena started tearing up like she always did. ‘God. I hated that pathetic. little act of hers.”
“Don’t even try that tea–serving innocent crap on me,” I snapped. “It doesn’t work. Go cry to Stellan, maybe sleep with him while you’re at it. and take that pathetic excuse of a man off my hands. Please.”
Rowena’s expression changed instantly. She leaned in and whispered something in my ear.
I scoffed internally. ‘Stellan has no idea the sweet little daisy he thinks she is is actually a snake in the grass.‘
I sent Stellan a video clip. In it, he and Rowena looked cozy as hell- filmed from behind him, but the way they leaned into each other, it totally looked like they were kissing.
Stellan called me right away, all panicked. “Where did you get that video? Don’t believe it, it’s just the angle. She got something in her eye, I was just blowing it out.”
“Whether I believe it or not doesn’t really matter,” I said. “What matters is
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whether your boss believes it.”
Stellan worked in public service. A video like that? Career suicide. I didn’t give him a chance to respond. “Sign the papers today, and I won’t send this video to your office,” I said.
Like his dad, Stellan was all about saving face. So he had no choice but to agree to the divorce.
As soon as the waiting period ended, I got the finalized divorce certificate. First thing I did? Made a whole PowerPoint presentation about what went down at our wedding and dropped it in the Rookwood family group chat.
I wanted every single relative in that pretentious family to know exactly what kind of people they were dealing with.
Word got out all the way to the family elders back in Stellan’s hometown. They were furious. The family patriarch sent a message straight to Dorian.
That news hit Victor and Margot hard.
Victor had a stroke and was rushed to the hospital. Margot, who was already dealing with high blood pressure, fell and injured herself while taking care of him. The two of them ended up in the hospital together.
Then I sorted the videos on my phone and posted them online. The whole drama went viral almost instantly.
די
Stellan found me a few days later. “Can you please take the video down?” he pleaded. “Rowena’s getting dragged online. She won’t even leave the house.”
“Not my problem,” I said. “I didn’t post her photo, didn’t share any private info. People figured it out on their own.”
Eventually, Stellan lost his job too. He came to me again. “Lyra, I agreed to the divorce. Why are you still doing this? What do you want from me?”
I looked him straight in the eyes. “What do I want? Isn’t it obvious? I want your whole family to suffer. You think I was just gonna let you get away with what you did to me?”
Stellan stared at me, completely shocked. “You really hate me that. much?”
“Yep.” I said. “More than you’ll ever know. You and Rowena are the fakest, nastiest pair I’ve ever met.”
And now the internet hate had spread from Stellan and Rowena to Dorian and Elv
too.
I gave Stellan one last call. “Hey, you wanna know who sent me that video of you and Rowena?”
Stellan didn’t answer.
“It was your precious Rowena,” I said. “Your Rowena sent it to me
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herself.”
Stellan lost it and stormed off to confront her.
Word was, Rowena had already been mentally spiraling from the online attacks. Something went down between them, and Stellan ended up falling down a stairwell. Last I heard, he still hadn’t woken up.
Dorian and Elysia were suing Rowena for aggravated assault. The trial was coming up.