02

IRIS’ POV.

Divorce papers? No! This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t believe this.

“Open this car now!” I yelled at the driver as I tried to open the door as I tried to scoot over to the front, but he ignored me as he ignited the car.

“Sit tight, Ma’am,” he instructed as he continued to drive.

I gasped as I turned, to see Dave still on the call, unbothered. What on earth was going on? Was I just imagining things? Could all of this just be effects of all the wine I had last night?

I ran my fingers through my hair as I sat back in the car, trying to be strong. This was all a joke. It couldn’t be real. He couldn’t want to divorce me. We had been through so much together, so, it was impossible that he would want to throw it all away like this.

I stared at my ring as I caressed it. I needed to have hope in my marriage and my love for him. Maybe it was all just a misunderstanding.

I had been so lost in my thoughts the whole ride that I didn’t realize when we got home.

“We’re here now, Ma’am,” the driver announced, calling me out of my long train of thoughts.

I acknowledged as I walked into the house, waiting in the living room. Dave would be home in no time, I hoped. Even with how much my head was aching, I didn’t think I’d be able to do anything without him here. Not after what had happened yesterday, what I had seen today and not to talk of hearing him talking about a divorce.

I took in a deep inhale as I paced the living room for goodness knows how long before he finally returned, but not alone. With the last person I wanted to see at the moment.

My step sister, Tiffany. My heart sank.

“Dave….” Before I could even say a thing, Tiffany pulled him to herself as they locked lips, his hands sliding around her waist as her hands made their way into his hair.

I felt my heart shatter into a billion pieces as I stared at them, but, as much as I wanted to scream, hit them, Infact, I found myself unable to do a thing. I remained at that spot, no words coming out of my mouth and all I could do was watch them make out.

I felt my throat go dry the moment they finally broke the kiss, Dave turning to me as he threw a file at me that splattered into papers and only then was I finally able to move.

“Divorce papers. Let’s end this, Iris. We always knew it would never work out,” he began, and, feeling as lifeless and soulless as I could be, I bent as I picked the papers.

I opened the file as I went through the document, hoping this would turn out to be some sort of joke or that the wine was still messing with me, but, unfortunately, it wasn’t. Every single word was real. It was clearer by each paragraph that he actually wanted a divorce.

I swallowed before raising my head to him weakly. “I don’t want one, though.” I told him, hearing my voice go shaky as tears freely started to stream down my cheeks. “Dave; we—We've worked so hard to sustain this relationship. I mean, we—”

“You’re not a match for me, Iris. You’re not someone I see myself spending the rest of my life with. You’re nothing but a burden and I’m tired of forcing myself to pretend I like you. You annoy me and even though I try my best to stay away from you, your calls….” He hadn’t even finished when Tiffany placed her hand over his mouth, stepping in front of me as she inhaled sharply.

“What he’s trying to say, Iris, is that I’m the one he wants. Sign those papers and get out of our lives. You were never a good wife for him and that’s why he had to crawl into my arms. Sign them, now,” Tiffany told me and as I raised my head to Dave, clung to a thread of hope, thinking he would at least say something, but he didn’t.

He watched her insult me and when I could no longer take it, I grabbed the file as I signed through each page. “I know I never did anything wrong. All I did was love you, but; if this is how you choose to repay me, I….” Words could no longer make their way out of my mouth and I placed the file on the table as I made to go upstairs to get my things, but Tiffany rushed to me as she held my hands.

“Last I checked, he got you those things.”

“Tiffany likes them. They’re hers now.” Dave said curtly and I gasped in disbelief as I rushed out of the house, tears streaming down my cheeks.

Getting to the gate, I paused as I held on to my chest, trying to at least breathe as more tears streamed down my cheeks. This couldn’t be happening to me. How did everything change so fast? Closing my eyes, I could recall our happy moments. Our honeymoon, our plans for a happy family, everything caused me pain and just as I squatted, trying to at least place my hands on things, I received a call.

It was from the company. I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to compose myself before I took the call, but I failed, so I decided to just take the call.

“He…”

“We’ll cut things. After a meeting with the board, you, Miss Myers, have been relieved of your position as the acting CEO of T.M Corp.” They started and I felt my heart drop, my body following suit as I found myself seated on the floor in the next moment.

“Why?” I managed to mutter.

“You’ve manipulated stock prices and we have evidence of that. You’ve also embezzled a lot of funds. The most recent is using company money to book a presidential suite at—” I hung up, calling my father immediately. My whole life couldn’t be going wrong at a single moment.

“Dad. You…” I wanted to cut to the chase the moment he took my call, but he had things to say for himself.

“Yes, Iris. I signed and consented the removal. I’m disappointed. You can’t even do a thing right. You may keep the last name, I’m disowning you.  As of this moment, Tiffany is my heiress.”

To say my heart had shattered into a million pieces would be an understatement.

“Dad, I—” The following beep showed me that really, everything in my life was crashing.

.

As I gulped down the third bottle in a go, ignoring the burn in my throat, I ran my fingers through my hair, unable to cry anymore. Feeling dizzy, I weakly stared at my phone. It was the sixty second call I was putting across to my dad, but he returned none.

Was this really it? Did I really lose my husband, job, career, and father in less than twenty four hours?

Those bastards! They chose my most vulnerable moment to attack, didn’t they?

Grabbing the fourth bottle as again, I gobbled on it, the bartender held on to my hand. “That’s it, Ma’am. Look at you. You’re a mess. You….”

“I’ll handle her.” I heard someone say, and, turning, I saw a man. My vision became a hazy blur, so I couldn’t really make out what he looked like, but he was a man. That was all that mattered.

Did Dave really think he was the only one who could cheat? I could, too.

“Really sure you can handle me?” I smirked and jammed my lips against his. He opened up instantly, our tongue fighting for dominance as the minty taste of him coated my mouth.

His hands roamed my body as we rushed into the elevator, our lips not separating. As his hands slowly made their way into my dress, I felt all the side effects from the alcohol, and that was the last thing I could recall before the whole place finally went pitch black.