My Husband Bought My Stepsister Couple’s Ice Cream, I Filed for Divorce

I stared at the sealed doors of the ER, my voice cracking as I spoke. "Are you finished?" "Then do you have any idea that Otis, just to keep Joy company, put a six-year-old on a roller coaster with a ten-year age minimum?" "Joe fell off that ride. He's in there right now, fighting for his life!" I thought my mother would at least ask how Joe was doing. But she went quiet for a few seconds, then said, "They couldn't have known something would go wrong. Why take it out on Otis and Joy?" "Fine, I'll apologize to Joy on your behalf, all right? So petty. You're nothing like me." The call ended in a rush. A moment later, my mother updated her feed. In the photo grid, she had her arm hooked fondly through Joy's, Otis seated beside them. The caption read: 【My good girl, away from home so long, is finally back. Her mother couldn't be happier.】 Someone had commented: 【What a handsome son-in-law, what a beautiful daughter. A perfect, happy family.】 My mother didn't explain. Instead, she liked it. The bitterness in my chest turned my stomach. I jabbed at the button, trying to shut off the screen. But instead I answered a call from Otis, coming in at that exact moment. "Honey, I'm so sorry, I can't make it over to be with you and our son." "Mom says Joy's back, and we're all supposed to have a welcome-home dinner together. I was worried you'd feel awkward coming, so how about I come pick you two up after it's over?" "I'll give Joe another birthday tomorrow to make up for it. Don't be angry." I cut him off. "Did my mother not tell you Joe's in the hospital because of you?" He tensed up at once. "What do you mean? What happened to Joe?" "City General. If you still count yourself a father, come see what you've done." But I kept watch all night, and he never came. All I got was a message. 【Mom says Joe's fine, nothing serious. Joy needs to adjust to the time difference, she just fell asleep, and if I go out now I'll wake her. I'll come pick you two up tomorrow.】 I sent him the divorce papers I'd already drawn up. The thought of divorce hadn't come to me only just now. But in that moment, I made up my mind for good. Just because my mother had married Joy's widowed father, just because Otis, the man Joy had secretly loved for years, had chosen me, they'd decided I was the one who owed her. But I had never done anything wrong. Why should I keep swallowing it? When day broke, the lights in the ER finally went dark. A nurse rushed out. "The child's in critical condition. We need to bring in a specialist from out of town for surgery. We have to complete the paperwork now. Did you bring the household registration?" I raced straight home. But I entered the code several times in a row, and the lock kept flashing an error. This code was supposed to be Joe's birthday. Just as I was about to call Otis, the door suddenly opened. He was bare-chested, hair a mess, and the second he saw me he shushed me. "Keep it down, Joy's still sleeping." Seeing me stare at the keypad lock, he explained, awkwardly, "Joy couldn't remember the old code, so after everyone talked it over, we changed it to her birthday." "Everyone?" "Mom, Reginald, and me." The down payment on this apartment came from selling the old house my grandmother left me, and I'd been the one paying off the mortgage all along. Yet when they decided to change the code to my own home, I was the only one they never asked. I pushed past him and walked straight for the master bedroom. Otis hurried to block my way. "What are you looking for? I'll get it for you." The bedroom door was half open. Joy was wearing Otis's pajamas and my slippers, sitting on my bed. Joe's little pillow and quilt had been dumped in a careless heap beside the trash can.

