He Dared Me To Find Better

After three years of a dead-end marriage and a husband who refused to sign the divorce papers despite keeping a permanent mistress, I stopped crying. Instead, I started swiping.

I was at the boutique, eyeing my fifth Birkin of the month, when my husbands mistress called to stage an intervention.

Do you even know how to be a wife? Pipers voice was shrill, dripping with a mock concern that made my skin crawl. "How can you have the heart to buy another bag right now? The firm is in a liquidity crisis. Nathan is losing sleep every single night over the overhead."

She let out a shaky breath, and then, incredibly, she started to sob. "Hes your husband, Isabel. Dont you feel anything for him?"

In the background, I heard the muffled, low timbre of Nathans voice, shushing her, comforting her.

This was the fifty-ninth time she had lectured me on my "reckless" spending. She was his lead accountant, his "loyal" employee, and the woman he couldn't seem to quit. We had been trapped in this divorce battle for three years.

I didn't scream. I didn't even argue. I simply pressed 'end call' and turned to the sales associate with a blank smile. I proceeded to spend half a million dollars on a suite of high-end appliances and designer furniture for a home I had no intention of staying in.

Ten minutes later, Nathan called. He let out a heavy, performative sigh. "From now on, Piper is in charge of your accounts. If you need a cent, you ask her. Shes a professional; maybe she can finally cure you of this pathological wastefulness."

I listened in silence. My lack of reaction seemed to irritate him more than a tantrum would have.

"What are you even doing with all that junk?" he snapped. "Cant you just try to live a normal life for once?"

"You told me once," I said, my voice as level as a horizon line, "that the day I found someone who actually wanted me, youd let me go. That youd sign the papers."

"Isabel"

"Im buying my trousseau, Nathan. Every swipe of the card is an investment in my new life. I've found someone."

...

There was a long beat of silence on the other end. Then, a sharp, dismissive scoff.

"Is this the only trick you have left?" Nathan asked. "The 'other man' routine? I don't have the energy for this, Isabel. The company is hit with a federal audit, and things are tense."

He let out another sigh, that mixture of exhaustion and arrogance he wore like a tailored suit. "I dont expect you to help me carry the weight. I just need you to stay in your lane. Stop trying to buy my attention with high-end receipts. Ive told you a thousand times: youll always be Mrs. Nathan Jackson. Stop acting out. Its beneath you."

He was so certain. He truly believed that outside of the gilded cage hed built for me, I was nothing. He thought no one else would look at me. Hed thought that three years ago, and he thought it now.

I heard Pipers voice in the background, teasing him. "You dont think shes actually seeing someone, do you?"

"Please," Nathan chuckled, a sound full of smug confidence. "No one else would put up with her. With that temper? Im the only man on earth who can handle her."

He called it a "temper." He never realized that he was the one who had transformed a soft, quiet woman into a screaming banshee, and eventually, into this cold, silent stranger.

Years ago, I would have fought him. I would have stormed into his office and screamed about the accountant he was sleeping with until security escorted me out. But to a man of his stature, my public pain wasn't a scandalit was an ego boost. It was a testament to how much he mattered.

For three years, he and Piper had been a "we." She stood where I should have stood at every gala. She sat at his familys Thanksgiving table while I stayed home. I was the punchline of every joke in the suburban country club circuit.

And yet, every time I begged for a divorce, he refused. Hed look at me with that cruel, confident smirk and say: "You want out? Fine. Find a man whos willing to take you off my hands. Go out there and see who wants Nathan Jacksons leftovers. See whos brave enough to cross me."

He overestimated his shadow. And he vastly underestimated me. The man I found wasn't just "someone." He was everything Nathan pretended to be, and more.

The line went dead.

Still feeling the phantom itch of his arrogance, I walked over to the watch counter and asked to see a limited-edition Patek Philippe.

The clerk ran my card and winced. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Jackson. There's a transaction limit. It's... well, it's set to fifty dollars."

A text popped up from Piper immediately: I hope you understand. Nathan is under a lot of pressure. Once the firm clears this hurdle, I might increase your allowance to a hundred. Please, Isabel. Have a heart. Stop being a burden to your husband.

