Eight Divorces To Break Her Pride

When I remarried my husband for the eighth time, everyone said I had changed.

I stopped checking Killian Blackwood's phone with paranoid eyes, and I stopped acting like a madwoman targeting Janelle Vance.

Instead, I lived like a dog he had finally broken.

At a high-end lounge party, Killian called me.

"Bring a pack of condoms to the club within twenty minutes."

"If you aren't here, we're getting divorced."

I didn't dare delay, weaving through heavy traffic to reach the VIP entrance of the club.

As I stood by the door, unabashed laughter drifted from the room.

"Killian, you've really got some skills, training the great Seraphina Thorne to be as obedient as a lapdog."

"There are only five minutes left. If she doesn't make it, is he really going to divorce her? That would be eight divorces and eight marriages, wouldn't it?"

"The Queen of Rebound Divorces. She's actually doing it. Killian, you're the man."

I pushed open the door to the booth with a calm expression.

I placed the box of condoms on the marble table, and the voices inside died down instantly.

"Is one box enough? I have more in my bag if you need them."

"Pffft."

Someone was the first to let out a mocking snort.

Then, the entire room erupted in laughter. "Killian, I've got to hand it to you. This is impressive."

"I can't believe it. When did the Thorne heiress become so generous and virtuous? Killian really knows how to break them!"

Killian's face was shadowed in the dim light, making his expression hard to read.

Janelle was tucked into his side, his arm wrapped around her slender waist.

Her lips were slightly swollen, and she leaned lazily against Killian's chest.

I looked at them, but strangely, I felt no spark of emotion in my heart.

I lowered my gaze, turning a deaf ear to the taunts around me.

"What you wanted is here. I'm leaving now," I said softly.

I turned to walk away when Killian suddenly spoke.

"Stop. Did I say you could leave?"

His voice was unreadable. I stood still and asked calmly, "Is there anything else?"

He seemed to let out a cold laugh, his shoe pointing at the bottles on the table. "Pour the drinks."

My lips tightened as one pair of eyes after another swept over me.

Janelle looked at me, her eyes filled with unconcealed malice and triumph.

"Killian, stop. How could Sera ever agree to do a waitress's job?"

Killian kissed Janelle's neck roughly.

"Why not? Is she somehow more noble than you? If you can do it, why can't she?"

My fingers twitched. I knelt on the floor and began pouring the expensive liquor bottle by bottle.

The mockery around me rose and fell, and some people even pulled out their phones to take photos.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime sight. I need to show people that the great Seraphina Thorne has a future as a bottle girl."

I ignored the insults stinging my ears.

After pouring the drinks, I stood up and looked at him. "Can I go now?"

Killian's face was a mask of tension, and he didn't speak.

My lips moved, but in the end, I remained silent.

Suddenly, Killian stood up and grabbed my arm, his eyes burning with suppressed rage. "Don't you have anything to say to me?"

My stomach cramped violently, and a metallic, sweet taste rose in my throat.

A wave of agony tore through my body, twisting my features.

I looked at him and spoke slowly. "I want money."

He stared at me with a dark, heavy gaze and let out a cold huff.

Janelle leaned into Killian's arm and pointed at the table. "The table is covered in money, isn't it?"

"If Seraphina wants money, she should just take it."

Killian glanced at her, his voice dripping with an icy chill. "Fine. You want money, right?"

He pulled out a stack of hundreds and tucked a bill under each glass. "Drink. Take as much as you can swallow."

I stood there, motionless.

Killian sneered, "Why aren't you drinking? Don't you want the cash? You used to be quite the drinker, didn't you?"

I didn't say a word. I just watched him silently, a sudden surge of tears threatening to spill.

After my parents died and the Thorne empire collapsed, every penny was seized to pay off debts. I was left with nothing.

The former golden girl of the city was reduced to wandering the streets.

Back then, anyone could step on me.

I had to spend every day begging for more time, wearing a fake smile for people who despised me.

I drank glass after glass of cheap rotgut at dinner tables just to appease creditors.

I even knelt on the floor to shine the shoes of men who used to work for my father.

Back then, I did anything to survive.

When Killian came back to the country and found me, I was a different person.

I was wearing heavy makeup and revealing clothes, selling bottles at a seedy dive bar.

To get the commission, I chugged bottle after bottle.

I would drink until I vomited, then drink more until I was hollowing out my own gallbladder.

Killian had grabbed my hand and dragged me out. He held me so tightly, his hot tears falling onto my neck.

His voice was thick with heartbreak. "Let's get married. I'll pay off your debts."

"I'll treat you well for the rest of my life. We'll be together forever. We'll have a home."

"No one will ever bully you again."

I believed him. But later, he stepped out on me.

To make Janelle, the student he sponsored, happy, he divorced and remarried me repeatedly.

In just one year, we had seven divorces and eight marriages.

I became the biggest joke in our social circle.

He was still staring at me. "Drink or we divorce. Think carefully, Seraphina."

