“You’re overreacting.” He frowned even more. “Your face isn’t in the painting. No one can prove it’s you. The hype will die down in a few days. Anya stayed up nights working on that painting. Can’t you just show a little understanding?”
That sentence was like a knife, piercing my heart violently.
I looked at the man in front of me and remembered how he had chased me five years ago.
Back then, his eyes were full of me. But now, his indifference and cruelty were just as real.
I wiped my tears and made my decision. “Erving, we’re getting a divorce.”
His face darkened instantly. The air around him seemed to thicken. He stepped forward and gripped my wrist so hard I thought he might break my bones.
“Divorce? Mandy, don’t forget—your mom is still staying in the hospital under my name. The doctors, the equipment, everything there—you owe that to me. If you leave, her treatment—”
“Erving!”
I widened my eyes in terror, unable to believe he would threaten me with my mom!
Her heart condition had always been my weakness. For years, I had relied entirely on his resources for her treatment. I never imagined that dependence would become the very chain he would use to control me.