I didn't hear a word of it. I just stared at the thing in my hand. A pair of sheer purple panties. The same ones from the photo Vivian had sent last night.
Vivian's brows pinched together in mock embarrassment. "Oh my, how did those end up in here? It must have been that day with Mr. Sanchez..." Her cheeks flushed with theatrical indignation. "I'm heading to his office later for a work briefing, and he still wants to see me in them!"
"Mrs. Sanchez, would you be a dear and run an errand for me? There's an unmanned shop a few blocks down. Pick me up a new pair?" She pulled a wad of bills from her pocket and shoved them into my hand before I could refuse.
Walking from the restroom to the front entrance of the tower, every person I passed recoiled from me like I carried the plague. Those who brushed by me covered their noses and snickered. I caught a whispered remark: "Gold diggers really go all in these days".
On the walk back to Sanchez Tower with the purchase, I pressed a hand to my chest, over the numb ache there. What exactly did I dig up? Ten years of marriage had left me with a bank balance of zero and a lover who had never loved me back.
My phone chimed with a deposit notification. My paycheck. The last bit of strength drained from my body. Ten years hadn't been enough to grind down my pride or my feelings. But in that single moment, both evaporated into nothing.
I carried the underwear along with two documents I'd prepared and walked toward William's office. One was a resignation letter. The other was a divorce agreement. Before pushing open the door, I glanced at the secretary's desk outside his office. Empty.
William looked up when I entered. A telltale flush colored his face. "What are you doing in here?" His voice was hoarse, his tone strained with something barely held in check.
Ten years ago, he had spoken to me in that same low register, soft and tender. Pamela. "Pamela?" he called. The ice in his voice snapped me back to the present. I set everything on his desk.
"Your secretary asked me to buy her underwear. She said you needed them urgently". William arched a brow and scoffed. "You'll really swallow anything to keep the Sanchez name, won't you?"