Seven Years a Shadow: The Stand-In's Escape novel Chapter 17

But just as I turned around, I saw Susan standing there with Chad, glaring at us.

Her eyes were filled with resentment.

Holding Chad’s hand, Susan directly approached Gavin.

"Gavin, you’re here to pick me and Harry up from school today, right?"

She said this, not forgetting to throw me a provocative glance.

When Gavin saw Susan, he immediately suppressed all his emotions, leaving only indifference on his face.

"No, I’m here to pick Wendy and Yara up."

"Really?" Although Susan had already mentally prepared herself, hearing Gavin’s answer still caused her to twitch in discomfort.

She didn’t expect that Gavin would directly embarrass her in front of me like this.

Susan quickly forced a smile. "Well, would it be too inconvenient for you to give Harry and me a ride as well?"

"It’s inconvenient." Although Gavin was speaking to Susan, his gaze remained fixed on me.

I ignored him, holding Yara’s hand and walking away.

"Gavin, you promised us back then. You promised that for Chad’s sake, you would take care of me and Harry for a lifetime."

Gavin’s voice became impatient. "Yes, I promised you. But so what? Because of you, my own family is almost falling apart."

"If it weren’t for the fact that you kept deceiving me, how would I have repeatedly abandoned my wife and child for you?"

Hearing Gavin’s accusations, Susan’s eyes widened in shock, and the gentle facade she had been wearing shattered completely. Her voice turned sharp and harsh.

"Oh, so now you’re blaming me?"

"I did call you over to be with us, but I didn’t put a knife to your neck. You have legs, you can go wherever you want, can I really stop you?"

The intense argument behind us drew the attention of people around.

At first, I thought that now, with no burden, Gavin would be able to freely go back to Susan and her son.

But it seemed that this wasn’t the case at all.

I didn’t turn around, letting this scene unfold behind me.

Since that day, Gavin hadn’t given up.

From time to time, he would send me various messages — some to report his schedule, others to ask how Yara and I were doing.

Ironically, when I used to complain that he didn’t care enough about Yara and me, he would impatiently snap back:

"Enough, Wendy, you’re so annoying. The reason you keep saying all this is because you think I’m spending time with Susan and her son, right? You keep bringing up Yara — are you trying to use her to compete for attention?"

"Susan is pitiful enough. She’s a single mom, so young, with a son."

"Chad was my good brother. After he passed, what’s wrong with me taking care of them?"

"From now on, don’t bring up irrelevant things with me. I don’t care."

Now, I simply returned those exact words back to him.

"Gavin, are you annoying? If you want someone to keep you company, go find your poor single mother. Don’t share your life with me anymore. Yara and I don’t care."

As expected, the phone that had been vibrating nonstop finally went silent after I sent the message.

I let out a sigh of relief, but just as I was about to walk into the company, a figure blocked my path.

It was Susan, her eyes red and her face haggard, looking at me with desperation.

"Wendy, let’s talk."

In the café, I stirred my coffee slowly and said calmly, "What do you want to talk about? I don’t think we have anything to say."

"Wendy, what do you mean by that?"

I stood up calmly, took a bill out of my bag, placed it on the table, and smiled softly.

"This coffee’s on me."

"Also, don’t forget, every penny Gavin spent on you was our joint property. I can sue you for it."

"No, you can’t do this," Susan’s voice came from behind, frantic and distressed.

But I didn’t pay her any attention.

For some time now, I had been irritated by Gavin’s reluctance to sign the divorce agreement.

He kept insisting that he hadn’t done anything wrong, so he wouldn’t divorce me.

What surprised me, though, was that now, Susan had handed over the evidence herself.

I saved all the photos, submitted them to my lawyer, and officially filed for divorce from Gavin.

Since he was the one at fault, the court awarded the majority of the property and custody of Yara to me.

As for the expensive jewelry and bags he bought for Susan, because they were considered joint property, the court ordered her to return them all.

On the day the ruling came down, Susan collapsed, crying and throwing a tantrum, completely unable to accept the decision.

Gavin looked haggard and still tried to reconcile with me through Yara.

However, Yara refused to have anything to do with him.

And for me, I finally felt the heavy burden that had been on my shoulders for so long begin to loosen.

From now on, I would raise my daughter and look forward to our new life.