After I delivered our twins, my husband tossed divorce papers onto my hospital bed. “Sign them. You’re too sloppy now—you embarrass a CEO like me.” With his arm around his secretary, he sneered, “She’s the one worthy to stand beside me.” I signed without hesitation. The next morning, his access card was deactivated. I stepped out of the Chairman’s office and finally told him the truth.

“You’re leaving me… for her?” I asked, my voice gaining a sliver of steel. “Because I look like a woman who just had surgery?”

“I’m leaving you because I have outgrown you,” Mark corrected. “Now, sign the papers. The terms are simple. You get a small alimony for two years. I keep the company, the penthouse, and the assets. I keep full control. If you don’t sign, I will drag this out in court until you are destitute. I have the best lawyers in the city. You have nothing.”

Chapter 2: The Signature of Liberation

 

The pain in my abdomen flared, a sharp reminder of the physical sacrifice I had just made. But as I looked at Mark—at his arrogance, his cruelty, his utter lack of humanity—the emotional pain began to recede. It was replaced by a cold, mathematical clarity.

He thought I was weak. He thought I was just “Anna the Housewife,” the woman who stayed home and organized his dinner parties. He had forgotten—or perhaps, in his narcissism, he had chosen to ignore—the reality of our legal standing.

I looked at Chloe. She was smiling, victory written all over her perfectly made-up face. She thought she had won the prize. She had no idea she was standing on a trapdoor.

I picked up the pen.

“Are you sure about this, Mark?” I asked softly. “Are you absolutely sure you want to dissolve our legal union right now? Once I sign this, every link between us is severed. The separation of property becomes final.”

Mark laughed. “Don’t try to threaten me, Anna. You have no leverage. Sign it. I don’t want to share my future millions with a slob.”

“Very well,” I said.

I didn’t cry. I didn’t beg. I opened the folder to the signature page. I read the clause he had highlighted: The parties agree to a total separation of assets based on legal title ownership. Each party retains sole ownership of assets registered in their name.

He thought this clause protected his wealth. He was an idiot.

I signed my name. Anna Vance. The ink was dark and permanent.

I closed the folder. I kept one copy and threw the other one back at him. It slid across the hospital sheets and fell to the floor near his polished shoes.