The end has come

New York City

Manhattan

The Walton mansion

Whack!

The sound of someone's hand hitting against a flesh echoed through the room, as Mrs. Walton struck her daughter-in-law's left cheek with lightning speed at impulse.

It darted the poor lady's face to the right instantly with force, as a silent gasp escaped her throat in reaction to the pain she had just felt.

The maids, who were always working at every spot around the mansion were all taken aback, as they remained transfixed on the spot, when they realized what had happened again; Mrs. Walton had hit her daughter-in-law.

"You bitch! What have you been doing until now?!" Mrs. Walton, the matriarch of the family demanded imperiously at the top of her voice, from the lady that was standing before her.

She was a very beautiful woman of an Asian-American descent in her mid fifties, and every feature of her face was still well aligned, which concealed the truth of her real age. Her makeup that seemed so redundant, baked her face to the perfect look she always wanted to attain.

Her red dress dazzled so brightly under the diamond three-tier chandelier that she was standing under, as well as the luxurious silver heels that she was putting on. Despite her glamorous appearance, her actions and words were the total opposite of how she looked.

Ava, who wanted the matter with her mother-in-law to end quickly apologized instantly, with her cheeks still burning hot from the slap as she tried not to cry, "I a… am so sorry……."

"Where have you been? Where did you go all day only to return this evening, when I have demanded your presence for almost an hour since I got here? Have you always been this unreasonable?!" Everett shot in anger again, asking Ava numerous questions at the same time.

"I was feeling a little unwell and visited the hospital today. I am so sorry for taking my time," Ava apologized profusely again and again, with her head slightly bowed and her eyes looking to the ground. She felt so miserable, and her heart ladened with so much pain

"Is this how you spend bills using my son's credit card on irrelevant things? Is this?! Can your family even afford to have their health insurance in the expensive hospital that you must have gone to?!" Everett yelled at the poor lady's face again, looking for reasons to find fault with her. "Or might you even be cheating on my son?" She accused menacingly, which made Ava's eyes raise in shock to what she heard her mother-in-law say to her.

The arrogant woman always seized every chance possible to disregard and insult Ava's family, and always reminded her that their family had gone bankrupt, which was the reason why she married her son. She had never hidden her hatred for her either.

"No, ma'am. I would never cheat on my……."

"What is going on here?!" A cold voice suddenly interrupted the tense atmosphere, causing everyone to turn their heads in unison even if they already knew who it was.

Ethan made his way into the room, and his appearance only got more intimidating as he got closer to where they were all standing. There was now silence everywhere, and the only thing that could all hear, was the soft sound of his leather shoes clacking against the polished floor.

Visibly written on his face was displeasure about whatever might be going on in the room, and the maids who had seen their boss all scampered away quickly to avoid the wrath of anger upon them.

"Eth…Ethan, you are back," Everett stuttered a bit trying to regain her posture, because she was shocked by the fact that her son had arrived at the house earlier than she could have predicted.

He had always told her to never come into his house again to cause a scene, ever since the day she dragged Ava aggressively from the stairs. The poor lady had to wear a cast on her right arm and leg for weeks, due to multiple fractures.

"Welcome back, Ethan. How was work today?" Ava quickly braced herself and got over the pain burning her heart quickly, as she greeted her husband with a bright smile to prevent him from picking a cue that something was wrong.

'He would probably know anyway.'

"Ava. Return back to your room now," he instructed her calmly without the usual overbearing tone, and she turned immediately without any argument, towards the stairs that led to her room.

"What if the maids were recording? Do you want to get our family out in the mud?" Ethan casted a heavy gaze upon his mother to scold her, the moment they were the only one left in the living room.

She bit hard on her lips like she was feeling remorseful for what she did, as she fiddled the ring in her fingers gently with a crossed brow.

"I will try to be better," she responded softly.

*.....***.***......**

Ava broke into bitter tears the moment she opened the door to her room and slammed it, as her lips trembled badly while trying to control the unyielding tears.

She was trying hard to keep her voice down with her heart hurting so badly, but it was so difficult because she felt so broken again and again. She was used to her mother-in-law's wickedness already, but it was difficult to not cry, especially when she thought of the outcome of where she had gone.

Standing in front of the mirror after wiping her tears that were still trickling down her cheeks, she stared at her face and body in the huge dresser mirror for any changes.

Slowly, her hand which was tucked firmly to her sides began to crawl slowly to her stomach, as she placed her right hand carefully below her navel area to check for a bulge.

Hot tears trickled down her cheeks again as she did that, because it was hard to believe the fact that she was carrying a baby inside of her. It was a heavy blow to her when the doctor she had visited informed her of the test results, which she waited a long time to collect. It wrecked her mood instantly.

'How could she be happy? With her pathetic state of marriage? How would Ethan even react if he heard the news?' Ava questioned herself a million times. It felt like she was suffocating as she stood on that spot, with no one to answer her endless questions.

All her life, she had been struggling and trying so hard to gain her mother's love and trust. She couldn't understand why her mother would show her younger sister love more than her, while she worked so hard to get the same from her.

And unfortunately for her, the same fate just had to meet her in marriage.

However, it was a fate she could have avoided.

But not when her family had gone bankrupt because their father made wrong investments, and his dear friend was willing to help recover his company if they could get their children to get married. Her mother, Celine, didn't hesitate to suggest the idea to her, with a full-course instruction on how she was to behave if she got married into the Walton's family.

"You must do everything to please your husband. He can never break the marriage till our company goes back to normal. You must do it for mother," she remembered those words vividly and they rang in her ears every time.

But she didn't even need those instructions anyway. She would have done so well, regardless.

But ever since the beginning of her marriage with Ethan Walton, she had never experienced any form of complete happiness. It was glaring to her that he felt nothing for her and didn't care about her, but he didn't caution his merciless mother who was always ready to prey on her.

The old woman came and went in the mansion however she liked, and had never missed any chance to make her so miserable.

Her own mother and younger sister weren't helping matters either, because they never really cared about how she was doing since the marriage. Her life had sucked ever since.

"My life just gets messy by each second," Ava lamented painfully with a smile as she stared at the mirror, still hoping her tummy so firmly like her life depended on it. And maybe it did.

"Coming in!" She heard the frigid order coming from the direction of the door, and she flinched immediately as she turned to look at the person that pushed the door open and made his way inside.

It was her husband, Ethan, which surprised to know that he was in her room, just shortly after they saw one another downstairs.

'Did he want to scold her too?' she wondered.

Ever since they had been married for the past two years, he hardly related with her on a personal level if she never started the conversation. And she tried her best those years trying to get closer to him and making him feel comfortable with her, but he shunned her mercilessly without any regards because he had a lover.

And she knew the lady too. Anna Jones. She was a world renowned model and beauty care brand owner.

She could never forget his stinging words too, "Do not even try so hard. I will never have anything to do with a lady like you!"

"Is… is there anything wrong?" Ava tried not to stutter as she sucked in her breath and pressed out shakily, before asking Ethan carefully the reason he was in her room so suddenly.

"There. Sign them. They are divorce papers," he informed her as he stretched the brown envelope to her, before she would even get to check and find out the content of the paper by herself. "I'm setting you free from this marriage, and from my mother too," he continued.

"Wh..at.. What?!" She voiced out louder than she had ever done. For the very first time.