After being reborn, I make up my mind to stop chasing after my husband and daughter

Chapter 11

Yvonne froze. It was the first time she’d ever seen Jared and me fight. Before, whenever we argued, I always gave in first to keep the peace. But today was different. I didn’t apologize or back down.

“Daddy, Mommy, please stop.” Yvonne burst into tears. She clung to Jared’s arm, wiping her eyes. “I don’t want you to fight. Please don’t do this.”

Jared looked at me, his voice cold. “Work isn’t negotiable. You can keep your little hobbies, but you’re not walking away from our family.”

He bent down, lifted Yvonne into his arms, grabbed her tiny backpack, and walked out.

I didn’t shed a single tear. To be honest, I wasn’t even mad. I had seen this coming.

“Mrs. Holcomb, are you okay?” Wendy and Joyce asked, voices worried..

I smiled, “I’m fine. Sorry about the mess–can you clean it up?” Then I grabbed my purse and car keys and left.

I drove around aimlessly, the wind whipping through the open window, lifting my scarf. Behind my sunglasses, my eyes started to burn.

I married a rich guy and lived this shiny. To everyone else, I should’ve been carefree and happy. And maybe I was, once. But I’d got stuck in my head, slowly falling apart.

I thought after that fight, Jared wouldn’t ask me to lunch. But around eleven, while I was sitting in a café, sipping bitter coffee, he texted to ask where I was.

told me

my makeup. If Jared wanted to treat me like his arm candy, fine,

quiet. The guys couldn’t even look me in the eyes. They got all polite, keeping their voices low. Some mumbled “hi,” and I smiled back. Others tossed out compliments, and I

a crisp suit, over six feet tall, looking

She had on a gray

a quarter–million–dollar piece, her necklace worth

glanced up at me but

Then everyone started chatting, digging into their food. Halfway through the meal, some guy came

clearly feeling himself today–his picture–perfect wife on one side, his sharp mistress on the other. The other guys

no clue who Tracy really was. I smiled, worked the room,

drunk quite a lot, a

1/2

in. “Mr. Holcomb can’t drink more,” she said. “He’s

over with some glib remarks and dropped

at the company, and everyone

But I acted like I didn’t catch it. Why bother? I was already done with this

today, her face blank

and I got