A Web of Deceit

01

"Let's get a divorce!" I said.

When I threw the divorce agreement at Larry Spencer, I could see panic flicker in his eyes.

The next second, he tore the agreement to shreds and hugged me, saying, "Honey, tell me what I'm doing wrong, and I'll change. Can we not divorce, okay?"

I removed Larry's hand and calmly said, "Some mistakes can be corrected, but some..."

I didn't finish my sentence, yet Larry understood immediately.

He grabbed my wrist and said urgently, "Honey, listen to me explain. At that time, I wanted to be with you at the hospital, but my mom..."

"Enough!" I forcefully pushed away Larry's hand, interrupting him, "I don't want to talk about the past. Let's divorce. From now on, we go our separate ways."

Larry didn't give up and said, "No, I don't agree to a divorce. Honey, think about our sweet moments in the past and our child. What will happen to her if we divorce? She can't grow up in a broken family..."

Yes, before we got married, Larry and I were indeed very happy. Back then, he was energetic and ambitious, always finding new ways to romance me and bring joy into my life...

However, things changed after we got married. Larry seemed like a completely different person.

Whenever he encountered setbacks at work, he would quit. Over half of the year, he spent at least six months at home playing video games.

Not only did he ceased the previous affection towards me, but he also often nitpicked to me and lost his temper...but all of these I could tolerate all that.

What I couldn't stand was when his mother found out I was pregnant with a daughter, she insisted I should get rid of the baby, and Larry never said a word for me, silently agreeing with his mother's decision.

I fought to give birth to our child in the hospital, and neither he nor his mother ever looked at me or our child. It was my parents who took care of us the whole time.

At that moment, I was dead inside, and I finally understood why my parents had opposed my marriage to Larry.

Being married to a bad husband was due to my own stubbornness that led to today's situation, and I had to bear the consequences by myself.

"Alright, we can divorce. The house, the car and your savings are mine, and the child is yours," Seeing my insistence on divorce, Larry's attitude changed completely, and he said self-righteously.

02

I paused in the act of opening the door, turned around, and looked at Larry in disbelief, asking, "What did you say?"

Larry repeated, "The house, car, and savings are mine. You leave with nothing but the child."

Now I was sure I hadn't misheard, questioning, "Why?"

"You're the one seeking a divorce. I haven't done anything wrong. I've wasted so many years of my youth on you, so you should compensate me," Larry said as if it was only natural and added, "Moreover, you gave birth to a daughter. Our family doesn't care for that, so don't expect a penny of maintenance from me."

If I hadn't heard it myself, I wouldn't have believed that these words came from Larry.

When we got married, Larry had nothing. We had a down-to-earth marriage.

The house and car were presents from my parents, who couldn't stand to see me endure hardship.

I suppressed my anger and said calmly, "Did you contribute a penny or any effort to the house and car? Was there any of your money in our savings? For the past two years, all your living expenses have been paid by me. How dare you say such things?"

"It's not as if I didn't work." Larry said.

"You did work, but you spent six months at home playing games out of the twelve. The first thing you did with your salary was hand it over to your mom. Have you ever contributed anything to this family?" I said angrily.

"When you were pregnant, didn't I purchase you a can of formula?" Larry retorted defiantly.

"Heh..." I sneered.

Maybe my sneer stung him, as Larry raised his voice, seemingly thinking that the louder he was, the more justified he felt, and said, "Your parents are so rich. Wasn't it normal for them to buy us a house and a car? With your high salary, what's wrong with you contributing more to the family? My mom raised me on her own which isn't easy, and now that she's old, is it wrong for me to give her my salary for her retirement? In the end, you just despise us for being poor."

Looking at Larry's expression, which seemed to say, "I'm poor, so I'm justified, and you should help me because you're rich," I had a sudden realization about something my father had previously mentioned.

He said, "Being poor isn't frightening. What's truly daunting is possessing a poverty mentality."

Larry was the epitome of a "poverty mentality," constantly negative and yet incredibly entitled.

He never sought reasons within himself and always felt the whole world owed him something.

Suddenly, I no longer had the energy to argue with Larry and left the room immediately.

03

Upon returning from work, I tried to unlock the door at home with my key, only to discover that the lock had been changed.

I took out my phone and called Larry. The phone rang for a long time before Larry slowly picked up.

"What do you want?" Larry said, there was impatience in his voice..

"Did you change the lock at home?" I asked.

Larry righteously corrected me, saying, "This is my home lock now."

Then he added, "You wanted a divorce, right? Fine, I'll agree you with that. From now on, this house is mine, and it has nothing to do with you. If you're smart, leaving and don't bother me again. Oh by the way, and I've already packed all your things and sent them to your parents' house. No need to thank me."

Having seen Larry's shamelessness before, I didn't expect he could be shameless to this level.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed past the fatigue from the lengthy night and drove to my parents' house.

After hearing my story, my dad wasn't as angry as I had thought. Instead, he calmly said, "A house is not something Larry can have just because he wants it."

Of course, I knew that, but if Larry decided to shamelessly make a scene, it would be quite disgusting.

My dad patted my shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I have my ways."

"Okay." I nodded and said, glanced upstairs, and asked softly, "Was Ollie Spencer still asleep?"

"He woke up early. That little guy is so clever. He cried loudly at home, but as soon as he stepped outside, he stopped and looked around with wide eyes, just like you did when you were child." Talking about Ollie, the smile with love on Dad's face were unmistakable.

"Then I'll go upstairs and get sleep for a moment." I said.

I had been working the whole night shift, and I could barely keep my eyes open.

Just as I was sleeping soundly, my phone rang. As soon as I picked up, Larry's angry voice came through, eager to lash out, saying, "Claire Lowe, what the hell did you mean? It was just one house, and you sued me? Your family is so rich, did you really need this house? I couldn't believe I used to call your parents as 'Mom and Dad' so affectionately. It was disgusting..."