- 7.
く
Mark’s smile froze.
He yelled in disbelief, “Ashley, you want to
divorce me over this?”
He grabbed the divorce papers and ripped
them in half. “I won’t agree!”
Chloe’s eyes lit up.
“Mark, she’s just a woman, she doesn’t know
her place. Going out and working, flirting with
people, and now she dares to talk to you like
this? You should divorce her!”
“Plenty of women would love to marry you.”
I laughed. “Yeah, like the one standing right
here?”
Chloe moved closer to Mark again, but he
pushed her away, sending her tumbling onto
the spilled porridge.
“Mark…”
Mark immediately knelt down. “Ashley, I was
wrong. You can hit me, yell at me, anything,
but don’t joke about divorce, please?”
His hands, hidden behind his back, were
clenched into fists.
He looked at me with feigned affection. “I
love you, Ashley.”
+
I felt sick to my stomach.
I raised my high–heeled foot and brought it
down hard on his hand, grinding it back and
Mark’s face turned red with pain, but he
didn’t dare move his hand.
Chloe shrieked and pulled my foot away,
shielding Mark. “Ashley, if you want to hurt Mark, you’ll have to go through me!”
Protected by her, Mark’s gaze softened, filled
with a strange mix of gratitude and
something deeper.
I smiled.
“Fine. I’ll give your ‘Mark‘ another chance.
Mark, take her home personally, make sure
she never appears in front of me again, and
I’ll forgive you.”
