I laughed. “You’re very proud, aren’t you?” I leaned against the railing and looked her dead in the eye. “Do you really think you’ve won? You risked everything, schemed day and night, and still—Wilbert hasn’t divorced me. You know what he told me? He said he only keeps you around out of gratitude for helping him when he was younger. But his heart has always been mine. Once your usefulness is over, he’ll let you go.”
Her face turned white, then red.
I laughed harder. “Wilbert will never love you, Nivianne. Not now, not ever. He has never once looked at you the way a man looks at a woman. Childhood sweethearts? You’re nothing but his shadow. He’ll never love you.”
“Shut up!” she screamed, her mask cracking. She lunged at me, yanking my hair and slamming my neck against the railing. My back bent painfully, and I felt her grip tighten. My vision darkened, but I still managed to choke out, “I am Wilbert’s wife. You can’t change that. As long as I live, you’ll never take my place.”