2

Jared and I have been married for more than twelve years now. We have three months more to our thirteenth wedding anniversary. But the memories of our time together were tainted with regret and unhappiness.

We met each other when we were both eighteen and poor, struggling to make ends meet. I was an orphan whereas Jared was the son of a single mother living in poverty and we had vowed to work together to achieve our dreams.

Our fortunes changed seven years into our relationship when my late father's will had been discovered, leaving me his sole heir.

Jared and I got married and he had convinced me to transfer some of my properties to his name. He promised to work hard and provide for us while I became a stay at home wife, raising our future children and taking care of the household.

I don't know how it happened but things took a turn for the worse when Jared gained control over my properties. He became more powerful and conceited and I was left to live a life filled with regrets over the vows I made at he altar.

"Victoria?" I muttered the name of the lady with my eyes fixed on her as she stood behind my husband.

I tried to process the shock and confusion that washed over me.

What was she doing here when she was supposed to be abroad studying like she had said she wanted to? And not standing at my home with a stomach swollen with pregnancy.

Victoria was my niece. The last of my relatives.

Her mother had passed away shortly after my parents did and I had taken the responsibility of raising her. She had been nine then, a lonely sickly child.

I worked multiple shifts at grocery markets and department stores to be able to provide for her and her education and when things got better, she had requested to be sent abroad to study, which i had obliged.

So I was lost for words to describe the surprise etched on my face seeing her standing so casually in front of me, behind my husband and with a stomach bigger than my eight months old pregnancy .

"What is the meaning of this, Jared?" I asked turning towards my husband's direction. My voice shaked with anger and hurt but I tried to keep my emotions in check.

Victoria sure owed me an explanation but at that moment, I couldn't bear to look at her as she wasn't the right person for me to face. My thoughts were consumed by accusations against my husband. Was he really capable of such a betrayal again?

I knew I was overreacting with the way beads of sweat formed at my forehead and trickled down my cheeks but at the same time, my thoughts couldn't stop.

It wouldn't be new to him if my thoughts were true. It was in his nature like he always put it you see.

"Victoria will be moving in with us. She is pregnant with my son. Please serve her well with all she would need during this time" Jared said, the words leaving his lips casually as if he were discussing the weather.

" I don't understand" I managed to stutter, my voice barely above a whisper. I wondered what was he trying to imply and saying it with such ease as if his words were nothing for me to worry about.

"Victoria is six months gone with my son, Esmeralda. What's there not to understand?" His tone was harsh and laced with frustration. Perhaps he saw me as dumb.

I felt like I had been punched in the gut. The words stung and I couldn't help but wonder if I was stupid for not understanding the situation.

" He's lying right?" I faced my niece and asked. Perhaps he was trying to throw a prank my way. You know how these relationship therapists advice husbands to, in order to spice up their relationships.

"Jared is joking right?" I added as no reply came for my first question, hoping against hope that this was soke kind of cruel joke.

But Victoria's expression was one of disgust and she didn't even bother to respond to any of the questions I asked.

"Stop acting stupid Esmeralda. I already told you what you need to know" Jared said harshly with his tone laced frustration before pushing me aside and out of the way.

I stumbled and barely managed to regain my balance. I felt like I was living in a nightmare and I couldn't wake up from.

" How about me Jared? I am your wife and I am pregnant with our child. Doesn't that matter to you?" I asked foolishly.

He was my husband and I love him a lot. Surely there would still be a spot for me in his heart even if it would just be because of our unborn child. If he leaves me, there might never be anyone else in the world to love me. I might not have someone I would call my own ever again.

" Look Esmeralda. I'm tired of you and your stillborns. We have been married for so long but yet you haven't been able to give me even one child. Why should I be interested in this pregnancy of yours when the resulting end would still be a miscarriage?"

" Mommmmyyyyyy!!!!" Ria screamed as she rushed towards my niece Victoria giving her a hug.

I don't know how it happened but I felt as if I had become dead at that moment. Hearing the little girl run so casually towards my niece referring to her as her mother. My husband's words I didn't care about anymore and my mother in-law's taunt about him frolicking with his mistress that seemed to replay in my head as the realization of everything unfolding settled in.

I felt a wave of pain wash over me and I couldn't help but wonder if I was to blame for Jared's infidelity.

Was it my fault I loved him so much? Or did I cross the line when I forgave him the first time he cheated on me during our courtship?.

I felt a burning sensation in my eyes as tears began to form, threatening to fall without caution, worst was that I couldn't resist them from doing so.

I couldn't tell what hurt the most. The fact that my husband continued to this level of turning into a chronic cheater without shame or remorse for his actions or the fact that that my niece was his mistress, and possibly the mother of one of his illegitimate children, heavily pregnant with another, for my husband. For my husband!!

Were my not enough for him? Does he not find me sexy and young enough anymore? I became a housewife like he had wanted me to, taking care of his aged parent and siblings before some of them had moved out of the house. I endured their rudeness and overbearing attitudes!! I did all these because I didn't have a child of my own. A child I believed would be the stronghold to keep my marriage.

I had neglected my health and my self, I ignored my mental health and this was what he was repaying me with? Frolicking with women from the money he got off my inheritance?

I felt as if I was burning alive. I could tell from the way my heart beat was so irregular. I felt fever, I felt pains. I felt as if my heart was about to stop beating. I wondered for how long this had been ongoing. Years I won't be able to count, years I won't even believe!

If someone told me that one day my own niece whom I raised with all love and affection and made several sacrifices for would one day betray me like this, I will never believe.

My husband's betrayal can be believed but my niece? Casually walking into my home with my husband dismissing me like I was nothing?

I have given up so much for them and this was how they were repaying me?

As the weight of Jared's words and Victoria's betrayal crushed me, I felt my legs give way beneath me. The room began to spin, and I stumbled backwards, my hands grasping for something to hold onto. But there was nothing.

I felt a wave of darkness wash over me and my vision began to blur. I tried to call out for help but my voice was barely a whisper. My body felt heavy and I couldn't move.

The last thing I remembered was the sound of Ria's laughter and Victoria's voice, before everything went black.

I slumped to the floor, unconscious, surrounded by the people I loved and trusted the most, but who had just shattered my world into a million pieces.