Chapter 3. Chased Out of the House

Brie POV

After signing my name on the divorce agreement, I walked out of Noah’s room as if the devil was after me. 

There was something about the air in Noah’s hospital room that had me suddenly feeling suffocated. 

“Mrs. Hunter, are you alright?” One of the nurses asked when she saw me pressing my palm to the wall for support, breathing heavily. 

The nurse walked up to me and held my arm.  “You looked pale. Do you want me to get the doctor?” She asked, sounding concerned. 

I shook my head.  It was then that I realized I had been crying. “I am alright. Thank you.” I told the kind-hearted nurse and hurriedly wiped at my tear-stained cheeks. 

I winced, feeling a sudden overpowering sense of nausea.

“I have to go,” I told her. 

“Your box.” She reminded. 

I looked at the box in repugnance and shook my head, my chest constricting in pain. That box represents painful memories of today. I cannot take it. 

“Can I leave it here? You can throw it away for me.” I said.

The elderly nurse looked at me with a frown. 

But maybe she saw something in my face. 

“You are a strong girl.  Whatever problems you are facing now, know that it’s only temporary.” 

I nodded and walked away with her words playing in my head.

“This too shall pass,” I murmured to myself. 

Outside the hospital, I hailed a cab and asked to be sent to the house I shared with Noah. 

From the outside, the mansion looked the same, but knowing that it would no longer be my home starting today, it felt different from afar. It was like looking at someone you love and before your eyes that someone turned into a stranger - like Noah. 

An unexplainable ache gripped me. 

“Are you going out?” The driver asked.   He was a kind gentleman.

The car had been parked outside the gated mansion for a while, but I didn’t dare get out.  

I let my eyes roam outside the house, committing it to memory.  For three years, this mansion had become my home. It was our nest.

We had so many memories here. As it turned out, all of those were a hoax. 

My husband never loved me and was just pretending. 

That had to be one of the most excruciatingly painful realities I had to deal with.

“I am sorry, miss, but I have to go. I have another client waiting.” The driver called my attention. A look of hesitation was on his face. 

Reluctantly, I opened the passenger door and got out. 

At the gate, I rang the bell.

A maid opened the door for me, but her face showed a coldness that wasn’t there when I left the house that morning. 

“Carla.” I greeted her. 

“Sorry, Mrs. Hunter.” Carla cut me off before I could say anything. And then she half-run to the mansion, scared stiff like a mouse.

I followed her uniformed figure with my eyes as it disappeared inside the house and squinted when I noticed my things strewn outside the main door.

Dorcas, our head housekeeper, had been standing by the door with her hands on her hips. A disdainful look covered her face. She was blocking my entry. 

“Mr. Hunter’s orders.” She informed me even before I get to ask my question.

She had been with the Hunters for as long as I can remember, and her loyalty will always be with Noah.

I remembered how Uncle Matt threw my things outside Hunter Enterprises’ building and grimaced. 

Hunter may have divorced me, but do I deserve to be disrespected like this? I felt like a piece of sh*t nobody wanted. 

It was too much. 

The anger that was simmering inside me at the treatment I received from my husband and his people started to boil my blood. 

I took my phone from my bag and dialed Noah’s number. 

“I presume you already evacuated the house?” His cold voice greeted me when the call connected. 

“Do you have to humiliate me just to make sure that I leave your house and company immediately?” I could not help the bitterness that frothed off my mouth as I asked in a grave voice. 

I could not believe Noah, the man I loved with all my heart, could be this cruel!

While tears started to blur my vision, Noah’s taut and clipped voice came to the other line. 

“You should be thankful that’s all you got from me.  I could have thrown you to jail, but I figured humiliation is enough.”

“What do you mean? What have I done to warrant throwing me in jail?” 

Noah snorted.  “Don’t play innocent on me, Briana. You may have fooled my parents with your innocent act, but you cannot fool me. Are you sorry that you did not kill me, too?” He sneered. 

From his voice, I could feel how hard Noah was restraining himself. He was so angry. 

I was angry, too. 

“What?” My brain could not process what he said.  

“Are you trying to imply that I was the perpetrator of your parent’s death and the reason you were in the hospital for a coma?  What motive do I have?” 

Noah snorted.

“Do you want to go to court so they can extract that from you? We could go public if you want.” 

He was threatening me, and something inside me rebelled. 

I also wanted to prove my innocence.  How can Noah think that way of me?

But I figured Noah, with all his wealth, could easily make life a living hell for me.  I should settle for what he was offering because fighting him on this would be exhausting and detrimental to my baby. 

If it were just me, I could do it. But I have my child to think of.