Divorcing the Husband I Made Rich

1.

My husband Stuart Gilbert's childhood sweetheart, his cousin Lily Cox, moved in with us after her family ran into trouble.

That "little while" stretched into three years.

In three years, everything that was mine got split down the middle and became hers.

And today, the newly renovated marital home Stuart and I had just finished was supposed to be handed over too.

All because Lily said she "couldn't get used to a small room."

Stuart looked at me, leaving no room for argument.

"Syl, be reasonable. Let Lily have the room and move into the guest room."

I couldn't believe it.

"Stuart, that's our marital home!"

"I know, but Lily's health is fragile. She can only stay in a good room. Be reasonable."

I looked at the bracelet on Stuart's wrist, identical to the one on Lily's, and let out a cold laugh.

"Fine. I'll give it up."

"But first, sign the divorce papers."

…

Stuart stared at me like he couldn't believe his ears.

"Sylvia Sinclair, would you stop making a scene? We've only been married a month!"

I looked at the man in front of me, his face twisted ugly, and something in my chest wrenched tight.

Five years of dating Stuart. We'd built everything from nothing.

I'd worked myself to the bone, bought the house, paid for the renovation.

A month ago the house was officially handed over, and marrying him followed naturally after that.

And now this was the same man telling me, to my face, to hand our marital home over to his cousin.

"You know we've only been married a month. How do you have the nerve to ask me to give up our marital home?"

"This is our home! Not some hostel."

The moment I finished, the color drained out of Lily's face.

She swayed like she might fall, her cheeks wet with tears.

"Stuart, maybe I should just leave. Thank you and Syl for taking care of me all this time."

And with that, Lily turned to go.

Stuart lunged forward and grabbed her wrist.

"You're not going anywhere!"

"You've lived with us for three years. If you leave now, where would you even go?"

I looked at their hands, clasped together.

The matching bracelets on their wrists sent a stab through my eyes.

I knew that brand. It was a high-end custom piece from a luxury house. A couple's set, no less.

Right after we registered our marriage, I'd fallen for that same bracelet and pestered him to buy it.

Stuart shut me down with one line: "Too expensive, we need to be careful with money."

Not long after, I saw that very bracelet on his wrist.

I confronted him then, furious.

Stuart just said, "Lily asked for it specifically for her birthday. We grew up together, I'm practically half a brother to her. I couldn't exactly turn her down."

Maybe he saw how angry I was, because the next day he came home with a huge bouquet of roses to smooth things over.

I've always been a sucker for that kind of thing, and with Stuart's sweet talk on top, I let it drop.

Only now do I understand.

The price of one custom couple's bracelet set could buy a hundred bouquets of roses.

Stuart and Lily were still tugging back and forth.

Lily was crying in little hiccuping sobs, and it broke Stuart's heart to pieces.

He whipped his head around, eyes red, and glared at me.

"Sylvia, are you going to apologize to Lily or not?"

My mind went blank.

The face in front of me was still just as familiar, and yet in that moment it felt frighteningly like a stranger's.

When I first met Stuart, he was still an ordinary factory manager.

I judge by looks, and with the way he carried a conversation, I was drawn to him at once.

Strictly speaking, it was love at first sight. We fell fast and hard.

Once we were together, Stuart doted on me down to the bone.

He was so good to me that I honestly believed if I asked for a star out of the sky, he'd find a way to get it for me.

That was why I settled on him.

After a year of dating, we moved in together, getting ready for marriage down the line.

Living together only made me more certain of my choice.

As long as Stuart was home, all I had to do was open my mouth and hold out my hand. Everything else, I never had to worry about.

I thought I'd found a good match.

Then Lily showed up and ruined all of it.

She reached out to Stuart, said something had happened with her family and she needed to stay with us for a while.

When Stuart brought it up to me, I didn't want to seem petty about the girl he'd grown up next door to, and on top of that Lily's "sad situation" got to me, so I agreed without a second thought.

After Lily moved in, little by little I began to notice.

Everything in the house that was mine got relabeled as hers.

Even the glass of milk every night, once mine alone, became the two of ours.

At first I told myself she'd be gone soon enough.

Stuart swore to me every day, coaxing me, saying he'd send her off once she was settled.

I believed their words.

But that "while" turned into three whole years.

In those three years, I went from the lady of the house to an outsider.

And Lily was the one who'd taken on the airs of the real woman of the house.

If she wanted the role that badly, then I'd let her have it.

I wanted to see.

Without me holding him up, this Stuart she leaned on so hard, just how long he could last.