Chapter 3

Ayla

"Please pick up," I muttered, tapping my foot on the rug in the living room, waiting for my best friend Danica to answer the phone. My mind was saturated from hours of thinking about Roman bringing another woman, that I really needed Danica's help. It took me long to finally decide to call her, because she was pregnant for her long time boyfriend and I didn't want to stress her.

"The soup is ready honey. Do you want it here or at the dining?" Marise our nanny asked.

"I tol-"

The sound of the front door stopped me mid-sentence, followed by the sound of high-heels on the tiles. I held my breath, realizing that Roman was not joking when he said he was going to bring home his woman. I hardly had time to react when they rounded the hallway, stepping inside the living room.

"Danica?" I stood up, my eyes falling on Roman's arm around my bestfriend's waist. I let out a forceful breath, an uncontrollable shudder sweeping through my entire body.

I wanted to believe that she had been on her way to see me and just met Roman outside and not what I was thinking.

"Welcome sir," Marise broke the tension, giving me a pitiful look.

"Prepare spaghetti and meatballs, bring them upstairs when done," Roman ordered, dismissing the older woman with just a wave of hand.

"Or do you want something else baby?" He asked Danica, rubbing the small of her back.

I watched as she tilted her head and flashed a smile at him, then sensually whispered, "no babe."

I could feel the burn of bile in the back of my throat as I opened my mouth to speak.

"My best friend?" I jabbed a finger on my own chest, a sudden coldness hitting me at the core.

"What the hell Nika? I trusted you!" I screamed, pointing my index finger at her. I moved slowly and deliberately towards them, hands clenched into tight fists.

"How long...how long have you two being fucking behind my back?" I spat, my nostrils flaring. I had gone from being shocked to angry within minutes. I wanted to make them bleed and sleep, watch them as they begged for mercy from me. They deserved nothing but hell for fucking me over.

"It's none of your business," Roman stated, making me pull my head back, then continued, "but if you must know, just 4 months," he finished, bending to give Danica a peck on the side of her cheek. I felt as if breath had been sucked out of me, making me stumble back

"Four months," I whispered, a barrage of thoughts hitting me at that moment. It was right around the time Roman started coming home late and Danica started convincing me to leave Roman because he was hurting me.

"No wonder you tried so hard to get me to leave Roman. You wanted to have him all for yourself and not because he was emotionally draining me like you claimed." A bitter chuckle left my mouth, while I shook my head.

"Took you long to figure it out," she sarcastically stated, rolling her eyes. I couldn't believe that it was the same woman we had grown up together and gone to school together. The same woman who was my bestmaid at my wedding, the same one who swore to protect our friendship forever.

"Wh-y?" I asked, the same question I had asked Roman the previous night. At least I deserved to know, it wouldn't hurt more like it was at the moment.

"Don't act like you don't know Ayla." Danica's previous smile was replaced a curl of her upper lips and a cold stare.

"It has always been you, registering the best grades in school, bagging the rich and handsome men, while I remained invisible in the shadows. That was until you couldn't give Roman a child for months after being married." She rubbed her hand on his chest, between his unbuttoned shirt.

I had to swallow the pain that came when I sucked in my cheek to bite it. An urge to destroy something was quickly increasing as my temperature rose. Only a short distance remained between us, and my eyes sweeped the room for anything that I could use to hit them.

"Nika offered me a solution that I couldn't deny. A good brain, pussy and of course an heir that you couldn't." As Roman spoke, I lowered my right hand to my lower belly, squeezing gently.

"We both know mother has wanted a child since we got married. Wait until she comes back from her vacation, she'll be elated," he added with a dreamy look on his face.

His mother wasn't any different from him, in fact she was a fucking witch. She reminded me everyday that I didn't deserve to take part in the family money if I didn't get pregnant.

"She wouldn't approve of this." I was consoling myself, even though I had doubts.

"We'll see." Roman shrugged.

"If you haven't moved your stuff, Marise will do that tomorrow under my supervision. From tonight, you'll be sleeping in the guest room of until the divorce papers are finalized." Not even the divorce news had an effect like realization that not only was Roman cheating, but was doing it with my best friend.

