He Set The Test, I Set The Divorce

Chapter 3

The next day, Mom called. "I heard you pissed off one of Neil's important clients?"

"He got handsy with me."

She went quiet for a second, then snapped, sharp and annoyed. "He had a few drinks, so what if he touched you a little? You're a married woman, not some teenager. Do you think you're so special?"

I clamped my hand around the phone and said nothing.

She kept laying into me, her voice getting sharper by the second. "Bianca's not even married, and she's willing to take clients out for dinners. Why can't you? Neil's going through such a rough patch right now, and instead of helping him out, you're out causing trouble. What man would put up with a wife like you?"

My brother Bryce chimed in from the side. "Helena, just apologize to Neil already! Bianca said that client was gonna hook me up with a job, but you ruined the whole thing! You can't throw the whole family under the bus just because your feelings got hurt a little."

I didn't let him finish. I ended the call and put all their numbers on Do Not Disturb.

The line went quiet. I hit send on the last document for my transfer request. A pop-up flashed across the screen:

Transfer request submitted.

Next came the handoff. It was busier than I'd expected. I spent all day wrapping up my old role, then stayed up late getting up to speed on the Glenhaven project. For two straight days, I got less than 4 hours of sleep each night. The bruise on my wrist faded from deep purple to a sickly yellow-green, and I had to double my stomach medicine, from one pill a day to two.

Neil never once asked about my injury. The only message he sent was a restaurant address.

Neil: Felix is leaving Oakhaven the day after tomorrow.

Neil: I'll pick you up tomorrow evening.

I deleted the messages and went back to polishing my project proposal.

By 1 a.m., Chase told me to go home and get some rest. When I stepped out of the office building, rain was pouring down, pattering against the sidewalk. I'd just made it to the curb when my vision swam and everything went black.

When I came to, I was lying on a bed in the emergency room. A nurse stood at the foot of my bed, making a call with the phone on speaker.

"Ms. Fleming passed out from a high fever and needs to stay for observation. Please have her husband come in as soon as possible to complete the admission paperwork."

"Is she awake?" It was Neil's voice, and for half a second, there was a hint of worry in it.

Then Bianca sighed softly, as if she'd just remembered something. "Is Helena still mad about what happened with Felix? She's been refusing to apologize this whole time... It's fine if she doesn't want to swallow her pride. I'll go apologize to Felix on her behalf."

There was a beat of silence on the other end. When Neil spoke again, his voice had turned cold, with no trace of that earlier concern left. "Let me talk to her."

The nurse walked over to my bedside and held out the phone. "Mr. Rhodes, Ms. Fleming's insurance doesn't cover the observation stay, so there's a $2,700 deposit due."

Neil ignored her completely. "Helena, faking sickness isn't going to get you anywhere. Felix is leaving Oakhaven tomorrow. If you don't go apologize, you'll deal with the consequences yourself. Come home once you're done throwing this fit. I don't have time to coddle you all day."

The call ended with a click.

The nurse handed me the bill. "The balance is $2,700."

My stomach dropped as I pulled up my mobile wallet. My balance was $186.40. I looked up at the nurse. "Don't bother contacting him again."

Right after that, I called Chase. "Mr. Graves, is there any way I can get an advance on the relocation stipend for the Glenhaven posting?"

Chase didn't press me for details. He just said, "Sure. I'll send the money now. We can sort out the paperwork tomorrow."

Once I'd paid the bill, I pulled up my contacts and changed the pinned contact "Honey" to "Mr. Rhodes."

A woman sitting with her sick relative in the next bed handed me a paper cup of water. "No matter what's going on, you have to put yourself first, okay?"

I curled my fingers around the warm cup, and my nose stung.

Two days later, my fever finally broke. Chase dropped my luggage off at the airport for me. Right before I boarded the plane, I sent Neil a text.

Helena: I'm moving to Glenhaven for work.

He never texted back. I turned off my phone and stepped onto the plane.

Once I got to Glenhaven, my days were a nonstop blur of running out to job sites, tweaking datasets, and holding retrospective meetings for every phase of the project. Neil never once tried to get in touch.

Bianca's social media feed, though, was constantly updating. There she was, sitting in the passenger seat of Neil's car. Wearing clothes he'd bought her. Tagging along to his friends' get-togethers. One photo showed her standing in my kitchen, holding the white ceramic bowl I used to use. The caption read: All is well.

I scrolled past it, didn't like it, and didn't fire off any angry texts demanding answers.

A month later, the Glenhaven project was featured in an interview on a business news channel. The host turned to me. "Ms. Fleming, will you be moving back to Oakhaven once this project wraps up?"

The camera zoomed in on my face. I answered calmly, without a second of hesitation. "No, I've already signed a permanent transfer agreement. I'll be focusing all my work on Glenhaven moving forward."

When the interview aired, Neil was just about to head into a company meeting. The second he saw me on the screen, he brushed off his assistant's attempts to stop him, shoved his chair back with a loud scrape against the floor, and stormed straight out of the conference room.