They Laughed at My Cheating Rumor, I Divorced Him

Chapter 2

Even my little boy, who could barely read, froze where he stood. Somehow, he understood exactly what divorce meant.

"Mommy…"

At the other end of the video call, Vanessa's eyes lit up the moment she spotted the divorce papers.

"Mrs. Fairfax isn't divorcing Mr. Fairfax because of me, is she? I really shouldn't have shown up at your house so late at night. If I upset you, I'm sorry."

But there wasn't even the slightest trace of guilt on her face.

After struggling for several minutes and failing to force out even a fake tear, she finally hung up the video call, red-faced with frustration.

But both Ethan and Andrew completely bought her performance.

"Mom, you're being so unreasonable! You made Stepmom cry!"

"Selena, when are you going to stop this ridiculous act?"

The two men I had once loved most, my husband and my son, glared at me in perfect unison.

I could no longer remember the last time either of them had stood by my side or protected me.

"I'm not causing trouble. I just want a divorce," I answered coldly, without the slightest warmth in my voice. 

Ethan actually laughed in anger. Without even looking at the papers, he signed his name on them.

"That little trick of playing hard to get doesn't work for me. Since you want a divorce so badly, Vanessa will take full control of the family finances from now on. She's a hundred times more capable than you'll ever be! Let's go." He dragged our son away by the hand, but the boy turned around and stuck his tongue out at me.

"We're going to celebrate Stepmom's birthday!"

They both knew perfectly well that I had spent years pinching pennies, and that every dollar I had gone toward paying for my mother's medical bills.

Everything started after Ethan and Vanessa's affair exploded online and dominated the trending headlines. My mother had rushed through a violent rainstorm just to comfort me… only to be struck by a car and left lying in a pool of blood on the road.

I screamed until my throat felt torn apart as I ran toward her, while Ethan and my son held me tightly like two guardian angels promising never to leave me.

"Mommy, why won't Grandma wake up…"

"It's okay, Selena. We're here with you. We'll never leave you."

And now? Both of them had turned their backs on me and chosen Vanessa Hart instead, his mistress and my son's 'stepmom.'

That same night, Ethan smashed apart the fortune-teller's stall in Chicago, and he buried the entire car accident scandal so deeply beneath the trending headlines that no one could uncover it anymore.

Then he issued an official statement on the company's website: "From that day forward, Vanessa Hart would take complete control of all the Fairfax family assets."

As the legal Mrs. Fairfax, I couldn't even buy a bottle of water without Vanessa's approval.

But Vanessa? Her birthday celebration the next day was going to be held in extravagant fashion at the Crystal Manor Hotel, completely out in the open for everyone to see.

He was making it painfully clear to the entire world: if I dared divorce him, I would leave with absolutely nothing.

That night, after swallowing a large amount of disinfectant, I developed a severe fever and drifted into unconsciousness.

I was jolted awake by the sharp buzzing of my phone.

An anonymous video had just been sent to me.

In the footage, Vanessa sat curled up in the corner, drenched from head to toe and looking heartbreakingly fragile.

"I was driving home just now, and Selena's mother suddenly ran toward me screaming," she whimpered. "She told me to leave this place forever. I tried to get away from her, but…but she kept chasing after me! It was raining so heavily, and the roads were so slippery that my car lost control and hit her! Please… you all have to protect me…"

Andrew was still only a child, after all. He threw himself at her, pounding his fists against her over and over while sobbing hysterically.

"Grandma's never going to play with me again! Give Grandma back to me! I want my grandma!"

Vanessa endured every hit without resisting. Looking utterly miserable and helpless, she raised her tear-filled eyes toward Ethan.

"Ethan… you won't leave me to handle this alone, right?"

At that moment, my heart clenched painfully.

Several agonizing seconds passed before Ethan finally stepped forward and handed her a brand-new identification card.

"No one will ever trace this back to you," he said quietly. "Leave everything else to me."

In that split second, all the blood in my body rushed backward and turned ice-cold.

The date stamped on the video was the exact same day my mom got hit by that car.

Vanessa was the real killer all along.

And my own husband and son had helped her cover up the crime, wiped all traces of what she'd done, given her a brand-new identity so she could get away scot-free.

I remembered that day I'd run like a madwoman toward the police station. Ethan and Andrew had caught up to me, wrapping their arms around me like they were worried sick about me.

"Mom, let Dad handle this, okay? You'll catch a cold out here…"

I'd been so stupid, so naive. I truly believed my husband and son would help me get justice for my mom. I never imagined they were her accomplices the whole time.

The next day, numb and dazed, I dragged myself to Vanessa's birthday banquet.

She was gliding around in a gorgeous evening gown, flanked by my husband and son on either side, shielding her like she was the real Mrs. Fairfax.

Every guest's eyes burned into me, brimming with disgust and sneering mockery.

Only Ethan and Andrew had their lips pressed into pleased, satisfied lines. They thought I'd finally admitted I was wrong, that I'd come to beg them to fix things and get back together as a family.

Well, they were about to be very disappointed.

I stepped forward, my vision blurring with hot tears, and confronted Ethan.

"Vanessa crippled my mom, and you two helped her get away with it. Didn't you?!"

My son was just a kid after all. Guilt gnawed at him, and he stumbled back a step, too ashamed to even look me in the eye.

Only Ethan froze for a heartbeat before his cool, composed mask slid right back into place.

"Selena, what do you think you're doing making a scene at Vanessa's birthday banquet?!"

His reaction proved it. The video was real.

Amid all the chaos, Vanessa's ankle buckled like she'd tripped, and she went crashing face-first straight into the birthday cake, looking all messy and helpless.

"Mrs. Fairfax, please don't hit me! Your mom has already punished me so badly for this before… I'll never dare cross you or your mom ever again…"

"Vanessa!"

Ethan and Andrew sprinted straight to her side. Not a single one of them noticed I'd collapsed onto a pile of shattered wine glasses, warm blood gushing thick and fast out of my cut.

"Selena Ashford, I always thought you were polite on the surface! Who would've guessed you and your mom had been abusing Vanessa behind everyone's back this whole time!"

Andrew snatched up a shard of glass and hurled it at me, screaming, "Bad woman! Why did you bully my stepmom!"

All the surrounding guests broke out into loud, buzzing whispers.

"She can't even hold onto her own husband, so she pulls this bullying garbage. Her mom getting run over serves that old woman right."

"Look at her. What kind of proper Mrs. Fairfax is she? She's just a girl from the middle of nowhere, even her own son hates her."

I hauled myself to my feet on shaking legs, wave after wave of vicious insults crashing over me.

All of a sudden, the image of my poor mom, broken and covered in blood, flashed sharp and clear across my mind.

Right then, Vanessa threw me a wild, gloating smirk, daring me to do something.

Before I even registered what I was doing, my hands were locked tight around her throat.