Divorcing the Obsessed Movie King

I was in a senior leadership meeting when the news hit me: my husband, Marlin Delgado, had fallen from the thirteenth floor on set.

I dropped everything and rushed home, only to find him and his whole team perfectly intact, throwing a party and singing.

Marlin shot me a sideways look and said, irritated, I told you to come home last night and you wouldn't. What are you doing here now?

Why don't you just go die out there?

Before I could get a word out, the familiar inner voice came, one line after another:

Ha, my wife really does love me after all.

She heard something happened to me and came running back this fast.

Come on, wife, come snuggle into my arms like you used to, tell me you love me, that you can't live without me for the rest of your life.

I looked down at the cut I'd gotten rear-ending the car in front of me because I was rushing to get home, and this time I didn't give Marlin what his inner voice wanted.

I just slowly drew a document out of my bag:

Since you hate me so much, let's get divorced.

01

Marlin's brows drew together, like it still hadn't registered.

The others caught the wrongness in the air and scrambled to patch it over.

His wife's just worn out from work, she's talking nonsense.

Right, come on, Marlin said it without thinking, don't take it to heart.

They must have assumed I'd brought up divorce on purpose, just to get Marlin's attention.

I couldn't really blame them for thinking that.

After all, in the ten years I'd been with Marlin,

I'd been like a puppet that did whatever pleased him.

When Marlin told me to go east, I never went west.

Because of the inner voice, I took his rage as a gift and gave everything I had to be good to him.

But now I didn't want to be a puppet for anyone to pull around anymore.

Right. I am very tired.

I calmly took their words and looked at the man sitting in the middle of the couch:

So, Marlin, let's get divorced.

Once Marlin understood I wasn't joking, the wine glass in his hand cracked under his grip.

He gave a small scoff Summer Pruitt, you actually think that highly of yourself?

Divorce? Nothing would make me happier.

If you hadn't begged me to marry you back then, I wouldn't have spared you a single glance!

Under the sharp, cutting words ran an inner voice pleading with every line.

What's wrong with my wife, why is she suddenly asking for a divorce, don't you love me anymore?

No, wife, hurry up and say you don't want to leave, I want to be with my wife forever.

I'd lived ten years of this life, everything said backward from what was felt.

Marlin was a textbook obsessive personality.

The less he cared about a person or a thing, the gentler he treated them.

He held his lover to impossibly high expectations, and the moment they fell short of what was in his head, he'd show his displeasure by fighting, smashing things.

Once I could hear Marlin's inner voice, I couldn't help but be moved by it.

After that, every time we fought, Marlin didn't have to do a thing.

I only had to listen to that worthless inner voice and I'd soothe myself all on my own.

During that time, I tried to get Marlin to say the love inside him out loud.

He always pushed me away, over and over, and then screamed inside his own head.

Wife, wife, I didn't mean it, hurry and come hold me.

Wife, why aren't you coming over yet, come give me a kiss, let's make up.

Marlin's little assistant fell asleep during a livestream and caused a serious on-air incident, and Marlin, without a word, signed off on a month of leave for her, not a single reproach.

But me, just because I hadn't heard what he said, he cuffed me to the headboard for three days and three nights.

Marlin's little assistant mixed up the outfits a brand had sent over and cost Marlin a thirty-million penalty for breach of contract, and he only smiled and patted her head and said it was fine.

My mother was gravely ill and needed three hundred thousand for surgery, and just because I hadn't kissed him on my way out the door, he ignored it.

And so my mother would never get out of that bed again.

Marlin, this time, I'm not cleaning up after your lies anymore.

02

Under everyone's eyes, I calmly took out the divorce agreement.

"Sign it. County clerk's office, ten o'clock tomorrow."

Marlin looked at my easy, careless handwriting on the divorce agreement, and the corner of his eye gave the smallest twitch.

Why would my wife have something like this ready? She must be doing it to get my attention, isn't she?

Good girl, stop making trouble. It's only ever been you, all of you. Come here and hug me already.

You haven't slept beside me for two nights. Tonight I'm going to kiss you until you can't breathe.

His thoughts came at me from every direction, wrapping around me on all sides.

Just then his assistant, Fern Harding, poked her head out from behind him.

"Summer, Morgan says a lot of superfans have been reselling Marlin's signature lately."

"So if you want Marlin to sign anything, you'll have to sign a confidentiality agreement first, with everything recorded on audio and video."

Marlin clenched his fist at her side and said, without a shred of mercy,

"Summer, when you walk out that door today, you don't get to take a single thing of mine."

"That includes the clothes on your back. Take all of it off."

Good wife, hurry up and refuse something this humiliating. I've already given you a way out.

If I didn't want to get my wife home sooner, I'd never let this crowd into our house. I really want to throw every one of them out.

I just want to hold my wife.

Marlin and I have known each other ten years, dated for eight, been married for six.

