AFTER DIVORCING MY ARMY HUSBAND

CHAPTER 4:

Melinda’s POV

A few hours later, I found myself standing outside Super Villa, staring up at the tall iron gates that guarded Camila’s world. It was the kind of place that screamed confidence and carelessness, bright lights were shining as laughter spilling from the neighboring houses, and expensive cars glinted under the early sun.

I hadn’t been here in years. Back when I still believed life could be kind, I used to visit Camila often. Now, everything felt heavier. My hands trembled slightly as I pushed open the door.

The moment I stepped inside, something slammed into me so hard I almost lost my breath. My back hit the wall with a dull thud. I looked up, startled, and found myself staring into the narrowed eyes of Camila Cross, my best friend, my loudest critic. I considered Camila my last resort.

She was wearing silk pajamas and holding a coffee mug like a weapon. Her hair was a wild halo around her face, and that wicked grin I knew too well curved across her lips.

“Well, well,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Got kicked out already? Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’ll take good care of you.”

She gave me a shove before stepping back, laughing like it was all some big joke.

I pressed my hand against the wall, catching my breath. “Nice to see you too, Camila.”

Camila Cross. She was brilliant, blunt, and dangerous when bored. We’d been best friends since school, though she had a habit of turning my pain into punchlines. Truth be told, I wouldn’t have come here if I’d had any other place to go.

A few minutes later, she shoved a cup of coffee into my hands and dropped onto the sofa opposite me.

“Drink,” she ordered. “You look like hell.”

I managed a weak smile. “Thanks,” I said.

“Thank my ass!” she snapped, rolling her eyes. “I told you, marry him, pay off the debt, and then walk away. But nooo, you go and fall for the guy!”

I stared into my coffee, the liquid shaking slightly with my trembling hands. “Camila… you knew all along, didn’t you?”

“Knew what?” She asked, pretending innocence.

“That he had chosen Clara in the end.” My voice came out quieter than I expected.

Her grin faltered for a second. When she looked away, I had my answer.

“Well,” she said finally, shrugging, “It wasn’t exactly rocket science. You could see the way he looked at her.

And look where you are now, bags packed, kicked out of Drako Center.”

Her words stung, but I couldn’t even be angry. That was the thing about Camila, she never lied to make me feel embarrassed.

“Actually,” I said, tightening my jaw, “I wasn’t kicked out. I left. I asked for a divorce.”

Camila blinked. Then she threw her head back and laughed, loud and sharp. “A divorce? You? Oh, sweet Melinda, let’s see if you can last a month without him first.”

Her laughter cut deep. I lowered my head and let out a small, humorless chuckle. Maybe she was right. Maybe everyone thought I’d come crawling back.

But this time, I wasn’t bluffing. Something inside me had snapped, and in that breaking, I found a strange kind of strength.

Camila looked at me. Then she leaned forward. “Alright,” she said slowly. “If you’re really done with him, like done done, then that’s a big step. How about we celebrate with a little payback?”

I frowned. “Payback?”

She smacked the back of my head lightly, grinning. “You heard me. Payback. Revenge. Whatever makes you feel better.”

Before I could ask what she meant, she grabbed her laptop from the table and flipped it open. The screen glowed against her face as she typed fast, excitement gleaming in her eyes.

“Remember Leo Benard?” She said, sharply.

I froze. “Johnson’s biggest business rival?”

“Bingo.” She turned the laptop toward me. “He’s looking for someone to fix a security breach in his firewall project. Guess what? It’s exactly your area of expertise. And he’s paying big money for it.”

I stared at the scrolling lines of code. It felt like staring at a part of my old self, the version of me that used to dream about working in tech, before marriage turned my life into a series of dinner parties and silent tears.

Back in high school, I was the best coder in our year. I could build systems that people twice my age couldn’t understand. But after I married Johnson, I packed that part of my life away. I stopped believing it mattered.

Now, as the code flashed before me, something inside me stirred.

Camila watched me carefully. “The project’s already been rejected twice,” she said. “If it fails again, it’ll ruin the whole team’s reputation. They need someone who actually knows what they’re doing.”

I nodded, curiosity growing. I started scrolling through the files.

It didn’t take long before my frown deepened. Something was off. Very off.

“There,” I whispered, pointing at a cluster of odd characters in the code. “Someone’s tampered with this. They installed a backdoor.”

Camila leaned over, squinting. “A backdoor? You mean like a secret entry?”

“Exactly. Someone’s been sneaking into the system without authorization. That’s why the project keeps failing. It’s sabotage.”

A chill ran through me. There was only one person I knew with both the skill and the motive to do something like that.

That's Jameson.

He’d walked away from his family’s empire years ago, claiming he didn’t care about their fortune or their feuds. But that wasn’t true.

You don’t just walk away from power like the Drako family’s. And this, sabotaging Leo Benard’s project, was exactly his style. Clean. Hidden. Ruthless.

“Melinda, don’t tell me you’re still protecting him,” she said. “You’re not seriously going to back out now, are you?”

Her tone was teasing, but there was something serious behind her eyes.

I let out a slow breath and smiled faintly. “No. You’re right. I’m done protecting him. I’ll take the job.”

Her eyes widened. She shot me a surprise look. “Wait—seriously?”

“Yes.” I nodded firmly. “The reason Leo’s project keeps failing is because of that backdoor. I’m almost certain Jameson is behind it. If I can access the company’s internal network, I might be able to trace his signature. If I can do that…”

“You can expose him.” Camila finished my sentence, grinning from ear to ear.

“Good, that is the Melinda I know. Very smart, dangerous and not afraid of getting their dirty.”

Her words made me pause. I hadn’t realized until that moment how much of myself I had lost in that marriage, how much of my voice, my pride, my fire had been swallowed by the walls of Drako Center.

I smiled, but it was bittersweet. “Actually,” I said softly, “he’s not my husband anymore. The papers are ready. All that’s left is to sign.”

For a moment, Camila didn't say anything. Then she clinked her mug against mine. “To freedom,” she said.

I took a sip of coffee, and I could feel something new—something sharper, stronger in my blood.

Freedom. Revenge. Maybe both.

I wasn’t sure what tomorrow would bring. But for the first time in a long time, I was ready to find out.