CHAPTER 3

Genevieve Tessa Roberts

I laid in bed quietly with tears in my eyes, waiting. Five years that I'd been married to Kyle and I'd never received that level of disrespect. The disrespect was too much. I couldn't take it and the more I thought about it, the more the tears wouldn't stop flowing. I hated to think for even a second that it was because of me that this was happening.

I knew exactly the time Dahlia and Katherine finished dinner and left. I also listened as he went straight to his study instead of coming to the room. My heart clenched. The Kyle I had married would have come into the room to check on me. Scratch that, he would have cautioned his mother the moment she opened her mouth and came around to check up on me to see if I was okay.

The more I thought about it all, the more it hurt and it got increasingly harder for me to stop the tears. Kyle finally walked into the room at around two in the morning. The room was dark but I watched him move about, shuffling things and arranging them while I stayed in bed, staring. I knew he could sense that I wasn't asleep. 

Kyle walked into the walk-in closet and shut the door. I heaved a breath as I sat up in bed, clutching my night dress which I had changed into after wiping off every makeup I had rubbed on my face for the evening. When he stepped out again dressed in his pajamas, I was ready to have the conversation with him.

“Kyle,” I called, my voice drawn into a shaky whisper. I had cried more today than I'd cried over the years. Although I'd always hurt and worry about my inability to have a child, I didn't let it overwhelm me to this point. “Can we talk, please?” I asked him.

He stopped to turn around toward me slowly while clutching his pillow tightly. I heard him exhale before he came around to settle down on the bed at the other side, staring at me without a word.

“Seven years,” I began as I held up my fingers for him to see. “Seven fucking years, Kyle, I'd known you. Five years since we got married. In all those years, I had never been shown such level of disrespect I received at the table earlier. Never.” The hurt that filled my voice was unmistakable.

“Your mother's words cut deep, Kyle. They stung. But you know what hurt more? It was that you sat there at the table and entertained every bit of it!” I snapped, unable to stop the anger that flowed through me.

Kyle rose from the bed, his brows snapping together as he glared hard at me. Even in the darkness, I could see that much. “You won't speak to me that way, Evie. You are the one that failed. Five years and all you have done is whine and cry about everything. You can't even give me a child to make up for your uselessness!” He cussed.

If I could stagger back at that moment, then I would. Then, I did.

“So, I won't stand here and entertain any of those shits you have to say. Katherine is pregnant. Do you know how that makes me feel? She doesn't even want a baby but now she's going to have one. Not once, not once have you shown signs of pregnancy.” He chuckled humorlessly while I clutched my tummy, my eyes filling with tears.

“So just be quiet and do exactly as told because already, you are nothing more than an empty vessel we are trying so hard to fill. Don't make things worse and just accept whatever fate throws at you!” He deadpanned.

Before I could blink past the tears in my eyes, Kyle turned around and stomped out of the room. I waited. Twenty seconds was all it took before the waterworks of tears started once more.

★★★★

The following morning, I got up from the bed way past my scheduled time. It was almost ten when I shot out of the bed, body hot and eyed swollen from all the crying I had done the previous night. I would have loved to stay in but the company had a very important meeting to go through with in less than two hours and I needed to be at the office before then.

Since I didn't have enough time to soak in a long bath, I turned on the shower instead and drenched my body under it. Vera called while I was in the shower and when I came out and saw it, I didn't bother returning her call. I wasn't even in the mood for any of it. So, I sat in front of my vanity table and applied light make up to my face.

After searching for what felt like ages, I settled for black pants which I wore over a fashionable blouse and matching heels. I couldn't resist standing in front of my mirror and checking out my baby bump in the mirror. It was very much still un-noticeable. I wanted so badly for it to be noticable but at the same time, I wanted to keep the news to myself.

I hadn't experienced any pregnancy symptoms before my doctor’s appointment. What had tipped me off that I might be pregnant was how swollen my boobs had suddenly gotten. And not to add how I seemed to find everything nauseating to eat. But even with those two signs, I had still doubted that I was pregnant.

I made it out of my room, determined to keep the vibes of last night behind me. I was going to break the news to Kyle. I was going to let him know that I was pregnant and we were going to talk things out and fix our marriage. Maybe a trip to the Maldives would be all we needed to fix things.

“Good morning, madam.” Romina greeted me when I stepped into the dinning room. I couldn't not put something in my stomach this time around. I had to eat something.

“Good morning, Romina. Coffee, please.” I told her. I usually preferred my ginger tea over any caffeine in the morning but lately, I seemed to find coffee more satiable. Romina nodded and quickly got to fixing me my coffee while I fixed myself bagels for breakfast.

I settled down to eat at the kitchen island and when I finished, I wiped my lips clean, reapplied my lipstick before making my way out. I arrived at the company at my scheduled time and went straight to my office.

“Good morning, Boss. I will take your coat,” Imogen shot out of her seat once she saw me approaching which made me smile. I paused to hand her my bag before taking off my coat to hand over to her so she could hang it.

“What’s on the schedule for today asides from the meeting coming up soon?” I asked her as I proceeded into my office. I settled into my seat with an exhale and started with my laptop.

Imogen started listing out a variety of things that I had scheduled for the day while I listened. When I was certain that I didn't have anything I couldn't reschedule or cancel out on, I stopped her from talking with my hand in the air.

“Clear out my schedule for later and book me a reservation for two, dinner tonight at De Lexude.” I told her.

“Oh.” Imogen stopped typing on her iPad to glance up at me, a small smile forming on her face. “Anything special tonight?” She asked, wiggling her brows at me.

“Just dinner with Kyle.” I smiled back while I typed on my laptop.

“Got it!” She nodded. 

I shooed heg off and concentrated on my work in front of me. Twenty minutes into making sure that I had everything I needed for the meeting coming up, a knock sounded on my door. Knowing without doubt that it was Imogen, I asked her to come in.

“One Attorney Smith is here to see you,” Imogen muttered, making me halt my actions on my keyboard to glance up at her.

“Attorney Smith?” I asked, my heart skipping a tiny beat. 

“Yes. He doesn't have an appointment so I want to ask if I should let him in.” She asked and I swallowed, shifting back in my seat. 

“Sure, let him in.” I nodded at her. Imogen nodded back, turned around and left.

I took a moment to comport myself while waiting for the tall, bald haired man whom was the family attorney for the Kings; my husband's family and I. He was the one that drafted the prenuptial agreement for me before I got married to Kyle. The door opened and I stopped thinking and got on my feet.

“Attorney Smith,” I smiled warmly at the man as I offered him my hand for him to shake. He took it and smiled back at me. “What do I owe this unexpected visit?” I asked, trying to keep smiling even though my heart wouldn't stop thumping.

The man smiled at me, painfully as he reached into his briefcase. He didn't even bother to take his seat as he handed me the documents. I stared at him wordlessly as I took it.

The word Divorce plastered on the papers had me wincing in pain as my eyes shut close for a few seconds.

“You have been issued the divorce papers. Now, I could have sent it the official way but I believe we are way past that. So, if you will just kindly sign them, please. So, I can move past this.” He told me.

I blinked twice as I stared at the papers for a few seconds before looking back at the lawyer. A lump grew in my throat making it hard for me to swallow.

“W-who issued this divorce again?” I stuttered, asking the obvious question.

He stared at me with pity for a few seconds before going ahead to answer me. “Your husband, Mrs. King.”

That was all I needed to hear for my heart to shatter over and over again. Without another word or thought, I picked up my pen and signed the papers. And within a few seconds, I was a single woman. An unmarried woman.

My husband just divorced me.