My fingers trembled as I picked up the first glass and began to swallow the liquid fire.

Seventeen glasses of hard liquor burned their way into my stomach, making me choke and tear up.

The people in the booth were still cheering. "Another one! Bottoms up!"

I grabbed the money from the table. "Can I go now?"

Killian remained silent. I couldn't hold it in anymore; I shoved the door open and ran out.

Before I got very far, I heard the sound of a brawl breaking out in the booth.

The sound of fists hitting flesh reached my ears.

"Who the hell gave you the right to mock her? You pieces of trash!" Killian roared.

My footsteps faltered for a second, but I didn't stop.

I collapsed in a bathroom stall, coughing up thick, dark blood.

I clutched the cash tightly in my hand.

Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I smiled bitterly.

It was enough.

This money was finally enough to buy myself a decent burial plot.

I washed the blood from my face and went home, collapsing onto the bed. The house was echoing and empty.

It had been so long since Killian had spent a night here that I couldn't even remember the last time.

He was always with Janelle in their private little love nest.

When I first found out he was seeing her, I had stormed into his office and caused a massive scene.

I had shredded Janelle's clothes in front of the entire staff and posted her photos to the company's group chat.

I had sobbed into Killian's chest, feeling my soul shatter. "I only have you left. Please, I'm begging you, don't leave me."

His expression had been complicated then, and he gently stroked my hair.

The next day, he fired Janelle. He promised she would be sent far away.

He said we would fix us.

But then, I found a medical report in our house.

A one-month-old embryo. It belonged to Killian and Janelle.

Killian had been so radiant with joy during those days.

Even on our wedding day, I had never seen him smile like that for so long.

A few months later, the baby was lost.

Janelle burst into our house and slapped me across the face repeatedly.

Her eyes were bloodshot as she turned to Killian. "It's her or me!"

That was our first divorce.

A few days later, Killian came back to ask for a remarriage.

I was so happy I clung to him. "I knew it. I knew you still loved me."

But that very night, Killian brought Janelle back into our home to live with us.

I turned ghost-white. Janelle smirked, clinging to his arm. "I'm going to make your life a living hell. You'll never have a moment of peace."

After that, whenever Janelle was unhappy, Killian would divorce me.

Then, shortly after, he would marry me again.

At first, I was devastated. But gradually, I stopped feeling anything at all.

Everyone said I was like Killian's dog. No matter how much he humiliated me, I'd come running the moment he whistled.

I knew what they said, but I couldn't leave him. I truly needed him.

I swallowed a handful of pills without expression, deleting the text from my doctor about starting chemotherapy.

Suddenly, I heard a noise from the living room and frowned, getting up to check.

I opened the door and saw Killian and Janelle having sex right there on the sofa.

Their tangled bodies were a blur of skin in front of me. I stood there, stunned.

My stomach churned, and I turned to leave.

"Don't you dare move!" Killian shouted.

My feet felt like they were rooted to the floor.

Killian's voice was ragged with breath. "Stand there. Keep your eyes open and watch."

"Otherwise, you'll never see that urn again!"

My fingernails dug into my palms. My arms shook uncontrollably.

Blood began to drip from my palms, but I couldn't feel the pain.

That urn held my mother's ashes. When she died, I couldn't even afford a grave.

After marrying Killian, I couldn't bear to let her go, so I kept her with me.

Over the years, I had cried into that urn more times than I could count.

I bit my lip until it bled.

I don't know how long it took for them to finish.

The moment they stopped, I bolted into the bathroom and began to dry heave.

Blood and bile mixed with tears, covering my face.

The bathroom door was kicked open, and Killian grabbed my shoulders roughly.

His face was pale, and his voice held a hint of desperation. "Seraphina, can you give me some kind of reaction?"

I didn't understand. What reaction did he want?

Did he want me to act like a lunatic again? Did he want to send me back to the psych ward?

I had fought, and I had screamed, and in the end, I just became the woman with eight marriages.

Recently, people in our circle had even started a betting pool on when we'd divorce again.

I was exhausted. I didn't want to play their games anymore.

Killian's eyes searched my face, and his gaze suddenly tightened.

"What's wrong with your face? Why is there blood?"

He reached out, his hands frantic as he tried to wipe my skin.

Then he saw the blood in the sink that hadn't washed away.

"Come on, I'm taking you to the hospital."

He gripped my hand, trying to pull me out.

I looked at him with sheer mockery. I brushed his hand away, my tone flat.

"I'm just disgusted."

"What did you think? Did you think you two were so dramatic that you literally made me cough up blood?"

Killian's words died in his throat. "You!"

After a long silence, his forehead slumped against my shoulder. "Seraphina"

I pushed him away. The sickness was real, but the disgust was even more real.

Janelle walked up and hooked her arm through Killian's. "Sera, how can someone live such a pathetic life?"

"You think we're disgusting? You don't have the right to be disgusted. You'll spend your whole life living like a dog."

Killian didn't say anything; he just kept staring at me.

