~Chapter Two ~

ANNA’S POV

“You were never enough for him.”

She had the guts to text me

The words flashed across my screen; the sender was anonymous, but I already knew who it was. Her. His mistress.

“Ughhh…” My stomach churned violently, and I barely made it to the kitchen sink. It felt like I would throw up my insides because my stomach completely emptied itself.

My vision blurred as tears threatened to fall from my eyes; my legs trembled, weak beneath me.

But I gripped the sink with all the strength I had left and steadied myself before I entered the brink of collapse completely.

I wanted to scream, to smash the phone, but instead I forced myself to take shaky breaths. The tears I had been fighting won, and they fell onto the glowing screen where the vile message stared back at me.

And then, there it was—right next to my phone, cold and waiting for my signature—the divorce papers.

My vision swung between the cruel message on the phone and the final blow in front of me.

I moved towards the counter and slumped into a chair while I stared at the papers like a horrible nightmare I couldn’t wake from.

Maybe if I begged, maybe he would take me back.

I had no job, almost no assets, almost nothing.

Ethan had made sure of that when he convinced me to sign everything over to him, promising he’d make me a happy housewife.

“Watch your step, babe." I heard a familiar voice—Ethan’s voice—followed by a feminine giggle.

Babe? He never called me that.

I turned from the kitchen and tried to keep the hope alive in my chest. Ethan, he was finally home. A smile spread across my face despite everything, and I rushed towards him.

“Darling, I waited up all night. You didn’t say you weren’t coming home.” I said softly, while I reached for his jacket, to pull it from his muscular shoulders.

“Do I owe you any explanation? I don’t see why you’re worried about me, dummy." He snatched the jacket from my hands as he stepped away from me.

My gaze lowered, and I swallowed gently while trying to hide my hurt. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. We were supposed to love each other.

Before I could respond, a feminine figure entered….Her

“What took you so long?” Ethan turned towards the door; his entire demeanour softened.

“I had to take a quick phone call; you wouldn’t have missed me that much. It was just five minutes,” she giggled, as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his lips to hers.

I felt my throat close up, and my irritation activated again, but this time, it wasn’t the physical kind. It was the sight of her, of them. My heart shattered into a million pieces.

“It felt like forever,“ Ethan said, his voice warm with affection.

I blinked hard and tried to keep the tears at bay, but they were relentless.

“Erm…is she?” The woman—his mistress—finally noticed me standing there.

Ethan barely glanced my way before waving her off.

"Oh, she’s nothing, Tara. I told you about her. my dummy ex-wife, or soon-to-be ex-wife. Either way, she’s not a problem.”

“Come, let’s go in.”

They started going up the stairs and left me standing there, broken and utterly crushed. But I couldn’t just let him go.

“Ethan…” I stepped forward; my voice shook and tears blurred my vision. I needed him to see me and listen to me.

“Please… Whatever she’s doing, I can do better. I swear, I can.”

Ethan scoffed, “What do you know? You’re just a stay-at-home wife with no experience or sense about anything.”

Stay at home, wife? I had been his stay-at-home wife because he wanted that. He told me not to work and that he wanted to take care of me.

Desperate, I turned to Tara.

“Please leave him for me. He’s my husband, and we can fix this. We can work this out. Just don’t get involved—don’t.”

But I didn’t get to finish. Ethan moved swiftly; his hand grabbed my jaw with a menacing grip, and his fingers dug painfully into my skin.

“You have a big mouth, don’t you?” He growled, “

“And you never did know how to use it properly except to speak nonsense. I forbid you from saying a word to my fiancée; do you understand?” His voice echoed with venom.

I tried to nod; tears streamed down my face as my body shook uncontrollably. He let go of me, shoving me back, and I staggered, barely able to stand.

“What did I ever do wrong, Ethan?” I cried, my voice barely a whisper. “You loved me once.”

Tara stepped closer, her lips brushed against my ear as she whispered

“Love expires,” she smirked. “

She leaned back, her eyes cold and mocking. "Oh, I mean, his love for you already expired. A long time ago.”

Then she smiled, almost pityingly. “I mean, look at you. No sense of fashion, no appeal. You don’t look good, honey. Could you blame him?”

I glanced down at my dress—the long, modest gown Ethan always said made me look beautiful. It was the church kind, the kind I wore for him; he said it made him remember why he liked me when we first met.

But now it felt like prison.

“But you...” my eyes darted to Ethan, my voice trembled as I tried to respond.

“That’s enough,” Ethan snapped, cutting me off. He turned to Tara; his smile returned as he took her hand.

“Let’s go, baby.I don’t want you mixing with that.”

I watched them ascend the stairs together; my hands held my heart as hiccups threatened to tear through me.

At the top of the stairs, Ethan stopped abruptly and turned to look down at me.

“All I’ve ever done was my best when it came to you,” he said coldly.

“So if you truly love me, you’ll sign that agreement.”