After Divorce, She Bloomed

"I didn't sputter. Lorraine rejected it as it makes no sense to sell shares in the laboratory to different people, for chunk change." Vanessa explained and watched as his face completely fell.

For the first time, she felt pleasure from seeing her husband looking troubled.

It was clear to her that when he meant 'everything', he meant the Villa and the laboratory she had built with her own money. Vanessa was the real controller while Lorraine was the one on the surface, but of course, Ethan didn't know this. No one did.

Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing as he shook his head.

"One simple job, you couldn't even complete it. How incompetent."

His words stung... fuck, they stung more than Vanessa could ever have imagined, but she schooled her expression, keeping her face neutral and holding fresh set of tears, fueled by her recent anger and hatred, back.

"It's not so easy, you know?" Vanessa sneered. "Don't forget, Lorraine owns much larger shares than I do. Her words are final, not mine."

Ethan narrowed his eyes at her, finally realizing that her mood was different than usual.

She was in a bad mood and he could tell. Another thing he could tell was that her mood, whatever this new mood was, was bad for his plans.

"Yeah, you're right," He started in a calmer tone, new priority set.

"It's not as easy as it seems. I'm sorry if I sounded pushy, but," Pausing, he advanced to where Vanessa stood and slipped his hand around her waist, pulling her closer.

Vanessa found herself cringing at the feeling of his hand around her, a way she never imagined she'd feel. She always thought she'd feel loved and cherished in Ethan's arms, but now she just felt.

'Disgusted.' She thought when the image of Ethan and his mistress flashed in her mind.

"You just gotta keep pushing, Babe. This is a really big deal and if it goes through," He paused once again and Vanessa saw as he licked his lips and leaned in.

"I'll reward you. As a matter of fact, why don't I reward you for your efforts so far?"

'Hell no!' Vanessa was quick to jump out of his hold, putting notable distance between them.

'No way in hell am I going to kiss that diseases-ridden lips of yours!'

"What-?"

"I'm tired." Vanessa excused herself, but the disgust on her face was evidence.

"I can't seem to fall asleep well recently and it's getting into my head," She stopped by the fridge and looked over her shoulder.

"I think l'd be best if you moved into the guest room for the time being, you know, until l've gotten enough rest."

Ethan narrowed his eyes again, a thought popping into his head at her avoidance.

"What's this about?" He walked to the other side of the counter, pressing three of his fingers each on the counter as he leaned forward, staring at her with scrutiny.

"Are you having an affair? Is that why you're avoiding my touch?"

Vanessa paused with her glass of water midway and stared at him.

Her eyes searched his face for a few seconds before she barked a laugh.

"Ha! You gathered that because I avoided your touch?

"As her question was not answered, she placed her cup down, drinking the water long forgotten as she now mirrored Ethan's stance.

"So what, am I also meant to conclude that you've been having an affair all this while? Is that why you refused to touch me?"

At the mention of him having an affair, Ethan's demeanor instantly changed. From her point of view, he now looked like a mouse caught stealing cheese, rather than the cat that had been ready to pounce on a caught rat.

"What are you saying, Vanessa?

We're not going back to this conversation. I told you before that l've just been stressed with the promotion around the corner and all." He lied so effortlessly that Vanessa understood why she had previously bought into the lie.

"Speaking of work, I still have a ton to complete." He said and turned around, scrambling away before Vanessa could challenge him again or his lie was exposed, or worse, both.

But none of that mattered and as she watched him walk into his office, Vanessa found her phone and dialed Lorraine's number.

"Nessa, is everything alright?"

Lorraine asked as soon as the phone was answered.

"Everything's fine, Lorraine,"

Vanessa answered. "And, I need you to do me a favor."

... what?"

"I'm divorcing Ethan." She informed, eyes lingering on the office door of said man. "And I'm going to make him pay. But before that, l'd need to transfer the laboratory shares in my name into yours. Keep them safe for me so that Ethan can't get to them."

"That Bastard wants to take the Laboratory?" Lorraine questioned and swore under her breath. When she was done insulting Ethan, she added. "You can trust me to keep them safe."

"Thank you. One last thing,

Lorraine."

"What is it?"

"Those photos you took, of Ethan and his mistress, send me one with her face visible, would you?" Although Vanessa had also taken some earlier, the view from the doorway was too narrow to catch the right angle to get the mistress' face.

"Sure thing, I'll send them after this call," Lorraine said and truly, after the call, she sent the clearest photo. However, it was a bit far and half of the woman's face was blocked, making it hard to recognize her. They acted cautiously, she could see.

With that at hand, Dialed a number and the line was answered in seconds. "Vanessa?

What's up? "Hey Daniel, i need you to look into A woman, who's name is Seren, Selena, or some names similar."

"Understood. Just send me a picture and I'll look into them."

"Alright, thanks." She ended the call before pulling the pictures out of her locked album. The hate in her heart intensified as she looked at Ethan laughing openly in the pictures. "Don't hate me when I ruin your life, Ethan. This is only the same thing you'd do to me if I remain still."

And with that, she clicked on the send button. Ethan had done his worst, it was now her turn to make him cry and feel pain worse than she had.