Two

Zyrielle’s POV

“Cheryl, baby.” His moan suddenly rang.

I pushed in my tracks, This wasn’t happening to me!

Cheryl Walker, his model ex, had broken him and his business before I had stepped in.

As though under the influence, I walked back into the room and pushed Lucas off before carelessly hitting a naked Cherly.

“You slut!”

“YOU FUCKUNG LEFT HIM WHEN HE NEEDED YOU!”

She didn't get to waltz back in and style all I had put into the marriage, not after all she had done to him.

"Elle, are you crazy?" I heard Lucas ask before he threw me away like I weighed nothing. My hands instinctively protected my flat stomach before my fragile body hit the wall.

“What the hell is wrong with you? How dare you lay a finger on my pregnant wife? You desperate bitch!" he growled.

Feeling like it was the perfect time to act modest, he covered himself, and Ellie finally pulled the sheets in herself.

I scoffed, trying to tell him once again that I was pregnant, but she cut me off.

“How did Lucas even think you could replace me? You are deranged and don't even know when you aren't wanted.”

“You can't do this to me…”

"Why can't he? And why fight for a man who doesn't love you?" she sneered, looking at me with disdain. "Did you even love me?" I asked him as tears trailed down my face.

“Love?” he asked, and as though unable to stop himself, he busted into laughter.

“Have you looked at yourself in the mirror, Zyrielle? YOU ARE BLAND, UGLY, AND SHAPELESS. How can you even ask if I ever loved a bland woman like yourself?”

“Do you even love yourself?” She mocked before going him in laughter.

This wasn't happening!

He didn't stop his taunts there; he continued pulling Cherly, who was still naked, closer, “l love Cheyrl, look at her, Elle, you can't be compared.”

“I love her and have always done; you knew that from the onset, so why ask?”

“What was I to you then? A means to grow your company, your so-called love pulled to the ground?” I tried throwing a shade, but it almost seemed like he had forgotten this as he shrugs it.

“Stop embarrassing yourself and just leave. You are making Cherly stressed and scared with your crass barbaric acts, and you would have known that if your womb could manage to carry a child.”

Me?

A crass barbarian?

Barren?

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice shaking with anger and tears. "This isn't the man I married. You're not the person I thought I knew."

This wasn't what he had said when he had cried in my arms, narrating how Cheryl had ruined him and not what he said when I married him and signed off my inheritance to him.

“Have you forgotten?” I yelled after managing to pull myself up.

“Who gave the right to break me like this when all I did was love you… I gave everything to you, my life and my inheritance!”

Lucas sneered at me, his eyes cold and hard. "You're wicked, petty, and hypocritical," he spat. "You're playing the victim because I don't want you anymore."

I felt a surge of rage and hurt. "You have no right to break me like this," I yelled, my voice echoing through the room. "I gave you everything - my love, inheritance, and life. And this is how you repay me?"

Lucas raised an eyebrow, his expression mocking. "You're talking about the company? That was all you, dear. When you bailed me out, I was on the verge of bankruptcy, but that company wasn't any better.”

“It is what it is today because of me. It was on the verge of failing, but I helped you.”

Helped me?

Was this all my fault? Because I was so blind in love, I handled everything for him after our honeymoon and remained a housewife.

I was a fool not to heed everyone's warnings. To think of it, he didn’t even publicize our marriage, as only family and friends knew. I didn’t complain back then, as I loved him and believed his lies about not wanting to draw unwanted public scrutiny.

Security!" I heard him call out, his voice dripping with malice. "Get her out of here."

My security! Chasing me out of my house!

I was dragged away, my voice trailing off as I realized the extent of my mistake. I had played a key role in my downfall, and now, I was pregnant and sick, my marriage a lost cause.

I felt a stinging sensation in my eyes as tears began to fall. I was thrown out of the house I built and the company I saved.

And to add insult to injury, Lucas was smiling at me, his arms around another woman; I knew where his heart lay all this while…I just thought maybe he’d learn to love me when she was away.

My hands trembling and rubbed over my tummy, the thought of letting go of this baby flashed, and I shrugged it off before my croaked voice said, “Take me to my parents.”

As I arrived at my parents' humble mansion, a sense of shame and defeat washed over me. I had nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to.

The last time I had been in this house, my dad had slumped due to my marriage plans with the man who had ruined our company...I had broken the straw of the camel's back when I withdrew part of my grandfather's wealth, which was more than we had.

My marriage with Lucas had been doomed from the start.

Not only did Leo, my best friend back then, not support me, although we lost touch when I got married to Lucas, but my parents also did.

Now I look back, and all I see is a girl so blind in living with a man who cared little or less about her but was instead using her as a way to get over his ex, who had chosen her career over him.

My presence drew attention to the house, but for some reason, they weren't as hostile as I remember; instead, they were welcoming.

It was the quiet before the storm.

"Zyrielle... freshen up and meet me and your dad in his study," my stepmom sneered, almost in shock, before ordering Angela to get the papers Lucas had sent.

She had this pitiful look on her face, and I contemplated telling her about my diagnosis and pregnancy, but I knew better.

"What is this?" She barked as soon as I came down the stairs. Dad had his back facing me while she stood in akimbo.

"I..."

"We warned you about him, and now he is done with you. He threw you away like trash!"

"do you know how much Yolu has caused your dad?!"

"Why? Why do you keep bringing shame to this family? You aren't signing this shit! You will beg your husband, and even if he wants to keep you around for just a maid, let him, but you won't be here."

"you can't do that to me; yes, I made a mistake, but..."

"Shut up!" I hear Dad yell before letting out a coughing fit, causing my stepmother to throw glares my way as she helped him calm down. "You are trouble, Zyrielle!"

I burst into tears while crying, "I'm not surprised; ever since Mom's death, you have stopped being my dad! I made a mistake, but throwing me out again and sending me back there?"

I wiped my tears, "I am dying!". Seeing their ignorance, I threw the paper on the floor, and I'm pregnant... I know you wished I died instead of Mom, so I will go and not go back to him; Mom died being a maid to a husband she loved while dying."

"I am not my mother!"

"Zyri.."

"Please... I will be fine; I have been fine without you and your wife for years, but I will survive." I don't know how I walked out of that house without falling to my know, but I did, ignoring their calls, and somehow ended up in the bar downtown.

"Vodka, please!"