After She Sank My Family’s Yacht, I Divorced Him

The whole family was on vacation, yet Nora's husband was out riding a jet ski with his first love inside the restricted off‑limits zone. Lillian had already drunk half a bottle of red wine. She pouted and insisted on taking the controls herself. "Ethan, I’m going to circle that island ahead and trace a heart just for you." Ethan Foster simply could never refuse her. Without hesitation, he traded places with her. No one could have predicted what happened next. Lillian jammed the throttle wide open and crashed straight into Nora's younger brother's yacht as it rounded a sharp bend. Ethan never even glanced toward the already sinking vessel. He spun the jet ski around at once. Gripping Lillian's hand tightly, he did everything to calm her. "As long as you're safe, that's all that counts. He's the one who sailed his yacht into restricted waters to begin with." Only after the yacht vanished entirely beneath the waves and everyone aboard was unaccounted for did he finally call Nora. "Nora... your younger brother and your mother went down with the sea." In that instant, overwhelming terror swallowed her whole. She saw her mother just as she had been in childhood, slipping a piece of freshly cooked meat straight into her mouth. Her brother bounded over with a grin, reaching to snatch it away. "Mom, you always favor big sister!" They felt so close right beside her. Who, then, had truly been trapped inside that sunken yacht? ***** The beach was packed with people, and cops were yelling at the top of their lungs, ordering everyone to stop taking photos or recording videos. Bobbing far out in the distance was broken wreckage from the yacht I'd bought for my brother as a gift. I fought my way through the crowd, and caught a group of fellow yacht owners muttering complaints under their breath. "Those two are disgusting animals, that's what they are!" "They were the closest to the wreck! They could've saved them, easy. Two human lives, for God's sake!" "That's nothing! That woman was throwing a fit just now, mad she didn't get to finish drawing her stupid heart. Is this place her own private art studio or what?" Cold sweat instantly soaked through the back of my shirt. How could Ethan have turned into this? Did human life mean absolutely nothing to him? Ethan, who'd been softly comforting Lillian just a second earlier, turned his head and spotted me. The smile dropped off his face instantly. He marched over and dragged me to a deserted spot out of earshot. "What are you doing here causing trouble, Nora?" I opened my mouth to speak, my brain still reeling. "How could my mom and my brother..." Ethan's eyes narrowed sharply, and he cut me off mid-sentence. "All those gawking bystanders are talking out of their asses. How could I just let people die and do nothing? I'm your husband. Don't you trust me? Besides..." His voice suddenly softened, dripping with false concern for Lillian. "Lillian almost passed out from shock back there. Of course, I had to take care of the living first." I'd never heard anything so ridiculous in my entire life. "Her little scare matters more than two lives?" Ethan's face darkened into a scowl. "Your brother ignored all the warning signs and charged into a restricted area, speeding twice the limit! He got what he deserved!" Those words hit me like a punch to the chest, and I shook so hard from anger my whole body trembled. "That's a lie! That's not my brother! He learned how to drive a boat from a professional captain. He would never do something reckless like that!" I jabbed my finger right at Lillian's nose. "She was drunk when she drove that jet ski! That alone is against the law!" Lillian immediately clung to Ethan's arm, all wide-eyed and trembling, her voice soft as silk. "Ethan, this is all my fault. I was just so excited to celebrate my design getting into the final round. Please stop pressing charges, Nora, okay? I really don't want to ruin your relationship." Ethan instantly lowered his voice and warned me through gritted teeth, "They're already dead. Pushing this further won't change anything. Just let it go. This is Lillian's reputation on the line now. You can't just act out like a selfish brat." My legs went weak, and I swayed on my feet. This man standing in front of me, the one who'd spent years pouring his heart out, telling me he loved me... he was twisting the truth for his first love, throwing my own family's lives away like they were garbage. Blinding, white-hot rage swallowed me whole. Smack! My palm cracked hard across Ethan's face. His face twisted into instant fury. "Nora, are you out of your—" Smack! I spun my hand back and slammed a second slap right into his other cheek. Smack! In all our years of marriage, I'd never even so much as raised my voice at him. This was the first and only time I'd ever stood my ground this hard. Shock blazed in his eyes. He just stared at me, frozen, for a long stretch, too stunned to even react. Lillian clung to Ethan's chest, tears brimming over her lash line. "Nora, if you're angry you can hit me instead! Don't hurt Ethan, he didn't do anything wrong. I'll take any beating you give, as long as you forgive him." She even grabbed my hand and tried to yank it toward her own face to slap herself with it. I wrenched my hand back cold, refusing to play along with her pathetic little act. "Ethan Foster! These two slaps are for the dead!" I found an officer and identified myself. "That yacht was a birthday gift I bought for my brother. I demand you pull the black box data and check what happened before the crush—" Before I could finish the sentence, a rough hand wrenched me backward hard, and I went crashing onto the sand. Ethan stared down at me from where he stood over my crumpled body and said, "I have already signed the waiver of legal liability. You keep hounding this over and over. Do you want everyone to see us as a joke?"