2. Goodbye

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~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~

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I stared at the paparazzi photos and videos of my husband hugging and kissing another woman. The last video was of today when they were caught walking out of a hotel hand in hand - the same hotel where we had spent our first night as a married couple because we didn't have the time in our busy schedule for a honeymoon.

Apparently, the husband who didn't have time to take a Sunday off from work had the time to take another woman.

"What have you done?" My Mom screamed. "How could you not know? How could you let this go on for so long?"

Jack had been with this woman even before our wedding.

Then why the hell had he even married me?

I dialled his number one more time. Though all the proof that I needed was right in front of me, I was still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I was willing to give him a chance at an explanation.

My heart ached. Like it was about to explode inside my ribs.

I loved him just too much.

But I knew this pain could increase exponentially if he admitted to cheating himself.

My mother and I looked over at the bedroom door when we heard muffled shouting outside. I made it out to be Sarah's voice. But who was she shouting at?

The knob turned, and the door clicked open.

Jack walked in with an air of nonchalance.

I immediately got up to my feet.

"Ja-"

"I want a divorce."

It felt like he had dug a dagger into my heart with a sentence that had left his mouth so easily.

"Of course, you both are getting a divorce!" My mother grimaced.

"As if my best friend would stay with a scumbag like you!" Sarah shouted.

But all I could do was stare back into the deep onyx eyes that were staring into my soul with a hurricane of emotions, not one of which I could manage to decipher.

"I want to talk to him in private." I croaked out, hating the lump in my throat.

"I have nothing to say to you." His voice was devoid of any emotions or any guilt.

"I think you owe me an explanation," I said, looking over at my best friend who immediately understood my plight and saw herself and my offended mother out of my room.

"I owe you nothing." Again with the robotic voice that I was not used to hearing from my doting husband.

I walked over to him, almost tripping on my skirt. He threw his arms forward and pulled me into his embrace, his eyes wide.

Something snapped inside me.

How dare he look at me like that after what he did to me!

"Who is she?" I asked, my voice anything but calm despite the control I tried to rein on my hysteria. "WHO IS SHE?" I yelled, hitting his chest over and over.

He grabbed both my arms and glared at me, but it lacked any real anger. It seemed like he was a man who had no remorse for what he had done.

"She's the one I truly love."

If the evidence had cracked my heart, his words had splintered it to unsalvageable bits.

"What?" I croaked. "WHAT? And what about me? Then what am I?"

"You were nothing but a pawn in my game."

I shrugged off his hold on me and swung my hand so fast, neither I knew what I was doing nor did he see it coming.

I heard the slap echo, feeling the sting on my palm.

Jack's face whipped to the side as he covered his cheek. He looked back to glare at me.

"Get. Out." My voice was completely devoid of any emotion and I was not doing it on purpose.

All I knew was that it felt like there was some living creature in my chest that was trying to claw its way out of me.

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...ONE MONTH LATER...

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"I am pregnant," I said, tears running down my face.

How I wished these were tears of joy.

But no, they were not.

Because I had not uttered these words to the man I loved, but to the man who had cheated on me with his first love and had thrown divorce papers in my face a month ago.

Jack's smile was cruel and wicked like he enjoyed my pain. "So what? You think that's gonna change anything?"

My voice wobbled with anger and hurt. "Jack, this is our baby we're talking about."

He leaned against the couch, his expression unreadable. I had known the man for seven months and loved him for six and I still could not decipher the emotions in his eyes.

"It's your bastard." He said coldly. "I don't want anything to do with it, Olivia."

I was horrified by his words, and the way he said 'bastard' and 'it'. He had used such a vile word to address his own child.

And he was calling me by my name, something he hadn't done since our wedding day. It was always Livy, Liv, baby, love, and all the endearments in the world. Never Olivia.

"Jack, you can't be serious," I whispered, barely getting the words out of my lips. "This isn't like you! Yes, we are getting a divorce. Yes, I have accepted that you don't love me. But this is your child as much as it is mine."

He sighed heavily, sounding like he was explaining the most basic of concepts to a child.

"Olivia, you don't get it, do you? This marriage was never real for me. It was just a deal to keep everyone happy."

My world was falling apart, the walls closing in. And he was standing there like he was talking about the weather.

"I understand that." I croaked out, unable to keep in my tears. "But the child is very much real, Jack, and he or she is yours."

Jack's eyes searched the floor, his hand playing with his hair like he was bored. "I want to be with Elena now. And I won't let you and your bastard get in our way!"

Elena.

The name was like a dagger to my heart.

The woman he'd always loved, the one he was with now.

"How can you say that your own child is getting in your way?"

"The kid's all yours," he said, his tone as if he was discussing the terms of a new business merger. "I'll pay for child support, but that's it. I want nothing to do with you or your spawn. I want a divorce, and I want it now."

With trembling hands, I slapped him so hard it echoed through the room. The shock on his face was almost worth the pain in my hand.

"How could you?" I shouted. "How could you do this to us?"

Jackson's eyes hardened. "You knew what you were signing up for," he said, his voice devoid of any warmth.

"Did I?" I wiped my tears away. "Did I really?"

"Yes, you did!" He yelled back. "Don't play the victim here, Olivia. You were in it for the money too. If you caught feelings in the midst of it, that's not my problem!"

I staggered on the spot by his words. This was not the man I married. This was not the love of my life.

I took a step back from him, not wanting to share even my air with him.

"You are right," I mumbled. "My child or I are not any of your concern from this moment forth."

Jack's eyes crinkled at the corners and I vainly hoped that he would change his mind.

I was pathetic.

Begging for a cheat to accept my baby.

I hated him so much.

But I loved him just too much as well.

He was my oxygen. And right now, he was drowning me.

"Sign the divorce papers." He barked out.

I gulped. "If that's what you want, then so be it." I was so proud of myself for keeping my voice and my gait steady as I walked over to the desk where the papers were neatly placed.

"And the baby?" I asked, one last time.

"Keep it, get rid of it. I do not care."

I whipped around, wide-eyed. "What did you just say?"

"Don't waste my time, woman." He did not even seem regretful of what he had said. And I realized there was no use arguing with a monster like him.

I put down my signature in my neat scrawl but only after going through the clauses.

This man, no, this monster, I didn't know what he was capable of so I had to make sure that he did not add in something that could destroy me.

"There," I said. "Are you happy now?"

He grinned wickedly at my tears. "I am exhilarated."

A sob escaped my lips and my world spun. "I hate you." I spat out.

Jackson smirked as he walked towards me, invading my space. He hooked a finger under my chin and pulled it up to meet his gaze, his eyes seemed like they were trying to tell me a completely different story. "No, you love me. These tears and that thing growing inside you, both are testimonies of that."

I let out a sob as I raised my hand to slap him again but he caught it. "Ah ah ah, not a third time."

He mercilessly yanked me by my arm and dragged me out of the office, pushing me like it burned to touch me.

I staggered and almost fell but caught the door at the last moment for balance.

"Now get out! And never appear in my life ever again!" His eyes were cold, and cruel and his eyes were twinkling with madness and those other emotions I could not decipher.

What had happened to the man I loved?

How had this come to this?

Wait. The man I loved - he never existed to begin with. All of this was his twisted game.

"Goodbye, Jack." I mumbled, my tears still freely flowing.

"It's Jackson Reign to you." He smirked. "I think 'stranger' is even better."

I gritted my teeth.

"Goodbye, Jackson Reign."

"Goodbye, Olivia Smith."

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