Chapter 2
Josephine wandered aimlessly through the streets.
In her hand was the death sentence the doctor had just handed her.
“So you’re saying I’ve got about 30 days left?”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Sinclair.”
That gut–punch feeling–it wasn’t the first time Josephine had experienced.
- it.
The Sinclair family was crumbling, and the weight of it all had landed squarely on her shoulders.
Back then, she’d felt completely helpless.
She’d called Peter.
She thought that even if they just bickered or argued, maybe it would make her feel less alone.
But he didn’t answer. Not once.
But Peter hung up on all her calls to him, and when she pushed him too much, he simply turned off his phone to avoid her.
The next time she saw him, he was lying naked in their bed with a young model in his arms.
Peter never saw how lost and broken she was.
All he saw was a face he couldn’t stand.
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He deliberately kissed the young model right before her, the sharp glint at the corner of his lips stabbing at Josephine’s eyes.
“Well? You ready for that divorce now?”
Josephine forced herself to stay calm and fled the room.
In Los Angeles, just about everyone knew she and Peter had been at each other’s throats since they were kids. Whenever they saw each other, they’d fight.
And just about everyone assumed that Josephine hated Peter just as much as he hated her.
She touched the ring on her finger–it was one Peter had reluctantly given her after the wedding.
When he handed it to her, he’d tossed the ring box at her face.
At first, she’d buried her feelings deep, never letting them show.
Until Peter forces her to fulfill her duties as a wife.
In the middle of one of those moments, he noticed the ring still on her
hand.
He laughed right then and there.
“Josephine, don’t tell me the reason you won’t sign the divorce papers is because you actually like me.
“If that’s the case, you’d better get over it. I’m not only never going to like you–I can’t stand the sight of you.”
Peter’s hatred didn’t come from nowhere.
He hated her because their families had arranged their marriage from the
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start. And his first love? She’d been forced to move overseas because of it.
That night, Josephine stared at the ceiling until morning.
Her mother had passed away when she was young. No one had ever told her how to hold on to someone she loved. All the younger versions of her could do was throw barbed words and petty fights to get Peter’s attention. But after that?
Josephine blinked against the dryness in her eyes.
Her phone kept buzzing, breaking her thoughts.
She opened the chat and saw Peter flooding the group with digital cash gifts.
“What’s the occasion, huh? What’s got you so excited, Mr. Garrison?”
Peter didn’t reply. He just dropped a photo in the chat. It was the divorce agreement, signed during the cooling–off period.
Just that one picture dropped like a bomb.
Suddenly, all the silent lurkers in the group chat exploded.
“They really divorced? Josephine actually agreed?!”
“Finally! This is the best news ever. Peter, you’re finally free!”
“We gotta celebrate! Didn’t you say seeing Josephine’s face daily made you so miserable you couldn’t even sleep? Now you’re free to date ten or twenty girls at once, and no one can say a thing!”
“Am I the only one who finds this weird? Peter slept with all kinds of models and influencers, and Josephine put up with all of it. Why give in now? What if she’s just messing with you? What if she doesn’t show up at the end and you still can’t get a divorce?”
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The group went silent after that message.
Then Josephine’s phone started ringing.
“Josephine, you’re not screwing with me, are you? You’re actually gonna follow through after the cooling–ofl‘ period?”
Her pale face twisted into a faint smile.
She spoke softly into the phone.
“Oh, I’m absolutely screwing with you.
“Peter, what are you gonna do about it?”
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
