Chapter 2

Vincent strode over, his face dark.

“Shelagh, stop making a scene.”

“That money was mine to give her, and the card too. If you've got a problem, come at me.”

Then he saw Debbie tied up over there, and his face went darker still.

I tightened my grip on the fruit knife and swung it across his throat instead.

“You're right, I should come at you.”

“Vincent, this mess you've made, and everything you owe me, can you ever pay it back?”

Vincent looked at me and said nothing.

We stayed like that a long time before he finally sighed.

“All this trouble, and it still comes down to you not agreeing to the divorce?”

He gave a soft laugh and closed his hand over mine, sure of himself.

“If you don't want the divorce, then we won't divorce.”

“After all, the separate finances were only me letting you know, only a reminder.”

“Just stop interfering in what's between me and her.”

“That way, when we go home, we're still a loving, happy couple.”

I watched Vincent's mouth open and close.

I couldn't understand how he could get words that shameless out of his mouth.

I ground my teeth. “In your dreams.”

The tip of the knife pressed a little closer to his throat, and a thread of red seeped out.

“Vincent, have you climbed so high you've forgotten the road that got you here?”

The smile on Vincent's face dimmed a shade.

Of course he hadn't forgotten.

Back then he was the poor kid everyone pushed around, couldn't even afford a meal.

Couldn't afford a school uniform.

It was me. I went soft over that cold, broken look he carried.

The uniform he couldn't buy, I bought.

The meals he couldn't afford, I paid for.

He wanted to start a business and had no capital, so I gave it to him.

Later I threw myself in too, and became his wife.

He knew exactly how much it took to get to where he was today.

So more than once he'd knelt in front of me, eyes red, swearing to the heavens.

“My good wife lifted me to my highest ambitions. I will never fail her as long as I live.”

But he forgot where he came from, and he forgot what I'd done for him.

He turned around and found himself a young girl.

And had the nerve to say, “She isn't domineering the way you are. Only she can stir up my urge to protect someone.”

“Shelagh, you're too strong.”

“You've never once needed me to protect you.”

In that moment, I felt like a joke.

My best friend's warning came back to me, right at my ear.

“Shelagh, you idiot! I warned you long ago. Don't go soft on a man, don't help a man, or you'll pay for it.”

“Look how much you've given him. You think he'll spare you a single kind thought?”

“You're like a blind man's cane. The first thing he does when he can see again is throw the cane away, and he even treats you as a disgrace.”

I hadn't believed her before. I even argued back.

“Vincent isn't that kind of man.”

“I have faith in him.”

But now he was pushing me away, hurrying over to the girl, gently untying her.

He checked her over carefully to make sure she wasn't hurt, then pulled her into his arms.

“Vincent, you finally came. I thought I was going to die at this old woman's hands and never see you again!”

Debbie sniveled against his chest.

The next second, Vincent lifted his eyes, cold.

“Shelagh, after all these years, you still haven't learned to turn a blind eye?”

“I told you last time, no more canceling cards to threaten me.”

“And stop digging into Debbie's business. This time you started it.”

I had never felt so powerless.

My mother only ever told me I had to keep the upper hand over women like her, never let a mistress squat on my head.

But my mother never told me.

What was I supposed to do.

If the man stood on the mistress's side too.

I didn't want to turn myself into a madwoman, a shrew.

So I stayed silent, for a long time.

But this time, Vincent was truly angry.

“Shelagh, however you act out at home, I let it slide.”

“But there's one thing you should never have done.”

“You should never have tied Debbie up behind my back.”

Hurting the girl he loved, he said, came with a price.

So without a moment's hesitation, he called the police.

“Vincent, what did you say?”

The fruit knife slipped from my hand and clattered to the floor.

Bright red blood ran down his throat and into his collar.

Vincent didn't so much as blink.

“Shelagh, I didn't want to make things hard for you, but you just won't listen.”

“This time, consider it a lesson.”