Broken Trust

Chapter 4

Scott

I fill another glass of scotch and drink it in one go.

"That's not healthy, Scott," Sharon says, taking the glass away from me.

"Leave me alone," I bark, and recover the glass.

I need the fog of alcohol to stop the memories from flowing back. I can't stop reliving the moment I walked in on Camilla with her lover. Sharon tried to stop me from going in, but as suspicious as she was being, I needed to see with my own eyes what was going on. She told me she didn't want to hurt me, that she wasn't covering for Camilla, but trying to spare me the pain, but once I walked in on them, she told me all about how Camilla had the nerve to invite her lover to Sharon's party, thinking I wouldn't arrive in time to attend the party.

"I hate to see you like this," Sharon says, and she looks about to cry. I hate it when she acts like that. "She doesn't deserve you, you know? She never did."

I've heard that before, no one in my family wanted me to marry Camilla, and now I see they were right to think like that. I ignored the rumors, the warnings, and now, I can't take the image of that man with my wife. I wish Sharon hadn't stopped me from going in, I wish I had beaten him for taking what is mine. But she never was, not if she couldn't even respect our vows for three f*****g years.

"I don't want to talk about her," I say.

"But we need to. You need to face the situation and do something about it. I think you need to divorce her. You have witnesses and proof of her infidelity, it would be easy to get rid of her."

And it's not only the images burned into my mind. I can't help but hear the moans, even before opening that door, I could hear the moaning. At first I thought she was in pain, but then I saw that it wasn't the case. I set the glass on the table with too much force, and it breaks. I feel the cut in the palm of my hand, and see the blood seeping out as if is happening to someone else.

"Scott! You have to be more careful," Sharon runs to my side and takes a towel to put pressure on the cut. "Come, let me take care of you."

I follow her as we got to the kitchen, and she cleans the cut and then treats it with care. Sharon has always been there for me, it would have been so much easier if I had fallen for her instead of Camilla. I know my parents wanted that, they never hid their desire for me to be with her, but I just didn't feel that way about her.

"Thank you," I say once she finishes. "You are so good to me."

"You know how much I care for you, Scott, and you know you can count on me for everything," she moves and kisses me, and for a moment I kiss her back, but it feels wrong. It doesn't matter if Camilla betrayed me, I still l feel like I need to honor my wedding vows.

"No, Sharon, this is not right," I gently push her away.

"Why not?" she asks. "She disrespected you many times, she doesn't deserve for you to keep your promise to her, she lost that right when she broke hers."

"Sharon..." part of me knows she is right, but another just can't let go my wedding vows. Even if she betrayed me, it doesn't mean I have to fall to her level.

"You need to get rid of her," Sharon says, so matter of fact that it takes me back. Part of me knows that, I already blocked her access to our house, so I was already thinking of it. "Your father knows the best lawyers in town, I'm sure you can get one to handle your divorce. The sooner you take care of that, the sooner you can be free of guilt."

"Yes, I suppose I have to," I never imagined that it would take just three years for us to get a divorce. We both were so sure our love would be a forever affair. Even when discussing the prenup, there was never a real thought of us actually needing it. "I'll call my father tomorrow, I'm sure he would be glad to help," he had never really liked Camilla. I knew he accepted her because of me, I had made it clear we were together and that he had to accept her, but now, now I feel like such a failure, especially since he warned me several times this would happen. But I don't care about his I told you so, as long as I can cut my ties with her.

"No, I know you. If you have time to think about it you will start looking for excuses, and this is something you can't excuse. You need to act. And you need to do it now, while you have the advantage. Don't give her time to try and manipulate the situation, she is the one cheating on you, and you have many people willing to testify to that."

I knew she was right, but it was something so final about it, and if I have time to think about it, it is possible I will find excuses later on. "Right, you are right," I accept, but I don't move, then I feel her pressing something into my uninjured hand. It's my cell phone.

"Call him, Scott."

"I will," I feel like I'm not in control of my actions, it feels all so surreal. Like it's something happening to someone else. I hear the call connecting and it takes me a moment to realize there's a voice on the other side.

"Son? Is that you? Scott, what's wrong?" I can hear my dad is getting a little frantic, and with the way I have been acting lately I don't really blame him.

"Father, I need your help with something," I finally find my voice.

"Sure son, tell me what you need."

"Do you know someone who can handle a divorce?"

"Yes, actually, I knew this day was coming, I have someone already booked. I'll send you his information so you can contact him and set this thing rolling. Aren't you happy now that I convinced you to sign that prenup? Imagine if I hadn't, that woman could have taken everything from you in a divorce, and she doesn't deserve even a penny," he starts, but I'm not in the mood for him. I hear him rambling for a few more minutes, but I don't really need him to remind me of everything that happened and to tell me once again that he always knew she was not good for me.

"Thanks, send me the information and I will have this rolling as soon as possible," without giving him a chance to reply, I hang up and stare at nothing for a while, until I feel Sharon's arms going around me.

"I know it is hard, being betrayed like that, but you'll see, soon everything will go back to normal, to how things are supposed to be, without her."

I have to be thankful that Sharon is with me, offering her comfort. Since our families are so close, we are too, and it's been a real comfort having her with me. If only Camilla could have been as faithful as Sharon. I loved her so much, how could she do this to me? We were supposed to be forever, and she couldn't even give me three years. I could still remember the fight we had over the prenup, how mad had she been that my dad wanted it. How offended she acted.

Three and a half years ago

"If you love my son so much and pretend to be with him for the rest of his life, then I don't see what the problem is with signing a prenup?" William was mad, and wanted to show his son just the kind of gold-digger he was marrying.

"No dad, it's because we want to spend the rest of our lives together that we don't need one of those," Scott said, irritating his father.

"I don't have a problem signing one, but this is bullshit," Camilla said, losing her temper, something Scott had seen just a couple of times before, she never even cursed like that. "This is all for the benefit of your family, but it does nothing for me. I will sign it if you make things equal for both sides. If I cheat on him, I get nothing, I get that, but what if he cheats on me? I still get nothing?"

"I would never..." Scott started to protest.

"I know, neither would I, it's just the spirit of the thing, why would you get a pass but I wouldn't? It's the same thing, I don't care if you write that I get nothing in that case, because I know I would never betray you, but if you feel the same, why don't write the same? Put a clause that says that if you cheat on me, then I get everything?"

"My son comes into this marriage with a lot more than you!" William protested.

"She is kind of right," Scott understood that Camilla was not attacking him, but his father, and went along with her. "Just let's add that if I cheat on her, then I will give her everything I had gained during our marriage, she gets the money I had earned, the properties and the investments I make during that time, and half of the money and half of what I come with into the marriage. Let's make the stakes high so I can assure her that I will never betray her. And in the case we decide to go our separate ways because we both agree on that, then we will divide everything earned during the marriage in half."

"That's a bad idea," William said.

"It doesn't really matter what we write down, because we will never end our marriage," Scott said, sure that what they had was true love.

At the time, we had been convinced it was true, that there was nothing that could break us apart. And until just a few days ago, I still held strong to that conviction. Everyone had called her a gold-digger, but I had defended her, but now, every belief that I had about her is changing. If she could break our vows like it was nothing, like I mean nothing to her, what else was she lying about.

"I'm exhausted, I'm going to bed. You know your way out," I dismiss Sharon, trying not to be rude, but with my head way too conflicted to be nice.

"If you don't mind, I will stay a little longer. You go and rest, you need it."

I hug Sharon, once again regretting that I was unable to fall in love with someone like her. My life would have been so much easier if that was the case.