CHAPTER 105: DIVORCED

"Alisha, Eva..." Katherine called while Alisha tilted her head to look at her. "Please, don’t do this."

"Don’t do what? What are you talking about?" Eva asked, her brows knitting in confusion. "I didn’t do anything at all. What, did you think there would be no punishment for the crimes you committed?"

Katherine shook her head.

Begging Eva for forgiveness was the last thing she wanted. It made her feel vulnerable, stripped of control. But she had no choice. She was pregnant, and prison was not an option. She couldn’t risk losing Jacob, couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing her son whenever she wanted.

"Eva," Katherine whispered, her voice dripping with false familiarity.

The sound made Eva’s skin crawl.

That was the same tone Katherine had used when they were close, when they were more than friends, almost sisters. The same voice that once lulled her into a false sense of security, before Katherine stabbed her in the back—literally and figuratively. Katherine hadn’t cared if she survived, because her true goal had always been to kill her.

And now, with the tables turned, Katherine still thought she had power over her. She believed Eva would have a soft spot for her, that she could slip back into her heart with the right words.

Unfortunately, she was mistaken.

The woman standing in front of her was not the same Eva she’d known two years ago.

"I think you should lock her up already. Knowing her, she’s probably plotting her escape," Eva said coldly.

Her glare lingered on Katherine before she turned on her heel and stormed out of the police station.

She collided with Nathan who was rushing in.

He froze at the sight of her.

"Alisha—Eva—" he called, his voice catching. But she didn’t slow down.

He couldn’t let her leave, not again. It was unbearable seeing her like this, with a new identity, pretending she wasn’t the woman he once called his wife.

He grabbed her hand, desperate to stop her.

Eva yanked her wrist from his grasp as though his touch burned her. "Don’t touch me," she snapped.

Nathan swallowed hard, his throat tightening as if the words lodged there. "I didn’t know... none of this was supposed to happen. I had no idea she was the one who hurt you."

"Well, it’s sad, but there’s nothing you can do about it. You should probably go check on your wife," Eva said sharply, turning to leave.

Nathan caught her arm again.

"No, you are my wife," he insisted. His voice cracked with desperation. She glanced at the spot where he touched her, and he quickly released her hand. "We never divorced, remember? So you’re still my wife, Eva."

She gave him a smile that made him look foolish. "Is that really what you think? We’ve been divorced, Nathan. What, you didn’t know? I sent you the papers. You signed them."

His brows furrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"Not long ago, I drafted the divorce documents and sent them to your office. Don’t tell me you signed them without even reading."

The shock on his face was almost satisfying.

Despite all the chaos around them, Nathan had clung to the hope that Eva would return to him, that by law she still belonged to him. They had never signed divorce papers before, and in his mind, that bond had remained unbroken.

"That’s impossible," he muttered, teeth clenched as though the words themselves might shatter if he spoke too loudly.

Eva studied him, amused at his disbelief.

It hadn’t been long ago, but she had realized that if she ever revealed herself to Nathan as Eva, she needed to cut ties first. Knowing him as she did, he would have used their marriage as leverage to try to win her back. She would never go back, but she wasn’t about to give him the chance to meddle in her life.

So she had drafted the papers herself and had Ryan sneak them into his office.

He was never caught. Ryan had hacked into the cameras and erased the footage.

At first, Eva doubted it would work. Nathan always read every file thoroughly before signing.

But she had watched through Ryan’s computer feed as Nathan scribbled his signature across the stack of papers without looking.

When she told him this, his face darkened.

He grabbed her hand again, harder this time, desperation twisting his features.

Eva remained calm, her eyes steady as he tried to hold on to her.

"I don’t believe this. You’re lying because you’re still angry about the affair. But you could have come back to me when you survived. You could have told me everything, and I would have made sure Katherine paid for what she did," he argued.

His voice trembled, the cracks in his confidence showing. Nothing was going his way, but he refused to let Eva slip away completely.

He wanted her.

He needed her.

"Katherine was a mistake," he said. "I never should have let her come between us."

Eva smiled faintly.

To Nathan, Katherine was the villain who ruined their marriage. But Eva knew better. Nathan was the one who destroyed it. He was the man she had married, the one she exchanged vows with. He had chosen to cheat, not because Katherine forced him, but because he wanted to.

"Well, I can’t say the same thing about you," she replied. "Do you remember our wedding anniversary?"

Nathan’s jaw tightened.

"I was pregnant at the time," Eva continued. "You probably didn’t notice, but I was holding an ultrasound scan in my hands. It was supposed to be a gift for us, a celebration of our future. But you betrayed me. And Katherine? She hired men to beat me until I miscarried."

Her voice shook slightly, but she forced herself to steady it.

She hated talking about her miscarriages. The memories were triggers she tried to bury deep, but she needed him to hear the truth.

Tears pricked her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Not in front of him.

"Katherine was behind all of my miscarriages," she finished coldly.