The memory alone sent white-hot fury surging through my veins. I swung my leg and drove my foot straight into Oliver's crotch with every ounce of strength I had.
"Oliver, I just had a dream." My voice was ice. "In it, Mamie's allergy was fake. The two of you conspired to kill my baby. Tell me—do you think that was heaven sending me a warning? Exposing what a pair of lying, backstabbing monsters you really are?"
Oliver doubled over instantly, clutching himself, his knees hitting the floor. Panic flickered across his face before he could mask it.
"Bernice, that's insane. It was just a dream. You're clearly having some kind of mental breakdown to even come up with something like that."
Mamie jumped in, her voice trembling with practiced indignation.
"You're slandering us just because you want Oliver all to yourself. He's not your property. The tighter you cling, the faster he'll run."
Then, right on cue, she swayed on her feet, eyelids fluttering, the picture of a woman on the verge of collapse.
"Oliver... I think I'm having another episode..."
He caught her immediately, pulling her into his arms, then turned on me with a snarl.
"Bernice, you've gone too far! Look what you've done to her! She's fragile—if something happens, can you live with that?"
"Mamie's right. You just want to own me. Let me make something clear: I'm your husband, not your possession. Stop trying to guilt-trip me with your little games."
I watched them—the perfect picture of two souls united against a common enemy. My fingertips were cold as stone. Everything inside me had frozen into a single, crystalline emotion.
Hatred.
I locked my gaze on him, and my voice came out flat and lethal.
"Oliver, whether it's real or a dream, you know the truth better than anyone. And everything you owe me? I'm going to collect. Every last cent. With interest."
I turned, pulled the door shut behind me with a sharp crack, sealing Mamie's crocodile tears and Oliver's self-righteous complaints on the other side.
Starting today, I was done. Done being the lovesick fool who forgave everything. Done being the Bernice Barnes who swallowed her pride and called it devotion.
I was taking back everything that belonged to me.
I would make the world see Mamie Winfield for the shameless, scheming fraud she was. And I would make Oliver Delgado realize exactly who the real fool had been all along.