MARCUS
“I want a divorce.”
I never thought I would hear Olivia utter those words. As she walked down the hallway without even looking back at me, a strange numbness washed over me. For a while, I couldn’t even think straight. I couldn’t properly understand what she was saying, until I allowed the words to wrap around me like a warm blanket.
And then I felt relief.
I’d been waiting for an opportunity to end things with her for a very long time. It had been six months since the idea first came to me, and I knew that it would be the best way to end this sham of a marriage.
And I was going to do it, until about four months ago when I got a phone call that sent me down this road.
“Come home right now. I need to speak with you.”
A call from my mother was rarely good news. Even after all these years of retirement, she still liked to keep an eye on things. At first I thought it was something to do with the company. Maybe she wanted to talk about our latest project, or maybe she had learned something about our shareholders.
Or maybe—and even the thought alone was enough to piss me off—it was something to do with him.
Nevertheless, I found myself sitting in the living room shortly after she called, and I waited patiently for her to show up. I never imagined that she would want to talk about my personal life, until she came downstairs finally and sat in front of me.
“I’m not going to beat around the bush, Marcus,” she said. “I just spoke to the David Cowell about my contracts I needed him to draft, and he informed me that you asked him to prepare divorce papers.”
I gritted my teeth in annoyance as I realised the mistake I’d made. Being the family lawyer, David was loyal to my mother above anything else, and he told her everything. I should have known that he would tell her about this too.
“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” she snapped. “You’ve only been married for a few years, and already you want to throw it all away? What has gotten into you?”
“You don’t understand, mom,” I said. “I don’t love her anymore. Every time I walk into that house and see her, it just pisses me off. I want to get rid of her and move on with my life.”
In an instant, she crossed the space between us and slapped me across the face. I remained frozen on the spot, the sting on my cheeks reminding me of all those times she would hit me when I said something stupid.
I guess some things never changed.
