Ch-2

Alora's POV

I think I must have passed out and regained consciousness all at once within the past few minutes. Because no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't bring myself to move, or comprehend everything that was happening.

Eliaz claims he never loved me and my stepsister Cynthia was pregnant and carrying his child.

When did it all come to this? Where had I been when all of this was happening?

My stomach churned and I held myself from crumbling to the floor. Honestly, this time, I wasn't even scared of falling and hurting myself.

If I was to be asked on a deeper level, I would say I very much preferred that level of pain, because nothing could compare to what I'd just heard.

I pulled my gaze back to the duo, hoping that somewhere in between my self-struggle, things would have gone back to normal. I was mourning my father, perhaps this was one of the many unnoticed symptoms of grief. I just had to be at the highest level to be passing through all of this right?

A small giggle caught my attention, and somehow, I took it as the answer to my question. It had come from Cynthia, and if the evil smirk on her lips indicated anything, it was the fact that the possibility of everything they had just said being lies was down to zero percent.

“Eliaz.” I croaked, my voice hoarse and weak.

I wasn't even sure he'd heard me, but a glare at me was all it took for me to get my answer. I had no idea what I wanted to say. I suddenly felt tired. “Please….”

“There's also something else you have to do.” He cut me off mid-sentence.

After gently unlinking his hands from Cynthia’s, he pulled out something from his back pocket. Without a care in the world, he tossed it at me. I scrambled to catch it, but the moment I did, I regretted it immediately.

“Sign it.”

“What?” My blood ran cold. My eyes scanned the words, but I just couldn't get my brain to understand. I didn't want to. “Eliaz you can't be serious.”

“Why would you think that!” He snarled. “I want you to sign this. Now.”

Divorce? This had to be a lie. Eliaz and I had been married for a while now. We were happy and in love, so where did it all go wrong?

I glanced at the letter heading again, just to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong. My heart skipped a beat when I found out nothing had changed. Eliaz didn't just want to divorce me, he wanted all of my shares in the company because everything in it was his.

“Don't tell me you're surprised,” Cynthia spoke up. “This was already a long time coming. If it were up to us, it would have happened a lot sooner.”

I blinked, not knowing what else to say. While her words stung, she didn't stop.

“You're nothing but a spoilt princess who inherited someone's property.” She scoffed. “It was bound to get taken away from you at some point.”

No. No, this wasn't happening. Was this happening? Was this how Eliaz and Cynthia had planned to repay me? After everything? My father had sacrificed everything to help them and this was all we were going to get in return. Was this Eliza's true intentions towards us? Was this his idea of paying us for our favor?

How dare he betray the man who had saved him, against all odds too.

For the first time since everything started, I finally allowed myself to feel everything all at once. My heart raced and I felt it shatter into a million pieces all at once. My chest tightened and as I crumpled to the ground, I felt every ounce of strength seep out from underneath my skin.

The moment my butt came in contact with the ground, I poured it all out. I allowed the tears to stream down my face to its heart's content. My vision blurred and I felt my nose run, but I couldn't bring myself to do anything about it. Despite how shitty I felt and after everything I'd heard, I still didn't want to believe it was true.

Eliaz was a prankster, and believe it or not, but he liked to take things far. What if this was just one of them? What if he was waiting for just the right moment to pull the carpet from underneath my feet?

I sniffled, before raising my head to meet his gaze one more time. His hand was wrapped around Cynthia's waist this time, but I pushed the image aside.

“Eliaz,” I called out softly. “Please. Please tell me this is a joke.”

The silence that followed was deafening, but it was the answer I needed.

Eliaz wasn't joking. Neither was it a prank. He had meant every single word that had slipped past his lips today.

I allowed the events of the day to wash over me, and before long, I let out a small cackle. Then another, and another, and before long, I was laughing out my entire intestines. I laughed and cackled, so hard my voice echoed around the room. I could swear that everyone was staring at me, but I couldn't bring myself to care at this point.

“It's a prank,” I muttered under my breath and in between laughs. “It just has to be a prank.”

“But this isn't.” Eliaz reached towards me, his huge and bulky physique leaning over me. I had no idea what he planned on doing and I felt my heart drop to my feet. In an attempt to escape whatever he planned to do, I skidded backward, just to cut my skin against a sharp piece of ceramic.

“Ouch,” I yelled. The pool of blood gushing out of my thumb was more than enough to give someone a heart attack, but not Eliaz.

The next couple of minutes went by in a blur. If it hadn't happened to me, I would have easily believed that I had hallucinated it all.

One minute I was freaking out thanks to the cut, and the next, Eliaz had grabbed my bloody thumb and stamped it against the papers, just where my signature was needed.

Wait, what the hell just happened?

I stared at Eliaz in shock, not knowing what else to do. I wanted to speak, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so, nor find the right words to use.

“Look at her.” Cynthia cooed, sarcasm dripping from her voice. “You know what, I pity her. Such a poor, pathetic, barren who wouldn't even let her father see his heir before he died.”

That had to be the last straw that broke the camel's back. I stared at both of them with wide eyes.

There were many things I could tolerate, but there was no way I was going to sit down and let them insult me, especially when I was pregnant. I had planned on telling Eliza about it after the funeral, so what was she yapping on about?

“Guards.” Eliza's voice broke through my thoughts. With a stern voice, he added. “Throw her out of here.”

“Wait, you can't do that,” I yelled at the top of my voice. “I'm pregnant!”