The Divorce That Brought Us Back novel Chapter 10

Cassidy let out a harsh, utterly humorless laugh. "At first, I honestly wondered what kind of 'lesson' he thought he could teach me. You know what he did? He grabbed my clothes and tried to strip me."

"Isn't it hilarious? We're literally in the middle of a screaming match about ending our marriage, and the bastard actually wanted to sleep with me."

Nora stared at her in silence.

Their situations were wildly different, yet the core premise felt uncomfortably familiar.

"He smelled like cheap liquor, stale smoke, and God knows whose perfume," Cassidy sneered, her lip curling in disgust. "Just breathing near him made me nauseous. So I threw up right on his shirt."

"He called me a psycho, yelled that I was disgusting, and stormed off to the guest bathroom to shower. I immediately had our housekeeper drive me to the ER. They ran blood tests, and congratulations to me, I'm seven weeks pregnant."

The waiter arrived, placing a steaming pot of rosehip tea on the table. Nora poured them both a glass, gently clinking her cup against Cassidy's.

Taking a small sip, Nora asked softly, "But a baby doesn't mean you can't still get a divorce, right?"

"It doesn't," Cassidy agreed carelessly.

"But while I was at the hospital getting an ultrasound, my mother-in-law rushed over in the middle of the night."

"I was planning to abort the baby and push the divorce through anyway. But my mother-in-law made me an offer. She swore that if I keep the baby, she will personally transfer all of Parker's 12% company shares, plus an additional 5% of her own shares, directly into my child's name."

"And until the child turns eighteen, I have full voting rights and collect every cent of the dividends. She called it my 'compensation' for raising the kid."

Nora rested her elbows on the wooden table, listening intently. She slowly spun the delicate glass cup between her fingers, processing the sheer magnitude of that wealth.

After a long pause, she finally spoke up, her voice laced with worry. "But Cassidy, if you take that deal, you're going to be chained to the Quincy family for the rest of your life."

She continued gently, "Just yesterday you were furious about him cheating with his secretary. You said looking at him made you physically sick. Are you really willing to spend the rest of your life tied to a man like that?"

Cassidy lowered her gaze, her voice going terrifyingly cold. "Nora, at the end of the day, marriage is just a transaction."

"When Parker and I first started dating, it was passionate. It was a massive spectacle. When he proposed, he bought me nine hundred and ninety-nine roses. For our honeymoon, we chased the Northern Lights across Europe. The first year of our marriage, we were practically glued at the hip."

"But now he's bored. And honestly? So am I."

"Yeah. He humiliated Parker, and he handled the mistress," Cassidy said, her expression entirely deadpan. "But he drew the line at a divorce. My marriage to Parker cemented a massive partnership between the Quinn and Quincy families. A divorce means splitting assets and breaking contracts. It hurts the Quinn family's bottom line, so they won't permit it."

"If I force a divorce without my family's backing, I'll be walking away with absolutely nothing. I'd be skinned alive in the settlement."

"Nora, I'm not giving up on myself. I'm just looking at reality. I'm completely disillusioned, and I've finally woken up."

"If I get divorced, what am I going to do? Go out and search for 'true love' again? Screw that. I want freedom, but more importantly, I want money and absolute power."

"Parker is a useless heir with zero business sense. But I know how to run a company. Once I have this baby and secure those shares, I'll be the one calling the shots on the board. When that day comes, who the hell is Parker Quincy? He'll be the one begging for his allowance, forced to survive entirely on my good mood."

Cassidy's words were ruthless, razor-sharp, and chillingly realistic. She knew exactly what game she was playing. It was a forced hand, but she refused to be the victim. Her ambition and strategic mind were lightyears ahead of anyone else's.

Nora sat there, deeply awestruck.

But beneath that awe, her mind snagged on one terrifying detail. She blinked, her voice trembling slightly. "Wait... you need your family's permission to get a divorce?"