His need for control ran deep.

Where I worked, who I saw each day, right down to the clothes I wore, all of it had to be arranged by his hand alone.

If I didn't let him arrange it, that meant I didn't love him.

My closet was full of clothes he'd bought, down to the underwear.

Once, I thought this was proof that Marlin loved me.

Now it looked more like evidence, mocking me, that after all these years I had nothing of my own.

Watching the certainty on Marlin's face, I slowly gave him three words.

"Fine. I'll sign."

A flicker of triumph crossed Fern's face, and she rushed off to prepare the paperwork.

Marlin stared at me in disbelief.

I gave him a faint smile. "Don't worry. I won't take anything of yours."

The people around us traded glances, and not one of them dared to speak.

I turned my room upside down and finally found the down jacket and denim shorts I'd bought ten years ago.

Just as I was changing, Marlin's thoughts started up again outside.

What does my wife mean by this? Does she really want to divorce me?

I don't want a home without my wife. Without my wife I won't go on living.

The softest corner of my heart trembled, but I didn't let it stop me.

When I pushed open the bathroom door, Marlin was sitting at the head of the bed, smoking.

The moment he caught sight of me, he stubbed the cigarette out without thinking.

Then he made out what I was wearing, and he lost his composure completely.

His thoughts went off like a smoke alarm that wouldn't stop.

Why has my wife actually put on clothes I bought?

I'll never make a joke like that again. Wife, don't stoop to my level.

It's over ninety degrees out. My wife will get heatstroke going out in that.

I ignored those worthless thoughts, set the clothes down in front of him, and moved to go downstairs.

"Summer, are you sure you want to break up with me?"

Marlin's voice came from behind me, low and grim.

I didn't turn around. "I think I made myself perfectly clear just now."

Just as I was about to keep walking, Marlin spoke again.

"Divorce me today, and tomorrow I'll hand your second-generation robot design to Stella Gilbert and let her file the patent."

It was the dead heat of summer, yet I felt like I stood at the South Pole, all the blood in my body running backward.

I'm sorry, wife. I really have no other way. I won't let you leave me.

This matters more to you than anything. If I hold it against you, you won't leave me, will you?

The second-generation robot was something I'd designed specifically for a paranoid personality like Marlin's.

The concept behind it was simple. I only wanted Marlin to know he wasn't alone, that I wasn't the only one in the world who loved him.

The Stella he spoke of had plagiarized my work at the global robotics competition I entered after I graduated from college.

Before I could even react, she'd gone to the judging panel and accused me of plagiarizing her, turning it all back on me.

During that time I was miserable day after day, and I was diagnosed with moderate depression.

And every bit of it became a bargaining chip Marlin used to threaten and control me.

What a shame, Marlin. This time I won't give in for you again.

03

Marlin cared too much about appearances. He wouldn't refuse to sign, not after demanding a divorce in front of that many people.

Sure enough, the moment I came downstairs, the signed divorce agreement was lying on the coffee table.

And the second he'd finished signing, he sent everyone away.

Everyone except his little assistant.

In front of the long barrels of the cameras, I signed the confidentiality agreement.

Fern held the signed papers, unable to hide the excitement in her eyes.

Marlin sat at the far end of the sofa, saying nothing the whole time.

After all the years I'd lived in this house, when it came time to leave, my things didn't even fill a single canvas bag.

I picked them up and was about to push the front door open when Marlin's voice sounded in my head again.

Wife, you don't actually think you can slip out of my hands, do you?

The next second, a suffocating wave swept over me like a tornado.

Marlin's inner voice still circled in my ears.

Wife, didn't you say you'd love me for the rest of your life?

Why are you running away so fast now?

Wife, I'm a coward, but I love you. You can't leave me.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the room I'd shared with Marlin.

Just as I'd expected, my wrist was cuffed to the headboard again.

Fern walked in carrying a bowl of porridge.

Summer, you're awake. Hurry up and drink this.

I glanced at her and ignored her.

The next second, she grabbed my chin and shoved the bowl straight against my mouth.

Scalding porridge ran down inside my collar. Pain sent cold sweat pouring off me, and I flung her off.

Fern straightened her clothes and put on that infuriating smile of hers.

Summer, this is all Marlin's idea. There's no reason to make things hard for me.

Marlin said if you won't cooperate, I'm free to use force to make you behave.

I choked down my fury and forced the words out through my teeth. Get out. Tell Marlin to come see me.

Fern heard that and pulled a ring of keys from her pocket.

Marlin's away on business. He won't be back all week.

I'll take very good care of you, Summer.

I stared at that ring of keys, blank for a moment.

The tasseled charm on it was one Marlin and I had made with our own hands.

The night we finished it, he sat at the head of the bed staring at those keys, grinning like a fool for who knows how long.

My wife and I made this together. No one else is allowed to touch it.

