Jackson actually laughed."Is that all this is about?I told you,even if Amy has the baby,I’ll give it to you to raise!"
He still didn't get it.It wasn't that I couldn't conceive;it was that he wasn't worthy of being a father to my child.
"Jackson,I’ll say it one last time.We are divorcing.I am serious."
Without another word,I grabbed my suitcase and walked out.If he wouldn't sign the papers willingly,I had plenty of ways to force his hand.I was a woman who knew how to pick things up,and more importantly,how to let them go.
Since I had decided to step back onto the right path, the filth festering in the dark deserved to be cast back into the swamp where it belonged.
But a phantom ache still lingered in my chest.
My feelings for Jackson Sharp over these past few years had been genuine. If they weren't, I wouldn't have given him chance after chance. But he was the one who failed me. He was the one who let me down.
Stepping out of the marital home I once shared with Jackson, I breathed in deep.
For the first time in a long time, the air actually tasted fresh.
I deleted every trace of Jackson Sharp from my phone and blocked his number. Our wedding rings? I tossed them into a roadside trash can without breaking my stride.
Right on cue, a message pinged on my screen. Amy Kemp. The mistress desperate to leverage her pregnancy into a social climbing ladder.
**Amy Kemp:** [Ms. Henson, the hen who can't lay eggs. Have you thought it through? Are you going to pay me fifty million, or are you going to step aside and let me become the new Mrs. Sharp?]
A short, cold laugh escaped me.
"I was so busy deleting him, I almost forgot to take out the rest of the trash."
A few taps. Blocked. Deleted.
Finally, my world was quiet.
I dialed my father immediately after.
Dad knew my situation like the back of his hand. He didn't waste time with pleasantries. "Silly girl. The family required you to undergo a test of character, but we never said you had to smash your head against a brick wall."
"So what if you came back a little earlier? I would have handed the company's inheritance rights to you regardless. Not just because you're my only daughter, but because you are worthy. Only you are qualified."
The scolding was gentle, wrapped in warmth. He was blaming me—both openly and implicitly—for not reaching out sooner.