I actually laughed. A mistress asking the wife to "have a heart" for the man they were both bleeding dryspiritually or financially.

She had played her part well. To the world, she was the "loyal partner" helping a mogul survive his "unstable" wife. To Nathans family, I was the fallen socialite whose parents had gone to prison, a girl who had lost her utility and kept only her expensive tastes.

I drove back to the housea sprawling, glass-and-steel mausoleum I had haunted for seven years. It felt like a walk-in freezer.

Nathan and Piper were waiting in the living room. They were sitting close, her hand resting casually on his thigh, her fingers tracing the fabric of his trousers. I had seen this tableau so many times that the sight no longer sparked a fire; it just left behind a cold ash.

Piper looked at my empty hands and smirked at Nathan. "You were right. Empty-handed. Just another cry for attention."

Nathan gave a small, indulgent nod. They stood up together as I headed for the stairs.

"Isabel," Nathan called out. "We need to talk."

I stopped and turned, a ghost of a smile touching my lips. "About the divorce? Give me a second to call my attorney."

It was the only way to shut him down. The word 'divorce' was the only thing that stopped his "concerned husband" monologue in its tracks.

His face darkened instantly. "Do you have any idea how youd survive a week without me? You think you can provide for yourself?" He sneered, tossing a folder onto the coffee table. "Were cutting back. Piper put together a budget for you. From now on, every expense goes through her for approval."

I saw the flicker of annoyance in Pipers eyes. Every time I brought up the divorce, Nathans refusal hit her like a physical blow. She wanted the title. She wanted the ring.

She masked it quickly with a sugary, condescending tone. "Isabel, you've never had to worry about the cost of living. Even a fortune has its limits, and the firms capital is tied up. We just need you to cooperate."

I didn't look at her. I looked straight at Nathan. "You should clear your calendar for next week. Id like you to meet my boyfriend."

He snorted, the sound of a man whod heard the same joke too many times. "Is this the 'Boy Who Cried Wolf' again? Its getting pathetic, Isabel."

In the early days of the affair, I had tried to make him jealous. Id staged "dates" and left fake messages. Id done it three times, and each time, hed caught me in the lie. Now, when I was finally telling the truth, he was blinded by his own vanity.

Piper chimed in, her voice dripping with poison. "Isabel, are you only saying this because you found out Im pregnant? I know its hard for you, but acting out won't change the facts."

A cold shock vibrated through me. She was pregnant.

Only a year ago, Nathan had looked me in the eye and promised, "Ill never let a woman on the side carry my name. Youre the only mother I want for my children. If it ever happens, Ill take care of it. Trust me."

Now, he looked at me and said, "Watch your tone, Isabel. Piper is in a delicate state. I won't have you upsetting her."

"What a coincidence," I said, my hand resting lightly on my still-flat stomach. "Im pregnant too. Why would I waste my energy being upset with her?"

They both laughed. It was a cruel, mocking sound. They were utterly convinced I was lying.

Nathans phone rang, and he stepped out onto the terrace to take the call.

The second he was gone, Pipers mask fell. She stepped into my personal space, her voice a lethal whisper. "Hes not keeping you because he loves you. He keeps you because he pities you. To the Jacksons, youre just a stray dog they forgot to put down. A mans heart is where his money is, Isabel."

She leaned in closer. "Hes moved all his personal liquid assets into my accounts. The company might be 'struggling,' but I have enough in offshore holdings to last ten lifetimes. Im making you pinch pennies because I don't think you deserve a single cent of his. Don't flatter yourselfhe isn't holding onto the marriage. He's holding onto his property."

She grinned, a predatory flash of teeth. "And by the way? Nathan already scheduled his vasectomy. Youll never carry a Jackson heir. My child will be the only one who matters."

I watched her, fascinated by her delusions of grandeur. It wasn't that Nathan wouldn't touch meit was that I wouldn't let him. The day I found out about them, he had tried to force his way into my bed. I had picked up a steak knife and opened a gash in his arm that required sixteen stitches. His scarson his arms, his legs, the one near his eye where Id swung a pair of shearswere the map of our "intimacy."

