Part 3This Time, I Won’t Save Her

One evening, two weeks later, my father called.

Chloe was demanding a divorce, he said. He wanted me to come home and talk her out of it.

“Dad, this is between a married couple. Why drag me into it?”

“Drag you into it? We’re family! Weren’t you and Chloe always close? What’s wrong with you lately? Get home right now!”

And there it was again. He hung up before I could refuse.

My father had always relied on my mother and me. Whenever he faced a problem he couldn’t handle, his first instinct was to call and ask us to fix it.

He could be a handful, and my mother and I had often been at our wits’ end. But although he had a habit of being foolish, he would usually listen to reason.

In my last life, when he called about Chloe wanting a divorce, I’d used the opportunity to suggest they go through with it. Speaking as a lawyer, I explained why it was “in Ryan’s best interests” until Dad agreed to stay out of it.

This time, I had no intention of getting involved.

I was about to open my own law firm. I had enough to do.

Daniel Brooks, whatever I owed you in my last life, I would repay twice over in this one.

I didn’t go home. But Chloe and Ryan tracked me down at the firm I hadn’t yet left.

With no other choice, I put them in a small conference room.

The moment we stepped inside, Chloe grabbed my hand and began crying. “Emily, please help me. I want a divorce!”

I pulled my hand away and looked at Ryan. “Since when do you need my permission to get divorced?”

“We need a lawyer…”

“Then register at reception,” I interrupted. “Someone will arrange a consultation. Pay the standard fees. Why come to me?”

Ryan tried to laugh it off. “Hiring a lawyer costs a fortune! We’re family, Emily. Why let an outsider make money off us?”

Chloe instinctively caught my hand again. “Emily, I know there are conflict-of-interest rules. I just want to talk to you privately. Can we?”

It was a little habit of hers when she was nervous.

Before, I would have gently reassured her.

Now, I simply rejected her attempt at closeness. “Whatever you have to say, say it.”

Chloe sniffled. “Emily, I don’t want anything. I just want to divorce him and get away.”

“What about the baby?”

Her hands went to her stomach, instinctively protective. “The baby is mine. I can raise it myself.”

I nodded. “Your choice.”

Even setting aside whether the baby would survive this time, life would be brutal for a divorced woman over thirty with no job and no savings.

She had never experienced that in my last life.

This time, she would have to fend for herself.

Maybe I seemed too indifferent. She bit her lip and asked cautiously, “Emily, what’s wrong? Did I do something to upset you?”

I was quiet for a long time. “Chloe.”

“What?”

“I’m leaving this firm soon. Don’t come looking for me here again.”