Chapter 4The Application Process

I crashed heavily onto the concrete, scraping the skin clean off my knees.

The crowd, which had been screaming absolute bloody murder seconds ago, suddenly went completely silent.

They genuinely didn't expect it.

They didn't expect me to actually be thrown out to them like a piece of meat.

"Wow, she's actually got a great body."

"No wonder she thought she could seduce a CEO and destroy a marriage."

"Look at her sitting there. She looks so pathetic and cheap."

Dozens of smartphone camera lenses were instantly shoved directly into my face.

I scrambled backward, screaming like a lunatic, desperately trying to crawl back toward the doors.

A woman from the mob grabbed me by the hair, violently yanking my head back.

"Where do you think you're going?! You had the guts to be a homewrecker, but you don't have the guts to own it?!"

"No! Let me go! Stop filming! Stop filming me!!"

I let out a guttural, despairing scream.

"Aww, look at her soft, delicate skin. I almost feel bad for her."

"Let's carve up that pretty little face so she can never seduce another woman's husband again!"

Someone pulled out a set of car keys.

And violently dragged the jagged metal down the entire length of my exposed arm.

Another person grabbed a fistful of my hair.

Slapping me across the face, over and over again.

They screamed at me. They spit on me.

A relentless, suffocating wave of "Homewrecker," "Slut," and "Whore."

I was shaking violently from the excruciating pain.

Desperately reaching my bloody hand toward the glass doors of the Sterling building.

But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get any closer.

Finally.

Ethan signaled his security team to step outside and push the mob back.

They dragged me back inside by my arms.

"Now. Are you going to apologize or not?"

I was wrapped in a rough, scratchy moving blanket.

Huddled in the corner, clutching myself in a tight ball.

"I'll apologize..."

Ethan shot a look at his head of security.

The bodyguard immediately set up a tripod and a 4K camera directly in front of me.

Two massive security guards grabbed my arms, one on each side.

And forcefully, violently shoved me down onto my knees.

Chloe stood safely behind the camera lens.

"Say it. Say you're a homewrecker."

"I am a homewrecker."

"Say you're a disgusting slut who tried to destroy my relationship with Mr. Sterling."

"I am... a disgusting slut who tried to destroy Chloe and Ethan's relationship."

"Say you aborted the baby on purpose."

I choked on a sob, entirely unable to speak.

"Do you want to be thrown back out there?" Ethan's voice was like ice.

"I... aborted the baby on purpose."

Tears dripped off my chin, hitting the marble floor.

"Say you did it just to force me out so you could take my place."

"I did it... just to force Chloe out... so I could take her place..."

"Bow your head."

A heavy hand clamped down on the back of my neck.

Forcing my forehead to smash against the floor.

"Say you're sorry."

"I'm sorry..."

My teeth were grinding so hard I thought they would shatter in my mouth.

My entire body was convulsing with violent, uncontrollable tremors.

Tears pooled on the marble floor beneath my face.

Ethan finally spoke.

"Alright. That's enough."

The bodyguards released me.

The camera was turned off.

The video file was handed directly to Chloe.

She watched it.

And a deeply satisfied smile finally bloomed across her face.

Ethan looked down at me one last time.

"I didn't want to do this to you."

"But you murdered our child."

After delivering that final, brutal justification.

He turned around.

And walked away with Chloe.

Without looking back even once.

"ETHAN!"

"YOU ARE A FUCKING MONSTER!!"

My agonizing, soul-shattering scream made his footsteps halt for a microsecond.

Just a microsecond.

For the next week.

Neither of us attempted to contact the other.

On the seventh day.

Ethan finally scrolled down to the bottom of his contact list, finding my number, saved under the nickname [My Beautiful Wife]:

[I thought about it, and you're right. Letting Chloe dictate our lives isn't fair to you.]

[I already had a long talk with her. She promised she won't interfere in our marriage anymore. That was the last time.]

Along with the text.

He sent a photo of another handwritten approval slip from Chloe.

But this time, the "Approved Activity" section had been filled out by Ethan himself:

[Have another baby with Mia]

[Mia, I won't hold the abortion against you anymore. Let's just move past this and be a family again, okay?]

No reply.

He assumed I was probably still holding a grudge.

On his way home from the office, Ethan stopped and bought a massive bouquet of red roses.

He pushed the front door open.

The apartment was completely dead and empty.

Sitting squarely in the center of the dining table was a legal document.

A Petition for Divorce.

Plaintiff: Mia Quinn.

The bouquet of roses slipped from his hands, crashing to the floor.

Ethan sprinted through the apartment clutching the divorce papers, screaming my name.

But every single room looked exactly as it had a week ago.

The dust settling on the counters made it glaringly obvious. Mia hadn't been back here in a very long time.

"Are you looking for Mia?"

A neighbor was walking past the open front door.

Ethan's breathing turned ragged and frantic.

"You saw her?!"

"Yeah, she moved out. A guy came and helped her pack all her stuff about a week ago."