The silence was deafening.
Mavis stood frozen in the center of the grand hall, still holding an empty champagne glass. His waiter's uniform suddenly felt like chains. Around him, two hundred guests stared at Charlotte on the stage, then back at him, their expressions were ranging from pity to amusement.
Charlotte adjusted the microphone, her confident smile was never wavering. She looked like a woman liberated, not one ending a marriage.
"I know this might come as a shock to some of you," she continued, her voice was smooth and practiced. "But I need you all to understand how difficult these past three years have been for me."
Mavis's legs felt stuck. He felt like a glue was sticker to his leg. He was even too shocked to speak.
"Marriage should be a partnership," Charlotte said, her tone taking on a rehearsed sadness. "Two people building a life together. But I've been carrying this relationship alone. The emotional drain, the constant disappointment, the embarrassment..."
She paused, letting the words sink in. Several women in the crowd nodded sympathetically.
"I've tried everything to make it work. I've been patient. I've been understanding, but there comes a time when you have to choose yourself. When you have to say enough is enough."
The crowd murmured in agreement. Someone called out, "You deserve better, Charlotte!"
"Thank you," Charlotte said, pressing a hand to her heart. "That means so much. Honestly, going through with this divorce is the most liberating decision I've ever made. I feel like I can finally breathe again."
Applause erupted through the hall as women rushed forward to embrace her as she stepped off the stage. Men patted her shoulder, offering words of encouragement. Everyone wanted to show their support for brave Charlotte Sonar, finally free from her burden of a husband.
No one looked at Mavis.
He stood there as the crowd swirled around him, he was invisible once again. His mind struggled to process what had just happened. Divorce. She'd announced it like a business decision. No private conversation, no warning. Just a public execution of their marriage in front of everyone they knew.
Guests began filtering toward the exit, still chattering excitedly about Charlotte's announcement. Within twenty minutes, the hall that had been packed with bodies and noise emptied out. Car doors slammed outside, engines started and taillights disappeared down the long driveway.
Mavis remained in the center of the hall, surrounded by the wreckage of the party. Half-eaten plates of food littered the tables, champagne glasses stood abandoned on every surface, apkins lay crumpled on the floor. The chandelier overhead still glittered, indifferent to the destruction below.
His hands trembled. The champagne glass he'd been holding slipped from his fingers and shattered on the marble floor. The sound echoed through the empty space.
Footsteps clicked against the marble, as Charlotte walked past him, her heels making sharp, deliberate sounds. She didn't look up from her phone, her thumbs moving rapidly across the screen. She was probably texting someone about how well her announcement had gone.
"Charlotte." Mavis's voice came out hoarse, but she kept walking.
"Charlotte, please." He moved quickly, reaching out to catch her hand. "Can we talk? Just you and me?"
She spun around so fast he stumbled backward. Her face twisted with disgust as she yanked her hand away like he'd burned her.
"Don't you dare touch me," she hissed. "Don't you ever touch me again."
"I just want to talk….."
"Talk?" Charlotte's laugh was sharp and bitter. "Mavis, what's left to say? You're an embarrassment I've tolerated for three years. Three years too long, if I'm being honest."
He stepped closer, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. His eyes pleaded with her to see him, really see him. "I've done everything you asked. Every humiliation, every degrading task, every…."
"That's the problem." She cut him off, her voice became cold and emotionless. Her blue eyes looked at him like he was something stuck to the bottom of her shoe. "You endured it. A real man would've left. A real man would've had some self-respect."
The words were like a physical blow to him. Mavis felt something crack inside his chest. "You said we were partners, Charlotte. When we got married, you said we'd build something together."
She laughed again, louder this time. It came out cruel and mocking. "Build what, Mavis? Build what? You can't even pay for your own suit! You have nothing. You are nothing. What exactly did you think we were going to build?"
Before he could respond, new footsteps approached. Lugar Kiwanis emerged from the shadows near the terrace, still wearing his expensive suit and that infuriating smirk. His hands slid casually into his pockets as he walked toward them with the confidence of a man who owned the world.
Mavis stared at him, with his mind racing through memories. His cousin. The boy who'd played in the Donard Estate gardens, who'd sat at their family dinners. Who'd vanished the night everyone died.
"Look at you, cousin," Lugar said, his voice was now dripping with amusement. "Serving drinks now? You've really honored the Donard name."
Mavis's throat tightened. "Lugar... you're alive?"
"Very much so." Lugar wrapped his arm around Charlotte's waist, pulling her close. She leaned into him naturally, her face lighting up in a way Mavis had never seen directed at him. "Some of us knew how to survive. Others..." He gestured dismissively at Mavis. "Others just knew how to crawl."
The pieces started falling into place. The way Charlotte had been glowing earlier. The intimate touches with her "business partner." The confidence with which she'd announced the divorce.
"How long?" Mavis asked quietly.
Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Does it matter?"
"How long have you two been…"
"Two years," Lugar said casually. "Give or take a few months."
Two years. While Mavis had been cleaning toilets and serving drinks, his wife had been sleeping with his supposedly dead cousin. The betrayal was so complete and so absolute, that for a moment Mavis couldn't breathe.
"Mavis Donard!" Enid's sharp voice rang out as she strode into the hall, her expression was thunderous. "Your time here is done. You've leeched off our family for too long. Tonight, you leave. Pack whatever pathetic belongings you have and get out of my house."
Mavis looked at Charlotte, waiting for her to say something. Anything. They'd been married for three years, surely that meant something.
But Charlotte just turned away, focusing all her attention on Lugar. She smiled up at him like he was the sun itself.
"You can't mean this," Mavis whispered.
Charlotte's hand went to her wedding ring. She twisted it off her finger with deliberate slowness, as if savoring the moment. The diamond caught the light from the chandelier one last time.
"I should've done this years ago," she said flatly.
She threw the ring. It arced through the air and bounced once on the marble before rolling to a stop at Mavis's feet.
He stared down at it. The symbol of their marriage, discarded like trash. His knees bent automatically, his hand reaching out to pick it up.
But halfway down, he stopped.
His chest tightened painfully. Images flashed through his mind like a slideshow of torture. Charlotte laughing while another man touched her, Enid pouring wine on his back and guests whispering about the pathetic son-in-law. Three years of sleeping in a servant's room, three years of eating leftovers, three years of being treated like he was less than human.
The humiliation transformed into something else. Something hot and dangerous that burned in his chest.
His hands started shaking, but not from sadness….from rage.
Charlotte smirked down at him, still kneeling on the floor. "You're free, Mavis. Go crawl back to whatever gutter you came from."
Lugar laughed softly, his arm tightening around Charlotte's waist. He leaned down, his voice dropping to a tone only Mavis could hear.
"She's mine now."