CHAPTER 12
“Madelynn, that’s enough!” Oliver stood and reached for her hand, but she slapped it away like it
burned.
“Don’t you dare touch me me with those filthy hands. There are billions of women in this world. You could’ve gone and been a dog anywhere else, but you just had to sleep with my sister?”
“I didn’t mean-” he started, voice hoarse, “It just… happened. She seduced me!”
Cecelia jumped in quickly. “Oliver, what are you saying?!”
Oliver flinched, realizing what he had just admitted in front of everyone.
Madelynn shook her head slowly, bitter amusement flickering in her eyes. “You really are pathetic.”
Amelia finally spoke, her voice full of confusion. “Madelynn, what do you mean by that? Are you saying that Cece… slept with her brother-in-law?”
Madelynn looked her mother dead in the eyes.
‘No. I’m saying she slept with my husband. Who is no longer my husband.”
The room was stunned into silence.
Amelia’s expression faltered. Harry looked confused.
‘We’re divorced,” Madelyn said plainly. “I gave him the papers. He signed them. We’re done.”
Then she turned to Cecelia. “You can have him now. Trash suits trash.”
Cecelia’s face was pale.
She tried to cry- her fallback weapon- but the tears wouldn’t come fast enough.
Amelia turned to her. “Cece, is this true?”
Cecelia dropped to her knees dramatically, sobbing. “Mom, Dad, I didn’t mean for this to happen just… I couldn’t forget Oliver!”
Amelia hesitated, her anger wavering the moment her favorite daughter cried.
Madelynn stood tall, unmoved. She wasn’t surprised.
You always defend her,” she said, eyes scanning the room. “No matter how low she stoops. Even now, with the truth out in the open, you’d still pick her over me.”
Amelia’s voice was strained. “Madelynn, she’s your sister. She made a mistake, yes, but can’t you orgive her? We’re a family. And she’s just a child. What does she know?”
Madelynn couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “She’s one day younger than I am! Why do I always have to be the mature one? You think Cecelia doesn’t know what she’s doing? Or you just don’t see anything wrong with her actions. If that’s so, then I really hope you both get what you deserve.”
‘Must you tear us apart like this?” Her mother cried.
Madelynn looked her mother in the eye. Then she gave a small, tired smile.
‘You already did that years ago.”
Harry’s face flushed red, but he still tried to maintain authority. “Enough. What’s done is done.
Arguing now solves nothing.”
He straightened in his chair like a man making a decree. “Madelynn, I’ll give you one more chance. Come back to Oliver. We’ll pretend none of this happened. You can still be Daddy’s good girl.”
Madelynn almost laughed.
Once, maybe, she would have craved those words.
Now they sounded like rubbish.
“I was never your good girl,” she said. “That spot was already taken.”
Harry’s face darkened. “You’re saying you won’t come back?”
Madelynn’s gaze was steady. “If you can’t chastise your daughter who slept with my husband, then yes. I’m saying that.”
Her voice grew firmer. “From this day on, I sever all ties with this family.”
Amelia gasped. “Madelynn!”
But Madelynn wasn’t done. “You’re no longer my mother. And you-” she looked at Harry-“are no longer my father.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” Harry snapped. “You’ve relied on us your whole life. And Oliver. You wouldn’t be able to survive without us.”
Oliver finally stepped forward, as if he’d been waiting for the right moment.
‘Madelynn,” he said. “You know you’ll never be able to survive alone. Don’t be foolish. Come home.”
Madelynn looked at him with disbelief. She pulled a tissue from her bag and began wiping the spot where he’d touched her wrist-again and again- until her skin turned red.
‘You think I need you?” she asked, voice calm and cutting. “Every dollar I earned was through my own work. I cooked, I ran your company, I suffered. You think that makes you my savior?”
She crushed the tissue in her palm.
‘I hope you die, Oliver.”
Oliver’s face hardened. “I really underestimated you,” he muttered. “You married me four years ago. I’m the one who gets to decide when this marriage ends, not you!”
‘I don’t care where you’ve been these past few days,” he continued, stepping closer. “Or who you’ve been with. We can pretend it never happened. But starting today, you’re mine again.” Madelynn recoiled. “You’re insane.”
She tried to pull away, but he grabbed her arm. Outside, Carl moved but the Fontaine’s guards blocked his path.
Harry crossed his arms. “Take her. Clearly, we didn’t discipline her enough. Maybe you can fix
that.”
“Let go of me!” Madelynn shouted.
Oliver ignored her and wrapped his tie around her wrists, restraining her.
She struggled, furious and desperate. “We’re divorced! You can’t force me!”
Carl stepped forward, shouting, “Miss Madelynn is now engaged to Mr. Sebastian Wilde! You’re crossing a line!”
But no one heard him.
And just when Madelynn thought she’d reached the end-
BANG.
A gunshot rang through the room.
