"You're certain," I said, my voice dangerously calm, "that these gifts and this lingerie were meant for me?"
Audrey stared at me with incredulity.
"Oliver Fox, you look like a gentleman, but you're really a piece of work. What, trying to smear Tessa now? I've been friends with her for ten years. I know her character."
I let out an icy laugh. "Then she's going to disappoint you. I haven't seen a single one of these 108 gifts. And that lingerie?" I gestured to the phone. "Never seen it in my life."
"You're lying!" Audrey's voice rose to a shriek. "Who else could 'Hubby' refer to? Tessa has given you her whole heart!"
The gift list was already circulating through the crowd. Someone uploaded it online.
In an instant, the narrative cemented. I wasn't just a husband asking for divorce—I was an ungrateful parasite.
To the crowd gathering around us, I had become the villain—a gold-digger living off a successful woman, a shameless freeloader with no bottom line.
"This man deserves to die," someone muttered loud enough for me to hear. "She supports him, and he still throws tantrums?"
"Even a hundred and eight gifts can't buy that washed-up old man's heart."
"I feel so bad for Tessa. She should divorce him. I'd date her in a heartbeat."
I ignored the noise. My gaze swept over the three of them: Tessa, eyes flickering with panic; Audrey, trembling with righteous indignation; and Carter, wearing that punchable smirk.
Without a word, I drove my foot into the snowman.
Snow exploded outward. The structure collapsed in a heap of white powder.
"You want to know why I'm divorcing her?" My voice cut through the murmurs. "This is the answer."
Buried in the snowman's torso, an exquisite velvet gift box sat revealed against the snow.
Tessa's jaw dropped. "Impossible... How could that be here?"
Audrey didn't miss a beat, pointing an accusatory finger at the box. "Oliver, look at this! This is the surprise Tessa prepared for you. She never does housework, yet she froze her hands scooping up icy snow just to build this. And you still want a divorce?"
"A surprise for me?" I let out a low, humorless laugh. "Audrey, are you sure those initials are meant for me?"
"Who else would they be for?"
Before I could answer, Tessa rushed forward.
"Oliver! I wanted to surprise you," she stammered, voice pitching up. "I was going to call you once I finished building it. I didn't think you'd misunderstand."