Goodbye, Mr. Regret

He could actually write something like that.

His lips twitched awkwardly, feeling almost too embarrassed to hit send.

But finally, with a reckless determination, he pressed the button.

Jessica's phone chimed several times in a row-messages from Timothy.

She glanced at the pictures and read through the three texts.

A wry smile tugged at Jessica's lips-equal parts amused and defeated.

If he'd said things like this even a few times in the past seven years, maybe she wouldn't have ended up so heartbroken and numb.

Now, the affection she once longed for from him was no longer something she needed.

The vine of love that had once grown in her heart had long since withered and died; no matter how much water he poured on it now, it would never come back to life.

She shut off her phone and went to bed.

Timothy sat there gripping his phone, waiting for her reply.

He waited half an hour.

An hour.

Nothing.

Mabel knocked on his door. "Sir, lunch is ready."

Timothy glanced at the time on his phone-noon. It must be past midnight where she was.

She had to be asleep, that's why she wasn't answering.

That had to be it.

Later that evening, right before bed, Vince scrolled through Twitter and saw the flood of praise for Timothy. The sight made his blood boil.

Timothy had really pulled off a masterstroke.

Not only had he claimed all the credit, he'd managed to gild his own reputation in the process.

You had to hand it to him.noveldrama

His business instincts were razor-sharp-even the divorce had become an opportunity for him to shine.

He'd squeezed every last drop of value from the situation.

A ruthless, shrewd operator-Vince shuddered to think what kind of mess he'd be

in now if he'd taken Timothy's offer back then.

Frustrated, Vince kept doom-scrolling through Twitter, only to realize Timothy's review post had vanished.

Almost immediately, a new trending topic popped up:

#PresidentLawsonHasNoChill-Deletes Viral Post Without a Second Thought#

Vince couldn't help but admire Timothy's knack for managing publicity. By now, the comments were piling up.

Still, the majority were singing Timothy's praises.

Someone even asked if Timothy had kept his marriage secret because his wife

was so beautiful, he was afraid to let anyone else see her.

Vince took a screenshot of the comment and sent it to Timothy.

[Care to clear this up?]

Timothy was in the middle of lunch when his phone buzzed. He set down his fork

and checked his messages-Vince again.

[How do you expect me to clear it up?]

[The truth.]

Timothy fired back almost immediately.

[That's between my wife and me. It's not something I'll discuss with outsiders.]

Vince called him right away,

seething. Everyone knew the real

reason Timothy never showed

Jessica off-he was ashamed of her

muteness. Yet here he was, playing the doting husband. Vince found it disgusting.

Timothy answered.

Vince's tone dripped with sarcasm. "You hid her away because you're embarrassed she can't speak, right? And every time you sent her out, you slipped her a couple hundred grand in cash-who else but you could pull off something so sleazy? Twitter's full of people singing your praises. What if I told the world the truth, huh? That your ex-wife bankrolled her own movie with those hush payments. Imagine the headlines! Or maybe it'd shake up The Lawson Group's shares a bit. Let everyone see that the so-called devoted husband is nothing but a first-class fraud-a total bastard."

Timothy replied, voice calm and steady, "We're not divorced yet. Don't call her my ex-wife. She's still

my

wife. And as for everything

else-"