CHAPTER ONE

FIVE YEARS AGO.

The rumbling of the thunder and the rain kept pouring in torrent as Martina knelt in front of the man she called her husband and beside him was the only person she had ever called friend.

With blood dripping down from her white nightwear and sweat glistening her forehead despite the cold weather, tears were streaming down her eyes.

The two people in front of her looked like the devil she has watched from movies when she was just a child and the much talked about demon from her Bible stories. 

This was the longest night of her life, how she wished everything would end and she would wake up in her big comfy bed back at her father’s mansion but here she was, kneeling in front her own husband begging for her life while her best friend just sat there with a glass of whisky in hand. Martina was left wondering if it was not too cold for whiskey at this time.

The tall frame in front of her knelt down and harshly cupped her neck, their faces only inches apart and Martina could only cringe.

This is the face of a man she has loved for ten years, the face of the man she worshiped more than God himself, the face of the man she always looked up to. 

Right now, even the devil she heard about in stories  was much more approachable than this devil in front of her

“Please Hardin” Martina began to beg, “please don’t do this to me” tears were still streaming down her almond shaped eyes, “please!!”

“Hardin baby” Melisa called out to him while standing up, she was clad in a red colored dress that exposed part of her cleavage which left Martina wondering where it all went wrong.

Melissa was one among the best person’s in her life and right now? She didn’t even understand what to call her.

For the past years, it has always been her and her best friend against the world but who would have known that Melissa was just as evil.

Ever since Hardin began to hurt and torture her, she always ran to her best friend for help but today, walking into her home and seeing her husband and her best friend in bed sure broke her into a thousand pieces. How did all this happen? Why didn’t she see this coming? 

Martina could feel her ancestors laughing at her, she could feel her family mocking her, it felt like the whole world was against her existence. 

Even the unborn baby in her womb must be mocking her now.

After six years of being married, she finally found out she was pregnant today. Thinking her husband was going to be happy about it, she rushed home to tell him only for her to see him aggressively thrusting into her best friend right there on their matrimonial bed.

Martina thought the two of them were even going to pretend to be embarrassed but right in front of her, Hardin fucked Mellisa to orgasm.

Their bodies were glistening with the sweat of their lovemaking and the room was filled with the stench of sex.

She gagged, she wanted to throw up. She wanted to kill the two of them when none of them offered her an explanation. Instead Hardin stood up from the bed and walked up to her.

“Don’t you know how to knock?” He hissed in anger, “this is one of the few habits I warned you about Martina, you don’t know when someone needs privacy”

Martina couldn’t help but scoff, was he kidding her right now? She found him having sex with her best friend and the only thing he could ask was about her knocking? How did they even get hers? Since when did she become so insignificant to him?

“Baby” Mellisa called from the bed, “you should just close the door on her face, see I am dripping and waiting”

“I will be with you soon, baby” Hardin responded with a smirk and Martina creased her forehead into a frown, her presence didn’t mean anything?

“You should take some rest in the guest room, Martina. We will talk when I am done” he added.

“What? You are fucking my best friend in front of me and you don’t even care?” She was mad, very mad, “how dare you, Hardin?”

He yanked her closer and she gasped in fear, his eyes emitting a dangerous aura that made her shiver to her bone.

“Do it while I am being nice, Martina”

Not bothering to answer him, she turned her attention back on Melisa who was still sprawled on the bed, she didn’t even bother to cover her naked body.

“Maybe you think I will ask you why you are sleeping with my husband” Martina scoffed, “but like the saying goes, cheap product attracts lots of customers”

“What?” Mellisa was furious, “how dare you?”

“How dare you?” Hardin growled as he grabbed a hold of her hair, “are you tired of living”

“All these months, you have been acting like I was the problem but who would have known, it was never me”

“Maybe I should teach you a lesson”

After he was done talking, he banged the door on her face Martina flinched.

Thinking her husband was coming right back out, she began to hear the moans and groans of the two people behind the closed door and her heart broke into a thousand pieces, who would have thought.

With her heart full of a thousand needles of pain, she turned on her heel and walked back to her room to get some rest.

She was stressed out but she didn’t want to stress her baby, that was her only source of strength now.

Turning on her heel, she made her way back towards her room. Sooner had she settled down, the door flung open and Hardin entered. He had a belt in hand and he looked very furious”

“Hardin” her voice was quivering, “what….”

“You sure have lost your manners, haven’t you?” He sneered while taking slow steps towards her, “I think I need to bring our back to your senses seeing that you have lost it”

“Hardin, please” tears welled up in Martina’s eyes, “I am carrying your baby”

She thought the news was going to make her husband stop, she thought the news was going to make him happy rather his eyes darkened as he grabbed a hold of her hand.

“What did you say?”

“I am pregnant, Hardin” Martina forced herself to answer, “I am just coming from the hospital and…”

“Who told you that you could get pregnant?” He half yelled and she flinched, “who gave you permission to get pregnant, Martina?”

“It wasn’t….it wasn’t…”

“You will be getting rid of the baby, Martina,” Hardin growled before shoving her off.

****

But here she was kneeling in her living room now, her husband and her best friend making a mockery of her living.

“I told you not to be too difficult, didn’t I?” Hardin asked as he pulled her closer to himself, “why must an ugly thing like you behave so high and mighty, Martina?”

“You are hurting your baby, Hardin” she managed to whisper to him, “please”

“Baby?” He scoffed as he hit her disrespectfully on the bed, “who told you that you were allowed do get pregnant?” He further asked, “huh?”

