Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“You’re pathetic. You can’t even give my son an heir.”

My mother-in-law’s harsh words echoed through my mind as I held the pregnancy test strip in my shaky hands.

For the first time in two years, it showed two lines.

A series of emotions flooded through me, but my happiness was over the skyscraper’s roof. After two years of marriage, after all the emotional abuse from my mother-in-law, I finally conceived.

I was finally having a child for Eric.

Leaving the office for home to rest and wait for Eric to return, I was dying to tell him the thrilling news in person.

Seated in my car, as my chauffeur; Trevor drove, I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Eric.

[I have good news. I can’t wait to tell you.]

After waiting for minutes in silence, I glanced at my phone and my heart sank when I saw he hadn’t replied to my text yet.

He never took this long to reply unless it was business, which wasn't because he went to meet his friend at the bar, leaving me at the office to finish his paperwork.

Finding it hard to contain my excitement and curiosity, I tried calling him instead, but when the call switched to voicemail, my stomach twisted in a very uncomfortable way.

“Are you okay, Mrs Curtis?” Trevor’s voice brought me out of my tainted thoughts.

Meeting his worried eyes from the front car mirror, I flashed him a pleasant smile, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

He nodded slightly, then shifted his gaze back to the road.

An unsettling feeling settled in my gut. Something was wrong but I wasn't sure what it was. Recently, Eric had been different, distant, and harsher. He occasionally raised his voice at me at the slightest inconvenience.

Last week, he went overboard when he struck me in the face so hard, I fell to the ground. All because I spoke first at a board meeting.

“You don't speak first. Our companies might be merged, but I'm the man here. I'm the one with the power and control,” he had barked at me as I held my throbbing cheek.

I still loved him. I couldn't bring myself not to. Even if our marriage started as a contract agreement, with time we fell in love. Though we had our problems, he was a good man. There was a part of my soul that clung to him like a leech. These were just the ups and downs in a marriage.

After sharing the good news, I was convinced he’d change.

As I arrived at our mansion, while Trevor parked the car carefully into the garage, I caught sight of Eric’s favorite Rolls Royce and zoned out for a brief moment as my mind shuffled with thoughts.

He said he went to the bar to meet his friend. But why is his car here?

My heart leaped when the door came open, then I relaxed when I realized it was just Trevor.

I was too jumpy these days. Maybe it had something to do with my baby.

He held out his hand and I took it, letting him guide me out of the car like the proper gentleman he was.

“Thank you,” I managed to say, my gaze still fixed on Eric’s car.

As I walked past the gates, I paused to ask one of the security men, “When did my husband return?”

A young-looking man answered, “It's been a while. About an hour, ma'am.”

My ears rang as my brain worked, processing what I just heard.

Eric left an hour ago.

“Did he come alone?” I didn't like how my voice strained at that last part, but I needed the details to sate my curiosity.

“No. He came along with your cousin, Miss Barbara, ma'am.”

Releasing a deep sigh of relief, I chuckled nervously to myself.

What was I thinking?

“Thank you.”

As I entered the mansion, I greeted our workers as usual. Climbing the stairs, my legs grew weak from exhaustion and nausea caused by the baby.

Our baby.

Placing a hand on my stomach, I could feel my excitement coursing through my veins.

Standing in front of our bedroom, my hand was already on the doorknob, ready to pull it open when a sound made me stop. It was faint and barely audible but it was coming from our bedroom. Curious, I placed my ear against the door and heard it clearly.

“Yes, baby. I love it when you do that.”

All the blood drained from me and my whole body went rigid. My heartbeat echoed so loudly and violently, that I could hear it ringing in my eardrums.

That was Eric’s voice, there's no mistaking it.

A loud moan followed and my head started to spin.

What the fuck is going on?

It sounded like sex was going on, but a part of my heart numbed as it tried to come up with another logic.

Maybe he's watching a movie.

There was no finding out unless I turned the knob, which suddenly felt slippery from my sweaty palms gripping it. My legs and my heart urged me to turn away and run, to protect myself from what I would find behind the door, but my brain compelled me to find out.

I turned the knob gently and quietly pushed the door open. A sharp gasp escaped my lips before I could stop myself, and my eyes widened in disbelief.

Right in front of me, on our matrimonial bed, Eric stood naked at the edge, Barbara bent over in front of him, with his dick deep inside her.

They both looked at me.

My whole world crumbled at that moment. My body shook violently as I tried to control my rapid breathing. They separated, Barbara lying naked on the bed with an evil smirk on her face, and Eric putting on his boxers.

“Tell her already. The suspense is killing me,” my sweet cousin drawled as she played with her hair.

I looked back at Eric, my lips quivering as I tried to say something; anything at all, but I was in so much shock that I lost thought of common words.

He looked away, pulled out the bedside drawer, and brought out a paper and a pen. He walked up to me, keeping his eyes locked on mine. I looked into them, searching for an answer, a reason; anything to hold onto. But there was no hint of remorse, sympathy or whatsoever.

For the first time, I understood the hard look he always had in his eyes when he looked at me. I saw the harbored hatred and disgust for me.

My eyes shifted to the bold words written at the top of the paper as he said the words that sent me crumbling to the ground in defeat.

“Sign the papers. We’re getting a divorce.”