"Is that all you have to say?"

I wiped the remaining blood from my lips. I repeated the same words. "I want money."

Killian's face twisted with loathing. "Is money the only thing you care about now?"

I nodded. I was truly broke.

I needed the money desperately.

Back during our third remarriage, I had pushed Janelle down the stairs.

She ended up in the hospital with a broken leg for a month.

Killian had come home that day, his face like stone. "Is it because I've spoiled you too much? Do you have any idea she's still in a hospital bed?"

"From now on, you're staying under house arrest to reflect on what you've done!"

He had cancelled all my credit cards and stationed guards at every door.

Killian looked at me now, his expression grim. "How much?"

"Six hundred thousand."

I had done the math. Six hundred thousand plus the hundred and seventy thousand I got from drinking.

It was enough to buy a plot, arrange my funeral, and be buried next to my mother.

I looked up at Killian, speaking every word clearly.

"You asked why I was coughing up blood. It's because I'm dying."

Killian looked like he had been struck.

Janelle's eyes flickered. she unclipped a bracelet from her wrist.

She threw it onto the floor with a sharp metallic clatter. "Take it. It's worth six hundred thousand. Actually, it's worth 1.2 million, so consider the rest a tip."

Killian snapped out of it, his face filled with disappointment. "You'd actually lie about dying just to get your hands on some cash."

I looked at the delicate bracelet on the floor and wanted to laugh. While I was coughing up blood for a fraction of that, Janelle could just toss 1.2 million away for fun.

Janelle's lips curled into a smirk. "Get on your knees and pick it up."

I walked out of the cemetery, saying goodbye to the manager.

She looked at me for a long moment, sighing with pity. "You're so young. Are you sure you won't go back to the hospital for another check-up?"

I handed the pen back to her after signing the contract. "No more tests."

"Please keep the spot I picked. Once I'm gone, I'm counting on you."

That day at the house, I had actually knelt and picked up the bracelet. I sold it for eight hundred thousand.

Janelle wasn't lying; it had been sold at auction for 1.2 million just two weeks ago.

When the news of that purchase broke, everyone was talking about it.

Just because Janelle said it was pretty, Killian dropped over a million dollars to make her smile.

Holding that bracelet, my mouth was full of bitterness.

I remembered the look on Killian's face when I knelt down. It was a mess of complicated emotions.

"Seraphina, how did you become this way?"

He and Janelle had left, and I stayed on my knees for a long time.

Tears hit the floor one by one, and my heart, which had been numb for so long, flared with a sharp, stabbing pain.

I wiped my eyes and saw a message on my phone.

Killian's devotion to Janelle was public knowledge, and her birthday party was a grand affair.

"Be there in thirty minutes, Seraphina. If you're late, we divorce."

I sat alone in a corner of the gala, watching Janelle and Killian mingle through the crowd.

People kept glancing at me, whispering and pointing.

Janelle walked up to me with a glass of champagne, her voice a low hiss. "I heard you were shopping for burial plots. Why aren't you dead yet?"

"You live a life cheaper than a stray. You deserve to die young, just like your mother did."

My jaw clenched, and a sudden surge of fury boiled over. I grabbed my drink and splashed it all over her.

"Shut your mouth, Janelle!"

Janelle screamed, and Killian rushed over, pulling her into his arms.

He looked furious. "Seraphina, what the hell are you doing now?"

"Why do you always have to hurt her? If you do this again"

I looked up, my voice flat. "What? You'll divorce me again?"

"You!"

Killian was speechless, his face turning an angry shade of red.

"Apologize."

I didn't apologize. I turned to walk away.

A second later, my hair was yanked violently from behind.

Janelle gripped it tight. "You think you can just leave? If you don't get on your knees and apologize right now, you and Killian are going to the courthouse tomorrow morning!"

"The Queen of Eight Divorces. Such a proud title."

My eyes widened as I tried to hold my hair down.

"Killian, tell her to let go. Please, I'm begging you."

My voice was trembling with urgency. The pulling sensation on my scalp grew heavier.

Killian said coldly, "You were in the wrong. Apologize."

"If you don't, we're done."

Janelle pulled with more strength until I couldn't hold on anymore. Suddenly, my head felt cold.

I froze. Then, I collapsed into a breakdown, covering my face and sobbing loudly.

In that moment, shame, grief, and exhaustion flooded my chest.

The glass in Killian's hand shattered on the floor. He instinctively reached out to pull me into his arms.

He tried to block the views of the onlookers. "What's wrong? Sera, what happened?"

Killian looked at my head, his face a mask of confusion, his fingers shaking.

"Where where is your hair?"

Suddenly, his voice stopped. I vomited a spray of bright red blood all over his expensive suit and his face.

I laughed through the pain. "I'm dying, Killian. I'm actually dying."

"Can you stop humiliating me now? I'm so, so tired."

My vision began to blur and fade.

Killian scooped me up and ran for the exit, his tears falling onto my face like rain.