“Baby” Mellisa walked up to them, “how about we do something to the baby? I mean do you want some bastard growing up to claim everything that belongs to our son?” Her outburst made Martina swiftly turn her attention towards her, a look of confusion flashed through her face.

“What?”

“Oh please Martina” Melisa couldn’t help but roll her eyes, “have you always been daft or you became daft after you got married to my husband?”

“Husband?” Now Martina was more confused than ever, “what are you even talking about?”

“She doesn’t know” Hardin gave a mocking laugh, “she has always been a delusional bitch, right?” He shoved Martina off with his index finger, “we have been married for ten whole years, Martina” Melisa told her with an evil smirk hovering over her face, “so technically you are the third wheel here”

Martina felt like the universe had finally succeeded in mocking her.

“You have been a fool all your life, Martina” Hardin growls, his lips curving up in a mocking smirk, “you have always 

been a fool”

“I trusted you, Melisa” Martina cried out, “I was there for you when..”

“Oh, shut it” Melissa interrupted her, “you didn’t make me Martina” she grabbed a hold of her hair and yanked her closer, “you were only a stepping stone to give me the life I wanted Martina, i never saw you as a friend and neither did I see you as an enemy either. You have done what you should for us, i think it is time to get rid of you now”

“What are you going to do to me?” The confused Martina asked, “Hardin” she turned to her husband, “do you hate me this much to even call my best friend your wife? Where did I go wrong?”

“We should first of all get rid of her bastard child baby” Melisa whispered to the man beside her and he nodded.

Walking towards the center table, he picked up a glass of milk and walked back to Martina.

She was still bleeding a lot after she was pushed down the stairs, her clothes were all soiled and she was fast losing her senses.

“Here” Hardin pushed his hand towards her, “drink this”

“What is this?” She managed to ask why clutching onto her stomach”

“Abortion pills” Melissa retorted, “ I will not let you have my husband’s child so you better drink this now and let’s get this over with. I had to pretend all these years not to be tempted by the affection he was showing you at the time, now I will not let you birth another son into this world, not under my watch”

“No” Martina held onto her tummy, “I will not let you take this poor life away from me” tears were pouring down her already swollen eyes, “I will not let you harm my child, Melisa”

She gave a wicked laugh while collecting the glass from Hardin, 

“Let me see you stop me, Martina”

With tears still streaming down her eyes, Martina turned to her husband. Her face an epitome of pain and despair, this was the man she trusted with her whole life but yet he betrayed her like she was nothing, nothing at all. 

She had heard of stories where friends betray friends but she didn’t think hers would be the case, Melisa was too good to be true. How could they hatch this conspiracy for years and she was just finding out?

The rain kept pouring and now her teeth were already chattering, even her face was pale and swollen. The pain was too much for her to bear.

“Hardin” she called his name after a while, “after everything we have been through? After all we have shared; you did this to me?”

“Oh please” the angry man wacked her hard across the face, “I am not your husband, in fact I was never your husband” his mocking laugh resonated in the room, he was behaving like a psychopath at this point, “our marriage was all a sham, we were never married my darling. Everything was a big fat lie and it was all possible because you are nothing but a freak. How can a well established man like me marry a frump aunt like you?”

Even Melisa burst out laughing at his statement.

“Now quietly drink this and I will let you live” Melissa mocked, “my patience is wearing thin”

They were all still in that position when his mobile began to ring and the moment he saw the caller ID, his lips curled up into a mocking smirk.

Hardin immediately pressed the receive button and put the phone on loudspeaker.

“Hello” a familiar voice filtered through the phone and Martina’s eyes opened wide. She knew that voice any day, any time. Even if it has been years she heard the voice, how could she forget about it?

“Madam Hernandez” Hardin began to speak, “I have been waiting for your call just like you said, ma’am”

“Mum?” Martina was surprised to hell, what in the world’s name was even happening.

“Have you gotten rid of her yet?” The old lady asked from the other end.

“Not yet, I was waiting for your call” Hardin replied, the smile on his face widening with each word.

“Mum!!  Mum!!!” It was Martina yelling, “mum”

“Who is your mother?” The lady growled from the phone, 

“Do not call me your mother, you filthy thing, I am not your mother and I never will. You disgust me Martina” the old lady laughed lightly, " I have waited all these years to see your end,Martina and finally I have. Hardin”

“Yes, madam Hernandez”

“You can do with her as you please, I don’t care”

After she was done talking, the line went dead while the husband and wife turned their attention to the stunned Martina. This was the height of betrayal for her, this was what she could not even imagine would happen to her. How did she end up here?

“Even your mother don’t want you, Martina” Melissa mocked, “pardon, your step mother”

“Where did I go wrong?” She couldn’t even cry anymore, if only she knew today was going to end like this.

“Now” Hardin pushed the glass to her again, “why don’t you drink this quietly and everything will be fine”

“Will it?”

Now Martina felt so drained and confused, what exactly was she living for even when her whole family had turned their backs against her even before she could get to this point. The thought of it made her scoff, she must have looked pathetic all these years.

Without saying anything, she collected the glass from Melisa and chugged down the whole content of the glass.

After that she forced herself to stand up, blood still dripping from her body.

“This is the end of you, my dear friend”

“I hope…” the words hung in Martina’s throat as she felt a sharp pain in her chest.

“Did I tell you?” Hardin couldn’t contain his excitement as he began to talk, “those were not only abortion pills, I don’t want you coming back to haunt us”

As the final words left his mouth, Martina fell on the floor and closed her eyes forever.