"I know we talked about this, but don't you think that I need peace now that I am pregnant with your child. I mean, who knows what she'll do to me when you're not around," Nika's spoke in a shrill fake sweet voice, fluttering her long lashes at my own husband, while I stood there, swallowing hard.

"You are right," Roman responded, then turned towards me as if on a spell.

"There's an empty room in the servant quatres, you'll be sleeping there," he stated, while Nika smiled evilly, while my eyes widened in shock.

I laughed out loud after a few seconds of composure, then stated defiantly, "Have you become her puppet too?"

I wasn't going to beg for a man who didn't see my value, no matter how much my chest was constricting. I fought the urge to shed a tear in front of them because I wasn't about to give them any satisfaction of seeing my raw pain. I bit my lower lip, breathing short puffs of air to control my accelerated heart beat.

"Don't try me Ayla, get the fuck out of my house!" Roman thundered, glaring at me.

"This is not your house Roman, it's your family mansion. I can't believe that because of this good for nothing woman you are kicking me out." I stated.

"Say's the person who is barren," Nika responded, her words finally pushing me to a point of no return. Faster than they could see it coming, I closed the distance and delivered a hot slap that whipped her head to the side.

I felt a hot burning sensation on my cheek almost immediately, the sound of Roman's large palm as it connected with my own cheek dizzying me. It was so heavy that it send me stumbling back, splitting my lip. My eyes watered, my right hand immediately holding my burning skin.

"You hit me," I whispered, the sound of iron exploding in my tongue as blood from the split lip sipped in.

"And I will hit you again if you lay your filthy hands again on her," he warned, turning to inspect Danica's cheek.

"Do you want to harm my unborn baby?" He added, rubbing her belly.

Despite trying to keep my tears at bay, the pain on my skin, coupled with everything had warm tears falling past my eyelids. The display of affection right before my eyes pushed my weak body towards the front door.

"That's right bitch, leave!" Danica's voice filled my reeling ears, as I opened the door, bear foot.

I didn't have my car keys on me, my debit cards or my phone. I stood at the front porch stairs, debating between going back to pick the essentials or just leave as I was. I never got the chance to decide because I heard the sound of the locks as they were put in place.

With one last look at the door I walked down the stairs, my whole body trembling. In just a moment, the life that I had known and cherish was turned upside down. The corners of my mouth felt so heavy as my lips trembled, uncontrolled tears falling down on my v-neck top.

My vision was blurry and not because darkness was beginning to settle. I sniffed, looking at the blurry fountain, then at the gate where the security guards stood, probably wondering what was happening.

"Oh god, it's too much," I hunched over, the contents in my stomach churning.

"Where do I be-gin?" I forced the words out, expelling more tears. My parents had long died, my brother had moved states after I joined college, leaving me to fend for myself. We had sold my parents home to raise money for my education and had split the little money they had left. I was struggling throughout, that is until I met Roman in my sophomore year, during my part-time job at a high-end club.

"What do I do," I breathed, placing one hand above my head. I had no cent to even check into a hotel for the night, or maybe I could use the backdoor to get my purse and car keys. The quatres were the last thing on my mind, I needed to be far away as possible from the betrayal.

"What are you still doing here? Don't taste my patience Ayla." Only when Roman spoke did I realize that I hadn't heard the front door getting unlocked.

"Take that and leave," he threw a hundred dollar bill at me, then called Aaron, the security guard.

“I was going to allow you to sleep in this compound, but since you slapped Danica, you are on your own for tonight. Get out.” I swallowed painfully, looking at the person I thought would be my ride or die. Why didn’t I see him becoming an animal? Was I just too blinded to notice or did I just ignore the red warning flags?

"We’ll talk tomorrow when you are back to your senses." He didn't move a muscle as I got dragged out of the gate, screaming his name, frailing my arms in the air.

"I'm sorry ma'am," that was the last thing Aaron said, before locking the gate on my face as I tried pushing and banging on it.

After trying to get in for a while in vain, my knees gave out, and I slid against the gate. Seemed the long night had just started.