Chapter 43: Divorce

ASTRID’S POV

I thought it was a joke at first. It had to be. How could he be serious about something like that?

He was divorcing his wife.

A woman I later found out had been married to him for ten years. Ten. Whole. Years.

Wonders never end with this man.

He filed for divorce, and just like that, the news tore through social media ... Ethan Allen is seeking a divorce. I saw it trending and still couldn’t fully believe it.

"You don’t have to do this," I told him during one of our meetings.

"I don’t have to," he said calmly, "but I will."

They didn’t have any pups together, which was why it was even easier for him to let go. He’d told me the reason before ... his wife didn’t fuck good enough for him.

Was that even a valid reason to leave the supposed love of your life? I didn’t think so. I wouldn’t leave Draven for something like that. And he wouldn’t do the same to me.

He called me over to his house while the divorce heat was still rising online.

"I can’t come right now," I said. "What would I even say? What would I do if she’s there?"

"I just said come," he repeated, flat and unbothered.

The fear and respect he once carried were gone. He could disrespect his wife now without even flinching.

So I went.

When I arrived, his wife wasn’t there. She’d gone to work.

That was fine. What wasn’t fine was the way he looked at me ... like I was nothing but a warm body he’d summoned.

"Can we?" he asked, smooth and stylish about it, like he was asking me to pass the salt.

"All you ever want me for is sex," I said, cutting my eyes at him. "Are you an addict or something?"

He stepped closer and took both my hands in his. "I’m not a sex addict. I just need gratification ... something my wife stopped giving me a long time ago."

I looked at him properly for the first time with mixed feelings. I genuinely didn’t know if I hated him or liked him. But one thing I was sure of ... he was acting like a little bitch.

"I need you to know that you’re the best person I’ve met," he continued, turning on the charm like a switch. "From the very first day I set eyes on you, I knew you were different. I don’t just see you as a machine. I see you as more than that ... a support system."

His flattery worked, like it always did. He kissed me on the lips and somehow that was all it took.

He carried me upstairs to his room, and I let him.

On his matrimonial bed, we fucked and fucked. I even squirted on it. I was moaning, trying to hold myself back so it wouldn’t get too loud, until Ethan told me to let go and stop holding it in.

So I did. I moaned loudly and got completely lost in the ecstasy ... so lost that I didn’t even hear the door.

I only found out she was home when a belt came down across my back and knocked me clean off that bed.

Shit.

She’d caught us. She’d caught me, naked, in her bed, with her husband.

"You’re a whore! A bitch! Go find your own man!" she screamed, and the belt kept coming down while I scrambled across the floor, completely bare.

I tried to run but she had me pinned with every swing. I couldn’t get away. She was fuelled by ten years of fury and I was the target.

It only stopped when Ethan grabbed her wrist mid-swing and delivered one dirty, clean slap across her face.

She hit the floor hard. Her hand flew to her cheek. She looked up at him from the ground ... broken, confused, still in love.

"Ethan..." she whispered. "Has it really gotten this far?"

"We have the hearing tomorrow," he said coldly, not even looking at her properly. "After that, all of this ends. I don’t want you anymore."

"But babe, I still love you," she said from the floor, reaching for him. "I don’t want us to separate. Please."

She grabbed his legs. She actually held onto his legs and begged him while I quietly pulled my clothes back on.

"I’ll learn," she cried. "I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll learn how to fuck good ... forever, if that’s what it takes. Just please don’t go."

He pulled his leg free from her grip and walked away without looking back.

I followed him out. Behind us, she kept screaming ... robbing prostitute bitch and every variation of it her pain could produce.

"Don’t mind her," Ethan said, straightening his shirt. "All of this ends tomorrow."

He got dressed and we went out for dinner. Just like that. Like what happened in that room was nothing. We ate together, stayed out late, talked and laughed, and he acted like a man who hadn’t just slapped his wife to the ground an hour before.

I had to sneak back into my own house through my bedroom window when I finally got home.

The next day came faster than I expected.

I got up and made my way to the venue.

I’d felt sorry for his wife before ... genuinely. Her predicament was sad. But then she beat the hell out of me with a belt while I was naked on the floor. So whatever pity I had? Gone. Dissolved. I was going to take her husband with zero guilt and enjoy every second of it. All this ass and these curves weren’t built for nothing.

"All rise," the judge commanded.

We rose.

She laid out the reason for the hearing and we all sat back down. Ethan and his wife stood before the bench, side by side for what would be the last time.

"Mr. Allen," the judge began, "why did you opt for a divorce from your wife?"

"She no longer satisfies me," Ethan said, no hesitation. "I need to free myself."

The judge stared at him. "My friend, that is not enough reason to seek a divorce. Speak plainly."

Ethan glanced around the room. "She’s no longer good in bed."

The entire room burst into laughter.

"Silence." The judge’s voice cut through it like a blade. The room went quiet immediately.

"So she was once good in bed and now she isn’t," the judge repeated slowly, "and your solution is divorce? What happened to helping her get better?"

"She’s not willing to learn," Ethan said. "She’s selfish about it. I’ve tried. Now I’m looking out for myself."

The judge turned to his wife. "Madam, why is it that you are no longer satisfying your husband?"

She squared her shoulders. "I no longer have the energy. I don’t draw satisfaction from excessive sex anymore ... foreplay is enough for me now. But Ethan’s appetite has only grown over ten years. It keeps increasing."

The room gasped.

But that was just the reality of a male wolf. The older they got, the more active they became. His appetite for sex wasn’t decreasing anytime soon ... it was only going to climb. And now that she was stepping aside, I was going to be the one filling that space. Every want, every need, everything his body demanded ... I was prepared to give it.

"Are you certain you want to proceed with this divorce?" the judge asked Ethan.

"Yes," he said.

The judge turned to his wife. "And you, madam? Are you certain?"

She swallowed. "If that’s what he wants... then okay."

The papers were brought forward. Ethan practically rushed to sign his. His wife walked to the table like her legs were made of stone ... slow, reluctant, like each step was costing her something she could never get back.

Sign the damn paper and stop wasting everyone’s time, I was screaming in my head.

She signed it. And then she started to cry.

I was happy.

Maybe that said something dark about me. I acknowledged that and moved right on.

Her husband was about to become mine, and I was ready to love every piece of that reality.

"Can I say one last thing to you, Ethan?" she asked, turning to face him in front of the whole crowd.

He didn’t stop her.

"You’re fucking that bitch Astrid," she said, loud and clear, her voice not even shaking. "I hope her pussy satisfies you. But just remember ... sweet things can kill too."

She dropped her pen and walked out.

The whole room started murmuring at once. Every head turned in my direction. That divorced woman had just dragged my name into a courtroom full of witnesses, and within hours it hit the internet ... Astrid steals Minister of Information from his wife. I was a trending topic, again, right on schedule.

Thanks, Mrs. Allen.

Ethan wasn’t even remotely ashamed. He came down from the front of that room and walked straight to me. Cameras were out, phones were up, people were snapping from every angle ... and he didn’t turn his face away from a single one. He didn’t flinch. Didn’t hide me.

Everyone now knew I was with Ethan.

I hadn’t exactly moved on from Draven at lightning speed.

I just had to stay alive.