“Mrs. Smith… are you absolutely sure about this? Divorce isn’t something you can take back once you begin. Think of it—twenty-five years of marriage. You’ll be throwing it all away. And… forgive me, but… you will get nothing. No money. No shares. No property. Where will you go?”
Where will I go? The question lingered in the air like a knife pressed against my chest.
For a moment, my heart drifted back—years and years ago—when Oliver wasn’t this monster I now knew.
We had been college sweethearts, inseparable. I was that girl who believed in fairy tales, who thought love would conquer anything. And Oliver? He was charming, ambitious, brimming with dreams bigger than life. He didn’t have much then—just ideas, notebooks filled with sketches of businesses that never quite took off.
But I believed in him. I believed so much that when Father left me my inheritance, I gave it all to Oliver. Every last cent of my estate went into his hands. I told myself it was an investment in our future, in the family we were going to build.
And he did build something. A company. A name. A life.
I could still remember the night I gave him the inheritance money.
We were in his cramped apartment, nothing but second-hand furniture and cheap instant noodles on the table. Oliver looked at me as though I’d just handed him the world when I slid the envelope across.
“Candice…” his voice trembled. “What is this?”
“It’s mine,” I said softly. “Father left it for me. But I want you to have it. For your company. For your dreams.”
His eyes widened, glassy with unshed tears. He reached across the table, grabbed my hands, and kissed my knuckles. “Are you serious? Candice, this is everything! With this, I can finally register the company, get the equipment, hire people—”
“And make it real,” I whispered, smiling through the nerves. “I believe in you, Oliver.”
He pulled me into his arms, burying his face in my hair. “You won’t regret this, I swear. I’ll make you proud. One day, when this business takes off, we won’t live like this anymore. We’ll have a real home, travel the world, see Paris, the Caribbean, everywhere you’ve always dreamed of.”
I laughed softly, pressing my cheek against his chest. “Just promise me one thing.”
“Anything.”
“When we’re rich, when everything is finally stable… you’ll take care of me. You won’t forget me, right?”