My Husband Claimed He Was On A Business Trip. I Found Him At The Hospital With My Pregnant Best Friend. Little Does He Know, I Just Cut Him Off From Every Penny He Ever Stole. What Should I Do Next?

Chapter 40: The Robbery

The terrified girl emptied the cash from the register. Richard snatched the bag, but before he could turn around, the automatic door opened. Two police officers entered, pointing their guns at him. Behind them stood Hector with an impassive face, holding a phone. Sarah had placed him under 24-hour surveillance.

“Hands up!”

“Drop the weapon!” a cop shouted.

Richard froze. The brick fell from his hand.

“I just wanted to help my wife,” he moaned as they threw him to the ground and handcuffed him.

At the same time, in the hospital, Lauren was waiting. No one was taking her to the operating room. Richard was not coming back with the money. A nurse approached, but with bad news.

“Ma’am, your husband has just been arrested for attempting to rob a store.”

Lauren’s world went dark. The stress triggered the final contraction. Her body convulsed. The fetus—her only hope to tie Richard down—was lost. That night, when she woke up in the morning, she saw her reflection. The skin infection had worsened; her beautiful face was now full of purilent scars that would be permanent. Her beauty, her main asset, was gone.

Two days later at the police station, Richard sat in the interrogation room. He wore an orange prison jumpsuit. The door opened. A luxury perfume filled the room: it was Sarah—elegant, unattainable. She sat across from him.

“Sarah, please help me! Drop the charges! I did it for Lauren! She was bleeding!”

Sarah looked at him without emotion.

“Lauren has already been discharged from the hospital,” she said calmly.

“She lost the baby. Her parents in her hometown refused to take her in because of the shame. Now she wanders the streets with a ruined face. She has not even come to see you.”

Richard broke down in tears.

“I am sorry Sarah! I regret everything! I want to come back to you!”

Chapter 41: Recycling Center

Sarah laughed softly.

“Come back? Do you think this is a recycling center?”

Sarah placed a folder on the table.

“It is the divorce petition. Sign it. You will face multiple charges: embezzlement, theft, and armed robbery. You are looking at at least 10 years in prison.”

“Sarah, how could you? I was your husband!”

“Ex-husband,” Sarah corrected.

She leaned in and whispered in his ear.

“Enjoy prison. It is the home you built for yourself with the bricks of your own greed. Do not wait for me, because to me, you are already dead.”

Sarah turned and left without looking back, leaving Richard screaming her name until the guards took him back to his cell.

Three years later in New York City, Sarah was leaving her imposing office building. She had just won the entrepreneur of the year award. She smiled and got into her new Mercedes. At a red light, Sarah’s car stopped. On the sidewalk, amidst the dust and fumes, a thin woman with a scarred face and ragged clothes was begging for change. It was Lauren.

And not far from there, behind the high walls of Riker’s Island, a thin inmate was cleaning the pavilion’s bathrooms. It was Richard. He had become an errand boy for other inmates in exchange for a cigarette. The luxurious car accelerated, leaving a rotten past behind for a bright future. The queen was back on her throne, alone but in complete control of her life.