She trembled with rage, her face mottling red. "Mr. Porter! Come slap this insolent woman's mouth!"
But I was faster. I slammed my folder onto the table between us. The divorce agreement and evidence I'd gathered slid across the polished surface.
"Let me go." My voice turned cold. "I've paid back everything I owed this family. In full."
I met her furious gaze. "And I don't care what you owe me anymore."
Silence stretched between us, heavy and suffocating.
"I know this family can't tolerate a barren Mrs. Delgado." The words tasted like ash. "And I can't spend a lifetime with a cold, selfish man. Let's be straightforward—we all know what Evan and this family have done. There's no need for mutual destruction."
Catherine stared at me, chest heaving. Finally, a sneer twisted her lips.
"Fine. You've certainly grown capable, Alice."
She yanked her hand free. "The Delgado family went to great pains to raise you, and in the end, we raised an ingrate."
"You want a divorce? Granted. But you'll take nothing from this family. Not a single cent."
"Tomorrow at noon, someone will deliver the certificate." She spat the words. "From now on, don't let me see your face in Harbor City again."
With a flick of her wrist, she threw a yellowed piece of paper at my face.
The "contract of sale." Signed all those years ago.
I ignored the sting in my cheek and bent to retrieve it. As I read the dense, legalistic text that had defined my existence, tears blurred my vision.
Not sadness. Relief. The joy of surviving a calamity.
This paper had been a blade hanging over my neck for over a decade. Now, the shackles were broken.
I took a deep breath—the air tasted sweeter than it had in years—and pulled out my phone.
A hand snatched it from my grip.
Evan stood before me, radiating hostility. He tossed my phone onto the sofa with casual disregard.
"Why didn't you reply to my messages?" he demanded. "Alice, do you think just because you lost a child, I'll suddenly go soft on you?"
His shirt hung open at the collar, loose and disheveled. Fresh hickeys marked his neck, dark against his skin.
His handsome face wore its usual cynical contempt.
Bonnie clung to his arm. She noticed my gaze and offered a soft, poisonous smile.