We had been married for two years, yet all that was left were the looks of disdain and ridicule in his eyes.
As I leafed through the papers, I came across the section where he listed down the reason for divorce. It was reported that I had engaged in multiple adulteries with different men during our marriage. There were also photographs attached to the report, including pictures of Benjamin and Zachary. I was very close to losing my mind when I saw all the attached pictures.
I couldn’t believe how he could pen down such blatant hypocrisy in the form of an accusation. I let out a wry, derisive laugh. “Lyle Smith, you’re such a shameless bastard! When you were busy twisting the stories in this paper, have you forgotten about your affair with Bianca Lewis?”
“Don’t try to deny all of it, Yvonne. Just save your nonsense and sign the paper. We’ll be done then,” urged Lyle.
“I can’t believe you would go to such length for Crystal. Do you think you can just lay all the blame on me so that you can walk out of this being the nobler one?” My chest was burning with rage.
By this point, all my remaining sanity had flown out of the window. “To hell with this paper! I won’t sign this piece of crap. Do whatever you want with Crystal, but she will always remain a mistress!” I cried at the top of my lungs.
His expression darkened in the next instant, and before I knew it, he slapped me across the face. “Didn’t you marry me because of money? If this is one of your dirty tricks to extort money from me, you can keep dreaming because I won’t give you a cent! What are you going to do about it, huh?”
I put a hand over my burning cheek and stared hard at him. “Come at me if you have any real evidence of me having an affair. Otherwise, I’ll expose the video recording of Bianca to the public. Let’s see if Crystal will still want to marry you after that.”
Lyle’s expression was a lot more intimidating now that he was feeling truly threatened. Another slap landed loudly on my face. “B*tch! If you don’t sign the papers today, I’ll have you begging for me to sign it in the future!”
He then flew into a rage and pushed me onto the floor before landing more punches on my head and trying to tear away my clothes. My head started to spin as I realized this was the first time Lyle had escalated his violence toward me.
But I no longer feared him. At that moment, I felt nothing but a blazing rage as the man tried to force himself upon me. There was no way I would let him have a physical relationship with me as I only felt repulsed and sickened by him.
I was still struggling to free myself from him when my hand reached an ashtray on the coffee table and struck his head with full force. The glass ashtray fell onto the floor, shattering into pieces. Blood started to trickle down from his forehead as he looked at me in stun.
I took the opportunity to push him over and ran toward the couch. I picked up a vase behind the couch and gestured to throw it over if he dared make another move in my direction. Lyle still appeared dumbfounded. He looked at me with an inexplicable glint in his eyes.
I recognized that look. In the past, he had that exact look on his face every time he attempted to soften up after he blew a fuse. But this time, I wasn’t going to let that stop me from getting away. I slowly took a few steps back until I reached the door. When I finally did, I turned and ran for my life.
The only thing I should feel thankful for was that I was wearing some old sportswear. I had changed into them to clean the house before Lyle got back, and they were thankfully still in one piece after I was tackled by him.
Honestly, I wanted to divorce Lyle more than anything. This marriage had left me with nothing but despair and sorrow. However, he shouldn’t have tried to occupy the moral high ground and smear my name with false accusations.
At that moment, I came to a painful realization. Our relationship was already broken to a point where we wouldn’t be able to end the marriage on amicable terms. I couldn’t help but contemplate if I had ever understood him as I once thought I had.