His mother had tried to have me arrested. Nathan had bailed me out, bleeding and furious, but he never tried to touch me again. For three years, we hadn't even shaken hands.

"He's all yours, Piper," I said with a shrug.

She looked disappointed that I hadn't shattered. She took another step toward me as I turned to go upstairs.

"One more thing," she said. "You know your parents? That eight-hundred-million-dollar bond to get them out of that fraud mess? Nathan could have paid it three years ago. He had the cash. But he spent it buying out an entire art gallery in London for me because I told him I liked the paintings. Your parents lives didn't mean as much to him as a few canvases on my wall."

That one hit.

I didn't care about the affair anymore, but the realization that he had watched me beg for help, watched me go grey with stress and spend sleepless nights trying to save my family while he sat on the funds to help them... that was a different kind of pain.

My parents had practically built Nathan. They had plucked him from a sea of ambitious young men and groomed him to be the heir to the Jackson empire. He had promised them undying loyalty.

But he had forgotten. He had watched them burn and toasted his new mistress with the ashes.

Luckily, I had found another way. I had gotten them out three months ago, through a connection he didn't know I had.

I turned back to Piper, my eyes like chips of ice. "He gave you the world, but he won't give you his name. Hed rather get stabbed by me every night than be married to you. Thats a very... unique... kind of love, Piper."

Her face twisted. Before she could retort, Nathans mother, Lydia, swept into the room.

"Isabel! Are you harassing her again?" Lydia barked. She rushed to Pipers side, fussing over her like she was made of porcelain. Lydia had spent years calling me a "barren socialite." Our relationship had been a war zone since the day Piper appeared.

Piper squeezed out a few crocodile tears. Nathan walked back in, and without a second thought, he pointed a finger at me. "Apologize to her, Isabel. Now."

I laughed. It was a sharp, jagged sound.

"Apologies are for people who intend to change," Lydia snapped. "Shes hopeless. Piper is carrying a Jackson child. Isabel, if you lay a finger on her, youll regret it. In fact, Ive decided. Youre moving out. Youll stay at the Heights."

'The Heights' was a thirty-square-meter studio apartment in a run-down part of the city. Lydia had bought it specifically to humiliate me. Shed told me once, "If you cant act like a lady in this mansion, Ill lock you in that kennel."

I looked at Nathan. Usually, hed push back against his mothers more overt cruelties. Today, he just looked at me with cold indifference. "Do as she says. Move there until the baby is born. Well re-evaluate then."

I didn't argue. "Fine," I said.

The shock on their faces was almost worth the misery of the last three years.

After I left, Nathan assumed I was rotting in that tiny studio. He let Piper drop my daily spending limit to twenty dollars. He treated me like a dog hed finally managed to crate.

It wasn't until Pipers son was born that he finally came looking for me. He called, his voice thick with a strange, anxious tension. "Isabel? Where are you?"

"Get to the point, Nathan," I said.

Pipers voice broke in on the extension. "Isabel! Ive given the Jacksons their heir. Were having a 'Sip and See' for the babys one-month milestone. We want you there. It would be... good for you to be around such a happy occasion."

The spite in her voice was palpable.

"Ill be there," I said. "And Ill be bringing someone."

"Good," Nathan said, sounding relieved. "I knew a little time on your own would make you grow up. Youre finally acting like the woman I married."

I smiled to myself.

The day of the party, I arrived at the Jackson estate. I was eight months pregnant, my belly prominent under a custom silk gown. And I wasn't alone. I was leaning on the arm of the man who had been my shadow and my strength for the last year.

Nathan was standing in the center of the ballroom, cradling his son. When he saw me, the color drained from his face as if someone had pulled a plug.

Piper gasped, her glass nearly slipping from her hand. "Isabel? What... what is this?"

The room went silent. Every socialite, every business rival, and every member of the Jackson family stared at us. Or rather, they stared at the man holding my hand: Dominic Thorne.

I smiled at my husband. "Nathan, I believe its time for formal introductions. This is the man I told you about. My partner, and the father of my childDominic Thorne."