173 A Sister’s Sin, A Husband’s Choice
Something in me snapped. I stepped closer to her bed, my voice dangerously quiet. “Without Alistair? Let me tell you what I am without Alistair. I’m successful. I’m respected. I’m free.”
Liana scoffed. “You’re delusional. Evening Gala will collapse without my son.”
“My designs carried that brand from day one,” I replied coldly. “Your son was just the money. And now I have better investors.”
“You ungrateful—” Gloria started, but I silenced her with a raised hand.
“I want my phone back,” I said to Alistair. “And I want you at the divorce hearing this afternoon. No more delays, no more excuses.”
He handed me the phone, his expression unreadable. “I’ll be there.”
Gloria burst into tears-real ones this time. “You can’t be serious! After everything I did to help you?”
“Help me?” Alistair echoed incredulously. “You made things worse! What were you thinking?”
Gloria’s hysteria escalated. “I was thinking about us! About getting rid of her once and for all!”
“By committing crimes?” Alistair’s voice rose to match hers.
“It wasn’t just about framing her,” Gloria spat, her carefully constructed mask completely shattered. “That was Plan B!”
The room went silent. I felt a chill run down my spine.
“What do you mean, Plan B?” Alistair asked quietly.
Gloria looked trapped, realizing she’d said too much.
“Gloria,” Liana warned sharply. “Don’t say another word.”
But Gloria was beyond control now. “Plan A was to get something on her! To make her look bad! To force her to sign the divorce papers on our terms!”
I crossed my arms. “And how exactly were you planning to ‘get something on me’?”
173 A Sister’s Sin, A Husband’s Choice
Gloria’s eyes darted frantically around the room. “It doesn’t matter now””
“Tell me!” Alistair demanded, grabbing her wrist.
“Fine!” Gloria shrieked. “I was going to slip something in her drink at the restaurant! Not to harm her, just to make her a little… compliant.”
Liana closed her eyes in defeat.
“Compliant for what?” Alistair’s voice had dropped to a dangerous whisper.
Gloria looked at her brother, tears.streaming down her face. “For you! So you could take her home and… and…”
I felt sick. “And what? Rape me while I was drugged?”
“No!” Gloria protested. “Just… just sleep with her! Get her pregnant maybe! Something to tie her to you again since you’re so obsessed with her!”
The horror on Alistair’s face mirrored what I felt. “You were going to have me sexually assault my own wife?”
“She’s practically your ex-wife!” Gloria defended wildly. “And you still want her! I was helping you get what you want!”
Liana stepped in. “Gloria, that’s enough. Your brother is upset now, but he’ll understand later that you were acting out of love for him.”,
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You’re defending this? She planned to drug me for sexual assault!”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Liana dismissed with a wave of her hand. “It would hardly be assault between husband and wife.”
The casualness with which she condoned such depravity stunned me into momentary silence.
I stepped back, my decision made. I turned to Alistair, who looked shell-shocked by his family’s moral bankruptcy.
“Three o’clock. Divorce court.” I held up my phone. “If you’re not there, or if you try to delay again, this recording goes straight to the police. I won’t protect your sister’s
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reputation at the expense of my freedom anymore.”
His eyes met mine, filled with shame and resignation. “I’ll be there.”
“And after today,” I continued firmly, “I never want to see any Everett again. Our business relationship ends with the marriage.”
Gloria made a strangled sound. “You can’t just walk away! Not after everything we’ve done to-”
“To what?” I challenged. “To destroy me? To control me? To break me? You failed.”
I moved toward the door, then turned back one last time. “If you delay the divorce again, I will send your sister to prison!”
I walked out, not waiting for a response, my heart pounding with righteous anger and the taste of long-awaited freedom.
