When You Finally Chose Us

Chapter 4

Early the next morning, I hadn't even gotten around to checking my email yet, Lucien showed up at my door with Yvette right on his heels.

The second he saw me, he blurted out, "Lorraine, I didn't make it clear to Yvette back then that this script was for your competition entry. She had no idea, so she borrowed it. Ignorance is no offense, right? Can you just drop out of this competition?"

With that, he held out an agreement and told me to sign it.

The document stated that I admitted to plagiarizing Yvette's script and would withdraw from this year's Ovid Award competition.

"Sorry, Lorraine. I was being stupid for a second there. I didn't ask for your permission before referencing your script. I apologize. That plagiarism side-by-side comparison callout? It was done by a new intern on our team. I had no idea about it at all." Yvette bowed as she apologized to me.

"Too late. I have already sent all the evidence to the competition organizers," I said calmly as I tossed the paper straight into the trash can without a second glance.

"Huh? Didn't Lucien tell you? He had already recalled that email," Yvette said, feigning shock so over the top it was almost laughable.

My head snapped up to stare at Lucien the second those words left her mouth.

He avoided my gaze, his eyes darting to the side. "Lorraine, I couldn't reach you last night. I had no other choice. I'm sorry."

We'd been married for five years. I'd held nothing back from him the entire time. He knew every single one of my passwords, so it was no surprise he'd been able to log into my email.

The realization hit me like a punch to the gut. I grabbed my phone and yanked open the cloud drive where I stored all my backup evidence.

Sure enough, every last file I'd saved there had been deleted by Lucien.

"But Yvette already knows she was wrong, and she apologized to you. Just drop out of the competition, okay?"

Hearing him make excuses for Yvette yet again made a wave of exhaustion wash over me, heavy enough to make my shoulders slump.

"Lucien Yorke, you know how much the Ovid Award means to me. I've been working my ass off for this for years!"

"But Lorraine, it's already three past nine. The Ovid Award winners have already been officially announced. You're super talented, you can afford to sit this one out. You can just try again next year," Yvette said, looking right at me with a sharp, taunting smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

It was already past nine. There was no way to fix this anymore.

My head spun. Four whole months of blood, sweat, and tears had been stolen right out from under me, for absolutely nothing.

I lunged forward and grabbed Yvette's arm hard enough to make her flinch, my voice sharp with rage. "Yvette Laurent, you did this on purpose!"

Lucien immediately grabbed me and pulled me away. "Lorraine, calm down. Yvette's team is brand new, they need this award to make a name for themselves. You've got the talent, you can enter again next year, no big deal."

He tossed the words out like my years of hard work didn't matter at all, then held out another identical agreement to the one I'd just thrown in the trash.

"Just sign it. We won't leak this agreement to anyone. Yvette just wants a hard copy as a paper guarantee. Yvette has already dropped the plagiarism accusation against you, so the contest organizers won't pursue this any further."

My work had been handed off to someone else, and on top of that, I was supposed to thank them for not pressing charges against me.

I guess having my heart broken too many times had left me completely numb at that moment.

"Lucien, let's get a divorce. I get full custody of Mia."

"No, I won't do that," Lucien shot back immediately.

"Sign the divorce papers, and I'll sign this agreement."

Yvette leaned in and whispered to Lucien, "Lorraine's just blowing off steam right now. She's crazy about you. Just sign it first, and you two can always get remarried later once she calms down."

Lucien hesitated.

But he chose to believe in the feelings between us.

Five years of marriage had taught him exactly how deep my feelings for him ran.

He couldn't believe I'd actually be willing to leave him for good.

To him, this divorce demand was nothing more than a silly little tantrum I was throwing out of anger.

Finally, he signed his name on the divorce agreement.

Five years of marriage ended for good in that one instant.

Just then, my phone lit up...

It was a reminder that my flight was scheduled to take off in 24 hours.