He even said I disgusted him and that I should live alone from then on.
After that day, I could never get through to him by phone again.
I sent him messages.
“Julian, I’m so sorry. I know I handled things badly. Please don’t be angry. Come home. I know you like girls with long hair and soft skin. I can grow my hair long, I can take care of my skin.”
He replied with just one message.
“Aubrey, being with you feels like being with a guy. I just want a divorce. Can’t we just end this amicably?”
That woman got pregnant.
He couldn’t wait any longer. He personally brought the divorce papers, along with a ten percent share transfer agreement.
It hit me then: he never intended to have a child with me from the start.
I’d had a miscarriage once, and after my body recovered, he always made sure to take precautions, no matter how much I protested.
Yet now, he’d gotten another woman pregnant.
was sickened to my stomach.
I ripped up the divorce papers, tore the share transfer agreement to shreds, and threw them at him.
10:59 AM
<
“Julian, *you* betrayed me! I don’t want your shares, and I won’t make it easy for you two!”
I couldn’t face any of it.
I requested a transfer to field duty, fighting crime, catching criminals.
I simply wouldn’t come back to discuss the divorce with him.
He stopped caring about appearances. He bought the mistress a villa for her pregnancy.
The whole thing became public knowledge among our relatives and friends.
Our relatives and friends, believing I couldn’t conceive, tacitly accepted his infidelity, thinking my infertility played a part. They just saw it as a messy, regrettable situation.
Even his father, seeing that there was already a child on the way, rarely intervened.
5
Then, a major figure emerged within a criminal syndicate we were tracking.
We raided one of his hideouts, and he retaliated violently: burning patrol cars, ambushing our officers.
One of our colleagues, Arthur, was staked out and spotted by them. He was stabbed multiple times and died on the spot.
Arthur had a five–year–old daughter.
A heavy silence fell over the department.
Based on the information we gathered,
This criminal syndicate was incredibly brutal, operating near the border, armed with advanced weaponry.
I lost five pounds in three days.
My captain patted my shoulder.
“Aubrey, don’t feel pressured. We’ll get these bastards.”
I nodded, but my mind was already made up: I would personally bring those animals to justice.
“Here’s your transfer order. Tomorrow, you’re moving to the department’s archives. Pack your things and report there.”
I froze for a moment but stubbornly refused.
“Captain, I’m not going back. I’m staying in the field.”
“Don’t argue. No woman stays on the front lines forever.”
I hesitated. “Honestly, Captain, if you didn’t say ‘woman, I’d forget my own gender.”
Since childhood, I’d preferred uniforms to dresses. Especially after joining field duty, I’d cut my long hair to a short, neck–length bob because it was impractical for chasing suspects.
11:00 AM
<
“Don’t be stubborn, Aubrey. Arthur’s death had nothing to do with you. Don’t blame yourself.”
I was silent for a long time. This had been weighing on my heart for days.
“If I hadn’t taken that day off, he wouldn’t have covered for me. He wouldn’t have died. He died because of me.”
That day, I was supposed to be on duty, observing from the corner store. But Julian called, insisting we meet because Celeste was about to give birth.
If I didn’t agree, he threatened to come to my workplace to find me, as someone had seen me at the corner store.
To protect my undercover identity, I was forced to take that day off, and Arthur covered for me.
Arthur had been on the force for a long time and worked many cases. He was recognized by that group.
That very night, he was brutally attacked in an alley.