She quickly clutched her collar tight. "Sis, don't get the wrong idea. Otis was worried I'd have trouble with the jet lag, so he told me to sleep in the master bedroom." Otis explained too. "I slept on the couch last night. Don't read into it." The arguing woke my mother and Reginald. Reginald's face went cold. "My daughter's finally home. So what if she slept in your room?" My mother grabbed hold of me too. "It's just a room. Do you really have to make everyone miserable over it?" I shook her off and walked over to the safe. Beside it sat a pile of clothes Joy had changed out of. I reached out to push them aside, and two torn-open square wrappers suddenly dropped by my feet. My eyes reddened instantly. Otis's expression shifted, and he rushed to explain. "It's not what you think." "Joy had a late-night snack. Those are the wrappers from the disposable gloves she used. You know how packaging is these days, it's all pretty…" I said nothing, just bit down hard on my lip, forcing my trembling hands still. I kicked the wrappers away, crouched, opened the safe, and took out the household registration and Joe's documents. Seeing my silence, Otis spoke up, a little awkwardly. "Where's Joe? Why didn't he come back with you?" I slammed the safe door shut and looked past him, straight at my mother. "Only now do you think to ask about Joe?! Then why don't you ask my mother instead!" "Ask her why she didn't tell you?" "Joe is only six years old, and you put him on a roller coaster that requires riders to be at least ten." "The child fell from up there. They spent the whole night trying to save him, and he's still lying in the ICU right now!" Otis went white. "The ICU? How could Joe end up in the ICU?" My mother guiltily looked away. "He's a kid, he took a little fall. How serious could it be?" "I didn't tell Otis because I didn't want everyone worrying and ruining Joy's welcome-home dinner." My son was lying in the ICU with tubes in him. And in her mouth, it was nothing but a small injury that couldn't be allowed to hold up Joy's welcome-home dinner. Otis hurried toward me. "I didn't know it was this serious. I'll go to the hospital with you." I looked at him, cold. "The staff warned you. Children under ten aren't allowed on that ride." "But you don't even know how old your own son is, and you didn't so much as listen to the warning. You just wanted to shove him onto some long ride so you could slip away and go buy ice cream with Joy." Otis's face drained of color, and his mouth opened. But I gave him no chance to explain. "Otis, if you care about Joy so much that you'd neglect your own flesh-and-blood son, then why did you marry me in the first place?" "You were the one who chose me. Yet all these years, everyone's acted like I stole you away, like I owed Joy something." "Whatever she wanted, I had to give up." "And now, for the sake of keeping her company, you'd even throw away your own son's life." I stared him down. "If anything happens to Joe, I won't let you off. And I won't let Joy off either." Otis's face was full of shock. "Eudora, don't take it too far!" "Joy and I are perfectly innocent. Ever since we were kids, I've always looked after her like a little sister." "How does that turn into some shameful affair the moment it comes out of your mouth?" Reginald's face darkened at once. "Otis and Joy grew up together. Their bond has always been this close." "He looked after Joy for over a decade. Are you saying that just because he later married you, the two of them can't even have normal contact anymore?" "Who do you think you are, to have any right to force them to cut ties?" My mother glared at me with disgust too. "How well Otis treated Joy back then, everyone saw it with their own eyes."

"You married him, and now you want to keep him all to yourself, cut him off from his own sister, from Joy?" "A filthy mind sees filth everywhere." "Now your son's been hurt, and instead of looking at yourself, you stand here spouting nonsense, spreading lies about Otis and Joy." "Eudora, have you no shame at all?" Joy's eyes went red on cue. "Sis, so you really do blame me after all." "I shouldn't have asked Otis to keep me company. But he only wanted to look after me a little, since I've finally come home." "If you want to hit me or scream at me, then take it out on me. Just stop insulting Otis with words like that." Otis turned back to her on instinct, that familiar tenderness surfacing in his eyes again. That one movement was enough to strip away any desire I had left to argue. I clutched the papers to my chest and shoved past them. "Eudora, wait for me!" Otis took two steps after me. But even by the time I made it back to the hospital, he never showed. I'd barely finished the paperwork when my subordinate called. "Ms. Fox, the new contract gets signed today. Why aren't you here yet?" "My son's in the ICU. I need to take some leave. The contract's already negotiated. Someone else can just sign it." She rushed to say, "But Mr. James came in today with your sister. He said you're going to focus on caring for your child, that you're stepping back, and that she'll be taking over your position and your project." "It didn't sit right with me, so I called you right away." A chill ran through me. I called Otis immediately. "What gives you the right to hand my position to Joy?" His tone was unnervingly calm, as if he'd already worked everything out for me. "Those things you said earlier were only because Joe got hurt. You were panicking, letting your mind run wild. I know you didn't mean it, and I won't hold it against you." "But you can't do the job well like this. Staying in that position will only set the project back." "Better to step down for now and focus on the child. I'm arranging this for your own good." I was shaking with rage. "That's a project I spent a whole year landing! What right do you have to take it away?" Otis sighed. "It's not taking it away. I'm just asking you to do Joy a favor. Joy's in the middle of a divorce case. She needs a respectable job to fight for custody of her child." "She'd only hold the lead title temporarily. One less project won't hurt you." I gripped the phone so hard my knuckles ached. For as long as I could remember, when Joy wanted my room, I had to move out. When she didn't want to see me, I couldn't come home for four years. Now she needed a job, and even the career I'd bled for had to be handed over to her. I said coldly, "I won't agree to it." "If you dare touch my project, I'll hand the contract straight to the rival company!" "Eudora, don't be difficult!" Otis's voice dropped too. "You can't destroy the whole company just to spite someone, can you?" "It's only a temporary title. A year at most." "When you come back, your old position will still be waiting." His voice softened again. "I've already spoken to the doctor. Joe's treatment is all arranged." "You focus on caring for our son for now, and come back to work once he's better. Isn't that best?" "Besides, if we hadn't gotten married in the first place, Joy wouldn't have left the country heartbroken, and she wouldn't have run into that scumbag." "We owe it to her to make it up to her." Something in me finally snapped. "I don't owe her anything!" "She went abroad on her own, married on her own, and chose the wrong man all on her own." "Why should her bad luck mean stealing away my husband and my job?"

