---- Chapter 35 The police arrived, untangling the mess. Serena, exposed and desperate, tried to spin another web of lies, but her credibility was shot. The truth about "Jason/Mikey" came out - he was the child of a struggling single mother Serena had occasionally "babysat" for, and then callously exploited. As they were being questioned, the real mother arrived, frantic, having heard about the incident. She snatched her child away from the periphery of the chaos, glaring at Serena with pure hatred. 1 Serena's reaction to the child being taken by his actual mother was one of complete indifference. No, worse than indifference. Relief. She even had the audacity to complain to an officer, "That brat was cramping my style anyway." Witnessing her extreme callousness towards the child she had paraded as her own, the child she had used to manipulate him, to destroy Liv's peace of mind, filled Michael with a profound disgust. Then, in a final, venomous outburst, Serena turned on Michael. "This is all your fault! If you hadn't been so gullible! And that precious Liv of yours? | hope she's miserable! | sent her little 'gifts,' you know. Anonymous things. Just to keep her on edge. ---- She deserved it, the smug bitch!" Harassment. She had actively, maliciously tormented Liv, even beyond the primary affair. The revelation of this calculated cruelty, this long-term campaign of psychological abuse against Liv, was the final straw. A moral awakening, painful and belated, pierced through Michael's rage and self-pity. He saw Serena for the depraved, toxic individual she truly was. And in that moment, he contrasted her with Liv. Liv, who, even in her deepest pain, had maintained a core of dignity, of inherent kindness. Liv, who he had betrayed so monstrously. The pain of that realization was a physical ache. He made his decision. He would divorce Serena, not for Liv, not for Mr. Hayes's false promise, but for himself. To cleanse himself of her poison. His contempt for Serena was absolute. His empathy for Liv, though too late, was finally, painfully real.