This had me thinking about some uncomfortable shit. What would Mom say if she found out I was the reason a married woman was getting divorced? Would she sigh? Would she cry? Or would she just stare at me over her steaming mug of herbal
"I told you so"
blend and ask,
"Peter, darling, couldnât you have found a slightly less... explosive hobby? Like collecting rare stamps? Or juggling chainsaws?"
Forget Isabellaâs particular Christ-on-a-crutch situation â the real grenade Iâd lobbed into the societal China shop was Amanda. Literally. Stolen a bride. From her actual engagement party. Like some fucked-up fairy tale where the dragon rides off with the princess before the "I Doâs," leaving the hapless prince holding a wilted bouquet and a lifetime of therapy bills.
We didnât just crash her upcoming wedding; we detonated it, scooped up the dazed, glittery debris.
What the actual fuck was my life becoming? It felt less like a life and more like a reality TV script penned by Nietzsche after a bad batch of brownies. Extreme Makeover: Moral Edition â Tonightâs episode? Guy Obliterates Social Norms!
Seemed like the only morals clinging to the wreckage of my psyche like stubborn survivors were two flimsy, suspiciously self-serving commandments:
Thou
Shalt Ensure Womenâs
Well-Being
(mostly by not letting them marry dipshits like Amandaâs almost-husband), and
Thou
Shalt Provide Mind-Blowing
Satisfaction
(because hey, if youâre gonna burn down their carefully curated lives, the least you can do is give them a decent orgasm in the ashes).
Divine responsibility, right? Like a career arsonist justifying spreading napalm because hey, the fire looks pretty and it clears the underbrush.
My moral compass wasnât just broken; it was spinning like a demented roulette wheel, landing on chaos every single fucking time.
...Nah.
Screw that spiral. I slammed the mental brakes. That introspective noise? That was the sound of weakness. The whimpers of a conscience trying to stage a pathetic comeback tour. I wasnât becoming some monster. I was just... excelling at my calling.
Think of it less as destroying marriages and more as... efficient relationship triage.
Cutting out the gangrenous limbs before they infected the whole patient? Yeah. That sounds medically ethical. As for Amanda? We didnât steal her. We rescued her. From a lifetime of vanilla sex and beige suburbia.
That wasnât a crime; that was a public fucking service. Oscar-worthy performance, honestly. Accepting speech already drafted:
"Iâd like to thank my complete disregard for societal expectations."
Of course I was still a good guy. Just... good at this particular brand of necessary chaos. Like a surgeon with a very specific, very bloody specialty. My scalpel? Wit. My operating theater? Luxury penthouses and stolen wedding receptions. My patient? The suffocating expectations draped over women like cheap chiffon.
Yeah, collateral damage would happen to many men. Divorces would get filed. Ex-fiancés crying into their overpriced scotch. Ex-husbands suddenly remembering they loved their wives when faced with the prospect of them... not being there anymore? Pathetic. Predictable.
Like watching a bad stock recover after youâve already shorted it into oblivion. Not my problem. My problem, my calling, was the aftermath. Making sure the woman walked away smiling. Feeling powerful. Alive. Unfuckwithable. That wasnât just satisfaction; it was liberation.
And if liberating women required scattering a few sacred cows (and a few marriage licenses) across the whole world skyline? So be it.
Good guy? Abso-fucking-lutely. Just good at being the antidote and the cosmosâs errand boy for liberating its beloved daughters.
The chaotic counterpoint to all that stifling, polite, soul-crushing normalcy. They built their gilded cages. I just provided the bolt cutters... and maybe a little spontaneous combustion as a parting gift. My morals werenât gone; theyâd just evolved. Adapted to the battlefield.
Survival of the fittest and the satisfied, babes. And these women? They werenât just surviving under my watch. They were thriving. And yeah, that made me feel pretty fucking good about myself. Sue me. Or better yet... thank me later.
Preferably over that vodka Anastasia was offering last time I was in Miami while she disguised calling me to her apartment.
But the dust hadnât even settled on Isabellaâs crisis call when my brain was already cataloguing the massive avalanche of glorious chaos rolling in. Apparently, liberation isnât a one-night stand â itâs a goddamn franchise.
Weâd just dropped Madison and Sofia off at their respective homes, leaving Amanda and Soo-Jin in the car with me as we pulled through Momâs mansion gates. Amanda was still half-asleep against the window, probably dreaming about whatever the fuck runaway brides dream about. Soo-Jin sat quietly in the back, still processing the insanity of Isabellaâs harem welcome call.
"Your life is completely unhinged," Soo-Jin said softly, shaking her head. "Biology teacher calls crying, Madison sends lawyers, Sofia discovers her teacherâs in your... woman. This is not normal teenage behavior."
"Normal is overrated, my love," I replied.
"Peter," ARIA chimed in through my watch, "Your philosophical spiraling about morality is giving me secondhand embarrassment. You spent fifteen minutes justifying stealing a bride like youâre writing a dissertation."
"Shut up, ARIA."
"Just saying, youâve got actual problems to solve instead of pontificating about your cosmic calling. Speaking of which, your Miami relocation logistics are a nightmare. Celesteâs gallery lease, Sophiaâs museum connections, plus the estate housing situation? Youâre about to run a refugee camp for sexually liberated socialites."
Amanda stirred, blinking awake. "Are we here yet?"
I had a whola lot of things to settle now before whatever chaos was going on in momâs house got to my mind.
First item: Operation LA Homesteading. My Miami squad â Celeste with her gallery-size insecurities, Sophia and her museum-daddy angst â they wanted in. The rest? Playing coy, like virgins at a swingerâs convention. Not saying âno,â but not instantly flinging their panties at the Golden State border either.
Fine. Let them simmer. Anticipation is the ultimate aperitif. Their reluctant âmaybesâ just made the eventual âfuck yes, please I want to settle in with you nowâ sweeter. LA wasnât ready for this hurricane of high-maintenance chaos landing.
But beyond that, the real missions were piling up. Sofiaâs daddy problems and that walking, talking disappointment, Jack Fucking Morrison. Kid radiated âfuture midlife crisis in a trust fund babyâ like bad cologne.
I had to help her. Fixing Sofia? Maybe. Saving her from Patriarchal Tyranny? Probably a Tuesday.