Chapter 4

Brittany stared at Alex, her mouth agape.

The crowd was a blur of shocked faces.

Five hundred thousand and one dollar. He had actually said it.

Chad looked pale. "He... he can't be serious."

Brittany felt a wave of humiliation wash over her, hotter than her anger.

Alex was not just defying her; he was making her look foolish in front of everyone.

This quiet, unassuming man she had dismissed for years.

"Enough!" she shrieked, her voice cracking. "I've had enough of this! Enough of you!"

She fumbled in her expensive clutch purse, her hands shaking.

She pulled out a sheaf of papers.

Divorce papers.

She had her lawyer draw them up weeks ago, ready for the moment she decided to finally be rid of Alex.

Chad had encouraged her, telling her she deserved someone better, someone like him.

"I want a divorce, Alex!" she announced, thrusting the papers towards him.

The crowd gasped again. A public divorce demand at a charity gala. This was high drama.

"I was pressured into this marriage by my father!" Brittany cried, playing to the audience. "He thought it was a good match, good for business! But I never wanted you! You've been nothing but a burden, a leech!"

Alex looked at the papers in her trembling hand.

His face remained impassive, but a flicker of something unreadable passed through his eyes.

Relief?

He reached out and took the documents.

The room held its breath.

Would he beg? Plead? Deny her accusations?

Alex scanned the top page briefly.

Then he looked up at Brittany, her face a mask of triumph and outrage.

"Alright, Brittany," he said, his voice surprisingly calm. "I agree to the divorce."

The shock in the room was palpable.

Brittany herself looked stunned. She had expected a fight, a scene. Not this quiet, immediate acceptance.

It felt...anticlimactic. And strangely unsettling.

Chad recovered first. He put his arm around Brittany. "Good for you, B! You're free!"

He grinned, thinking of the Miller fortune now seemingly within his grasp.

The crowd began to buzz.

"He agreed? Just like that?"

"Maybe he knows he has no leg to stand on."

"Poor Brittany, stuck with him for so long."

Alex ignored them all. He folded the divorce papers neatly and put them in his inner jacket pocket.

His promise to Robert Miller... it had conditions. Mutual respect. A genuine effort from both sides.

Brittany had made no effort. She had offered only scorn.

The obligation, in his mind, was fulfilled. Or rather, voided by her actions.

He felt a lightness he hadn't realized he'd lost.