He tilted his chin up with a grin. "Bet you didn't see that coming, Lowell. I'm your boss now."

"Though it's not quite the outcome I was hoping for. Looks like Eve still can't bring herself to divorce you. Guess I'll just have to turn up the heat."

He reached into his pocket and pulled something out.

I looked closer. It was a jade bracelet.

I recognized it instantly. It was my mother's. The one she'd left for me, telling me it was only to be given to my future wife.

I had given it to Eve and told her to keep it safe. I never imagined she'd handed it over to Gabriel.

The thought barely had time to form.

In the next instant, he opened his fingers. The bracelet slipped from his hand, hit the floor, and shattered into pieces.

Something inside me shattered with it.

"You broke it. You're dead."

My fist connected with his face.

He went down with the punch, crumpling to the ground in a heap that looked far too deliberate.

And of course, that was the exact moment Eve came rushing in.

She ran straight to Gabriel's side, her voice thick with concern.

"Gabriel, are you okay?!"

He looked up at her, the picture of wounded innocence.

"Eve, I remember you said this was Lowell's mother's keepsake. I just wanted to return the bracelet so he could have something to remember her by. But he accused me of stealing it and tried to beat me to death."

"He even printed out another divorce agreement. He said if I ever come near you again, he'll divorce you!"

"Maybe I should just resign. I don't want him coming after me."

Eve's face flushed with anger. She whipped around to face me.

"Lowell, I've had it with you!"

"I just gave the bracelet to Gabriel for safekeeping. He was kind enough to return it so you could remember your mother, and this is how you repay him? By slandering him?"

"You really don't know what's good for you, do you? I've decided. You can forget about your salary for the entire year!"

She snatched the divorce agreement from my hands.

"What is this act you're putting on? You keep shoving these divorce papers in my face to threaten me. You're just banking on the fact that I won't sign!"

"You want a divorce? Fine. You've got one!"

She snatched the divorce papers out of my hands and scrawled her signature across them.

Then she hurled the document at my chest.

"Don't forget, Lowell. You work at my company. Without the title of 'my husband,' you're nothing. Less than nothing."