Chapter 11: The Papers That Couldn’t Be Ignored
Caleb was served with the divorce papers on a Thursday morning at his office.
According to Elena, the process server had walked into the lobby of his real estate firm and handed him the envelope in front of the receptionist and two of his colleagues. Caleb had gone pale, then tried to argue that it was a mistake. The process server had simply smiled politely and told him to read the documents.
By 10:30 a.m., my phone was already ringing.
I didn’t answer.
He called again from a different number. I still didn’t pick up.
Instead, I forwarded the calls to Elena. She had warned me this would happen. She told me to let her handle all communication from now on.
At 11:15 a.m., Caleb sent me a long, desperate text.
Caleb: Marissa, please. Don’t do this. We can still fix this. I made a mistake, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes. Therapy, counseling, moving — anything. Just don’t throw away twelve years like this. I still love you.
I read the message twice, then deleted it without replying.
An hour later, he sent another one.
Caleb: If you go through with this, you’re going to regret it. People are already talking. Do you really want to drag our names through the mud in front of the whole neighborhood?
That one made me pause.
Not because I was afraid of what people would say.
But because even now, after everything, Caleb was still more concerned about his reputation than about losing me.
I showed the message to Elena when we spoke later that afternoon.
She read it and shook her head.
“He’s panicking,” she said. “Men like him usually do when they realize they’re about to lose everything they took for granted. We’ll respond through official channels only. Don’t engage with him directly.”
I nodded.
But deep down, a part of me wanted to reply. Not to argue. Just to ask one simple question:
Where was this energy when you were sleeping with Vanessa in my pool?
May you like
I didn’t send it.
Because I had already decided that Caleb no longer deserved any more of my words.
