Sophie eventually managed to get home, having wept on the street for what felt like hours. Her heels have been kicked off, her hands trembling as she clutched her car keys. The mascara on her face had dried into cracked lines.

As she walked through the door, her four-year-old son, Nathan, came running towards her.

“Mommy, are you okay?” Her sweet boy, Nathan, asked her the moment he saw her.

Sophie bent down and pulled him into a tight hug. “Mommy is fine, darling” she said and forced a smile. But Nathan was clearly not convinced

Marissa, the nanny, stood nearby, a concerned look on her face.

Sophie went to the pantry and poured herself a glass of wine and downed everything in one gulp.

From the corner of her eyes, she could see that Lopez was watching her.

“You can go now. I got him from here” she said to the nanny.

Marissa hesitated but she picked up her bag and waved Nathan goodbye.

“Pack your bags honey” Sophie said to her son “You and Mommy are going on a vacation

“Yayy..Nathan said, clearly excited “is Daddy coming too?

“No sweetheart , it’s just you and Mommy, okay."

“Okay”

Nathan ran upstairs to his room and Sophie started packing her stuff. She moved everything to the living room when she was done, together with Nathan’s things. She could not bear to live one more night together with Gabriel, not after this betrayal. Her plan was simple, she would book a hotel and leave with her son, until she was able to find her feet.

Sophie sat down on the couch and pulled out her phone. She opened a hotel booking site and tried to pay but her transaction was declined. She tried another card but it was the same thing. That was when it occurred to her. Gabriel had blocked all the cards.

Everything was in his name. Every account, every credit card, every asset. He’d never allowed her to work, said he wanted to take care of her, said she didn’t need to worry about money. She didn’t even have a credit card to her win name.

Just then, the door flew open and Sophie jumped. Gabriel walked in, arm-in-arm with Olivia. They were kissing and laughing in a way that made Sophia's skin crawl.

Gabriel stopped in his tracks when he saw the luggage.

“What is all this?” He said, with amusement in his eyes.

“I want a divorce,” Sophie said, standing up to face him.

Gabriel and Olivia looked at each other and they both burst into laughter.

“And where would you go? Gabriel asked, still laughing

“Oh Sophie, you really think you can survive out there without me? You have nobody. You have no job, no prospect, have you forgotten you were just a homeless loser when I found you” Gabriel said. Still laughing

Sophie felt the tears brimming in her eyes. She had said she wasn’t going to cry anymore but she couldn’t help it. Gabriel was right. She had nothing and nobody. The only family and friend she has apart from Gabriel and her son Nathan was Olivia. How did she hope to survive with her son out there? Even if she divorced Gabriel, she would not get anything. Gabriel had brainwashed her into signing a prenup that made sure she got nothing in the event of a divorce. He had told her she had to sign it because that was what his mother wanted but had promised that he would always take care of her, no matter what.

Nathan walked into the room then and ran to hug his dad and his “Aunty Olivia”

“Daddy!” he shouted, hugging Gabriel and then Olivia “Mummy and I are going on vacation” Nathan said

“Is that so, buddy?” Gabriel said, ruffling Nathan’s hair but looking at Sophie.

“Why don’t you run upstairs, buddy? Daddy and mummy need to have an adult conversation” Gabriel said

“Okay” Nathan said and ran up the stairs

The moment he was out of sight. Olivia walked up to Gabriel and kissed his lips, they both kissed deeply for a few minutes. It was almost as if they were putting up a show for Sophie. Sophie swallowed, the pain in her heart made her feel like she was being continuously stabbed with a dagger.

She still couldn’t understand why the two people she loved and trusted most in her life would do this to her.

She felt not only betrayed but also humiliated.

Sophie was only twenty when she met Gabriel. He was twenty eight, tall, confident, charming. She was working at a Starbucks, serving coffee with an apron and a smile when he walked in like a fairytale and her world literally changed. He had liked her immediately and when he learned that she was homeless, he had given her some money and asked her to move out of the shelter and move in with him. Sophie didn’t say yes immediately, she had been wary. But he was magnetic. Six-foot-two with dark brown hair, and sexy blue eyes, Sophie couldn’t stop talking about him when she got back to the homeless shelter she was sharing with Olivia.

She did move in with him shortly after and he even helped Olivia get a job in an accounting firm close by and so she was also able to move out of the shelter.

“So you really think you could just take my son and disappear?” Gabriel said to her and laughed

She stared at him.

“I want out” Sophie said, her voice barely above a whisper “I want everything, my life, my son, my dignity, I don’t care what it takes”

“You should” Gabriel said, “because the moment you walk out that door, you’ll have nothing. No money, no power. No family. And I’ll make sure you never see Nathan again”

Sophie gasped, the weight of his words crushing her chest “you can’t take my son away from me” she said

“Try me” Gabriel said, his eyes gleaming

Sophie wondered what had possessed him. This wasn’t the man she married. This wasn’t her knight in shining amour that rescued her and gave her a fresh breath of life. What had happened to him? Sophie glanced at Olivia and noticed that she was smiling, an evil smile playing on her lips. And then it hit her. This was all Olivia’s doing. She must have been jealous of her. That she got to have the life they all wanted. Olivia had only been pretending to be her friend all this while waiting for an opportunity to screw her over. Olivia was never her friend. And now she has finally gotten what she wanted all along.