I really want to fire every housekeeper we have, so it's just me and my wife in this house.

No one is allowed to covet my wife.

But now he'd not only let countless strangers into our home.

He'd handed our house keys to someone else.

Seeing my reaction, Fern waggled the keys the way you'd tease a dog.

Surprised? I said I liked these keys, and Marlin just gave them to me.

Not that I really needed them, since every keypad lock in this house has my fingerprint programmed in.

This charm, though, is hideous.

With that, she pulled off the charm and tossed it out the window without a second thought.

The little glass pendant on it struck the glass and shattered into pieces.

Just like Marlin and me.

I stopped looking at her, turned onto my side, and closed my eyes.

Fern leaned in close to my ear and spoke like a snake flicking its tongue.

Summer, your mother is in the hospital suffering a fate worse than death. How do you still have the heart to sleep?

04

The second I heard it, I grabbed her by the collar.

"What did you say?"

"What happened to my mother?"

Fern spread her hands, all innocence.

Then she pulled up the record of my mother's attending physician calling half an hour ago.

"There've been three critical-condition notices already. Wow, Summer, you really do love your mom, huh."

Once I was sure the information was real, I didn't even put on shoes before I ran downstairs.

But when I reached the front door, it wouldn't open, no matter what I did.

Fern came up behind me, unhurried.

"Summer, it's not that I don't want you to see your mother one last time."

"It's Marlin's order. Until he comes back, you don't set one foot outside this house."

I ignored her. All I knew was that my mother couldn't wait any longer.

My phone had been taken from me long ago, God knew where, so I had to find another way.

Marlin had designed the inside of this house himself.

In an emergency, the doors locked automatically and could only be opened from the outside by rescue crews.

Which meant all I needed was for someone to open the door from outside.

The thought hit me and I started pounding on the door, screaming.

"Is anyone there? Help me!"

In the kitchen, Fern took a calm sip of tea. "Save your breath, Summer."

I glared at her, vicious. "You're not afraid I'll tell Marlin?"

Fern laughed like she'd heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Summer, you don't still think you're Mrs. Delgado, do you?"

"Tell Marlin? So he can humiliate you all over again?"

"Relax. From now on, I'll be the one taking over the Mrs. Delgado role."

"And you'll be down on the ground like a stray dog, begging me to give you and your mother a way to live."

I heard my own trembling voice ask her why she was doing this.

When she first came to Ashford she was a stranger here, couldn't even afford to eat.

I was the one who introduced her to Marlin, who got her that first job.

"Doesn't your conscience hurt?"

Her face changed the instant she heard it.

"Why should my conscience hurt?"

"We're both women. Why do you get to enjoy the best life there is from the day you're born, marry Marlin?"

"And me? I have to pay for my brother's schooling, buy him a car and a house so he can get a wife!"

"I've lived that life for twenty years, and you can't handle two days of it?!"

My whole body started twitching, small tremors I couldn't stop.

I had hands, I had feet, and I was trapped inside this small building.

I couldn't even manage to see my mother one last time.

Right then, the front door opened.

It was the cleaning lady who came every three days.

She gave me a small nod.

I watched for my moment and ran.

But before I could get across the garden, security closed in from every direction and pinned me.

They tied me up like a bag of trash and dumped me in front of Fern.

"Summer, Marlin left instructions."

"If you won't behave, I have to punish you."

With that, she picked up the stun baton by her foot, pressed it to my chest, and hit the switch without mercy.

The cleaning lady frowned and took out her phone, meaning to check with Mr. Delgado.

Fern smiled, gentle.

"Ma'am, Miss Pruitt has already divorced Mr. Delgado. She has no say in this house."

"Mr. Delgado is away on business, and I'm here on his orders to keep an eye on Miss Pruitt."

"Ma'am, please don't make this hard for me, all right?"

The shocks had left me barely conscious.

I could only just move my fingers, begging her to call my uncle.

But after weighing it over and over, she put the phone away.

As if nothing had happened, she started cleaning.

I knocked my head lightly against the floor, over and over, to hold on to the last of my clarity.

"Summer, look at this. Maybe it'll cheer you up."

Then Fern played a piece of surveillance footage on her phone.

My mother, tubes running out of her everywhere, foam at her mouth, straining to make a sound to get a doctor's attention.

But not one person noticed her.

She kept lifting her head, fighting to live, letting out low choking cries.

And in the end she died with no way out.

I broke, sobbing, and shot to my feet, ready to take Fern down with me.

But before I could even touch her, the guards on both sides had me again.

This time Fern aimed the stun baton at my stomach.

A hard current tore straight through me, head to toe.

In the last of my consciousness, I felt something warm and wet running down the inside of my thigh.

My unborn child, in the space of a moment, was gone.

And Marlin was standing in the garden, holding a box of blueberry mousse cake.