He Stole Me From My Deadbeat Husband
Chapter 266

Chapter 266: Chapter 266

"The annulment of the prenup?"

"Yes, Your Honor," Graham replied. "My client has signed an unfair prenup under extreme pressure and manipulation. She has been unfairly treated by her husband."

"Heh, unfairly treated," Matthew sneered.

The judge glared at Matt, "Stay seated and silent, Mr. Woods. You may speak once I order you to."

Matt zipped his mouth instantly.

He had no idea what the court was about. After all, he had always been a good and lawful citizen. He never broke the law and thus never had to be in this position his entire life. "I’ve read the prenup. It is written that you will split every asset you have in a fair 50:50 in case of divorce. This doesn’t seem to be a problematic prenup in my eyes."

Judge Cassidy then shifted her gaze towards Kate, saying, "Mrs. Katherine Woods, come to the front and tell me about the reason for the annulment and why you stated you’ve been put under extreme pressure and manipulation to sign it."

Kate looked at Graham, and the latter nodded, assuring her that everything would be fine.

Kate got up and walked to the podium, directly facing the judge as she opened her statement about the prenup, "Your Honor, I have been manipulated into signing a prenup. I... I am infertile, Your Honor, and my husband used my condition and forced me to sign the prenup before we got married."

"He then forced me to work my bones off after we got married. He never contributed to the household’s finances for the past five years. Your honor, you may retrieve his tax record, and you will see he has never been registered to work anywhere."

Matt felt wronged when Kate said that he had never worked for the past five years.

He did work as an extra in a few TV series, and he got paid about two to five hundred dollars for his appearance. Though, it was only once every three months or so.

But at least he worked!

He contributed to the household finance by using it to buy his own game console, so he didn’t need to pester Kate about it.

Judge Cassidy was convinced after Kate said she could look through Matthew Woods’ tax record to see whether he had been paying taxes.

Because if he had been unemployed for the past five years, he didn’t need to pay any employment tax.

"Has he ever been abusive towards you?" the judge asked.

"Physically, no, Ma’am," Kate replied truthfully. "But mentally, I have been subjected to constant torment because of my infertility. I worked so hard and gave him a good life to compensate for my inability to give him a child, but he..."

Kate’s eyes began to pool with tears. She wiped her tears with a handkerchief. The judge stayed silent, but deep down, this woman’s situation saddened her, "He cheated with my sister. That’s why I filed for divorce and requested the prenup annulment."

Graham and Henry might have thought that she was just acting right now. But her tears were real.

She recalled all the hard work and stress she had to endure to show her worth in front of Mr. James Grant.

She thought that giving him a good life would be enough to keep Matt loyal, but not.

"Pardon me, Your Honor, I can’t control myself," Kate said as she continued crying.

"I understand, Mrs. Woods," the judge said.

She could connect with Kate because she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in her mid-thirties, thus making her infertile as well.

But she was lucky because her husband stayed loyal.

Unfortunately, she handled many divorce cases when the wife was infertile due to a condition or an illness, and the husband divorced her because of it.

But this case was quite unique because Kate was the family’s breadwinner and worked so hard to keep her man happy to compensate.

’It’s so tragic...’

"Thank you for your statement, Mrs. Woods. You may sit down now."

"Wait, Your Honor, I have proof of a blackmail my husband did to me not long ago," Kate said. "I want to show what kind of mental abuse I went through daily."

Matt’s eyes widened. He had a bad feeling about this, "W—Wait, I never blackmailed her! You shouldn’t trust her, Ma’am—I mean, Your Honor!"

Judge Cassidy glared at him again, and Matt cowered in fear once more.

Judge Cassidy noticed that Kate looked very confident with whatever proof she had, so she nodded, "Let me see it."

Kate gave a flash disk containing the video of Matt’s blackmail to the bailiff, and he played the video using a projector.

Everyone in the court saw the scene between Kate and Matt sitting at a cafe table. They were facing each other, and though they couldn’t see Kate’s expression, they could clearly see the maliciousness in Matt’s eyes.

-

"You said that I can’t force you? I thought you were smarter than that, Kate," Matt smirked evilly in the video. "Do you want everyone in your office to know about this? I’m sure all of your subordinates will lose respect once they know that their oh-so-empowered Chief Editor has a child molester as her father."

Kate’s shoulder began to shake in the video. She was obviously distressed, but the more Kate showed her distress, the more malicious Matt got.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Kate asked with her weak voice.

"Because I need your money," Matt replied without hesitation. "Why should I get a job when I can get ten grand from my wife? Why would I need to suffer when you can take the suffering instead?"

-

Matt paled when he watched the whole video.

He didn’t know that he was being recorded. He also felt so powerful at that time that he didn’t even care about his surroundings.

The video ended with him leaving Kate alone, sobbing like a poor woman abused by her husband. And Matt finally realized something;

’Fuck, I have been duped.’