"You're overreacting." Otis said it flatly. "After Joy's inauguration ceremony wraps up, I'll come to the hospital and be with you two." The line went dead in my ear. Right then, a shrill alarm blared out of the ICU. Doctors and nurses rushed to Joe's bedside, swapped him onto a portable monitor, and started wheeling him out. I flung myself toward them. "Where are you taking my son?" I threw myself in front of the bed. "Where are you taking him?" "Is he going into surgery?" "Has the specialist arrived?" I grabbed the doctor's sleeve, my voice shaking with panic. "Didn't you say you'd already arranged the visiting surgeon?" "He was supposed to get here this afternoon. Why are you moving my son now?" The doctor hesitated. "The visiting surgeon's operation has been canceled." Something roared in my head. "Who canceled it?" "The child's father." The doctor explained. "Mr. James just called and said the outside specialist's plan carried too much risk, and he didn't consent to the surgery." "He's already signed the discharge agreement and the surgery-refusal form, and he's demanding we stop the current treatment plan immediately." "He said he'd arrange to move the child to another hospital." I staggered back a step. "I'm his mother, and I do not consent to a discharge! He can't be moved at all right now. You can't send him away!" I clamped both hands onto the bed rail. "He is not being transferred." "Please, I'm begging you, don't touch him. The specialist is almost here. Just a few more hours and he has a chance." The doctor watched Joe's vital signs grow weaker and weaker, his own face grim. "Ms. Fox, we understand how you feel." "But we can't do what you're asking." The doctor lowered his voice. "Mr. James has just submitted proof of paternity and a written surgery refusal, and he's signed as the child's primary guardian." "An outside specialist's operation doesn't count as emergency lifesaving care. When two guardians disagree, we have no authority to force it through. We can only maintain basic resuscitation, or process the transfer according to the documents he signed." Something roared through my head again. "He is not Joe's father! His signature means nothing!" The doctor froze. "What?" "He isn't! I can prove to you he isn't!" I threw myself over the bed, fumbling for my phone, dialing Otis over and over. After more than a dozen tries, he finally picked up, applause pouring through the background. "Eudora, I'm right in the middle of Joy's inauguration. Whatever it is, it'll have to wait." I choked back the hatred. "I'll agree to hand the position and the project over to Joy." The other end went silent at once. "Really?" "But first you sign the divorce papers I sent you, withdraw the surgery refusal, and give me the decision-making authority over Joe's treatment." Otis went instantly wary. "I won't sign divorce papers. I'm not going to gamble with our marriage over a fit of temper." I softened my voice. "I'm just upset. I want you to prove you still care about me." "You sign, we start over, you win me back properly, and you show me you actually value me and our son." He was still hesitating. I added, cold and even. "You don't sign, and I hand the contract over to your competitor right now." "The project's gone, and Joy's inauguration turns into a joke. Otis, you choose." Otis finally sighed. "Fine, I hear you. But dragging divorce into this over a mood really is going too far this time." "Fine. I'll sign." A few minutes later, his signed divorce papers and the treatment authorization landed in my hands. He sent one more line. 【Happy now? I'll head to the hospital soon to look after him. Find time to hand the project off to Joy.】 Otis clearly hadn't read carefully again. The agreement laid it out plainly: after the divorce, the child, the house, and my project all belonged to me. I got my lawyer and the property manager on the phone immediately. "Change the door codes and cut off Otis's entry access." "My mother and Reginald aren't on the deed. Have security escort them out at once. Box up everything and send it to the Swanson house." "Don't they love treating that place like it's Joy's home?" "Pity. From this moment on, no one gets in." Then I called a realtor and listed the house at a rock-bottom price. The doctor finished his call and came over, his expression heavy. "The specialist turned back the moment he got the cancellation notice. There's no time to bring him here again." "The only option now is to send the child straight to a hospital in his home state." I nodded without a second's hesitation. "Transfer him. We leave now." As the transport plane lifted off, Otis was still pushing me to hand over the project. I sent the contract and every file directly to his competitor. Their reply came fast. 【Happy to take over immediately. Terms unchanged.】 I pressed confirm. Otis wanted to take everything I'd bled for and pave the way for Joy with it. So I'd rather hand it to his rival on a silver platter. The plane punched up into the clouds. I gripped Joe's cold little hand and switched off my phone.