“Shit!” I groaned out uncomfortable as the sound of my phone rang through the still silence of my room, causing me to fluster my eyes open for a damn minute.

And all I could feel was a throbbing headache.

I slowly reached out with my hand searching for my phone on the light stand without even shifting my eyes away from the ceiling.

I knew I would be a mess right now because even the room was looking upside down to me. My eyes felt heavy and my nose, the opposite side of it.

I successfully picked up my phone, checking the ID caller to see it was my assistant. Ariella.

“Good morning, ma'am. Your appointment with ….

“Mr. Bassey? Yes, I know it's by 8.” I replied almost immediately, my voice coming out barely above a whisper.

“Are you okay now? Do you need me to come over? Prepare you something?” Ariella asked. She has been my secretary for 5 good years and I can say, she has been the best so far. No bad records from my side.

“It's fine, Ella. Carry on at work, please.”

With that, I ended the call and dropped the phone loudly on the bed.

It's strange. Everything felt strange, the way the world moves on when you feel like you have stopped.

It felt like a lie. How could everything be so normal when my entire life had just shattered?

I laid in bed for a few moments, staring at the ceiling, trying to find the strength to do the one thing I knew I had to do: end this marriage. For my insanity. I had tried to breathe, to quiet the noise in my head, but it still was impossible. Ethan's voice was still in my ears, talking to Lila about how she is trying to ruin his reputation because of her mistake.

But I couldn’t. Not anymore. And as much as I hated him for what he’d done, I hated myself more for not seeing it sooner.

I stood, pulling myself together the best I could. I couldn’t afford to break down. Not even when my bestfriend, betrayed me.

I don't know how to feel, how to think, or how to understand that I have actually taken in my own sworn enemy in my home a long time ago.

It couldn't be a mistake, can it?

~

The lawyer's office felt calm, something I needed at the point of my life. So calm and surreal out of the world of cruelty.

The woman sitting across from me, Nadine Marlowe, is our right time lawyer and I have always envied her for building this job with her intelligence. But then, it is what it is that my line didn't go that way.

"Do you have a prenup?" Nadine asked, her pen tapping on her notepad as she glanced at me.

I swallowed. "No," I replied, my voice hoarse.

She didn’t blink. Nor did she judge me. "Okay. That’s a good start." She jotted something down. "Children?"

"No," I answered again, my throat tight.

"Assets?" Her pen hovered.

I exhaled sharply, leaning forward. "We have a house, two joint properties, and business shares in my company. There’s also a penthouse in Lila’s name. Ethan transferred the deed to her."

Nadine looked up, her brows arching slightly. "Lila?"

I nodded, forcing my eyes to meet hers. "My best friend. She’s... been living with us for over a year or two now. She told me she was going through financial problems. I didn’t know about the penthouse until recently. She’s... pregnant."

The words hurt more deeply as I said them out loud, but they were true. And I needed to say them to someone who could do something about it and won't judge me for being stupid to have not seen through things.

I got so many signs. Yes, I did. But I let them all out of the way. I didn't know about the penthouse until recently and even though I knew, Ethan tried to talk me into understanding that he felt Lila needed to be out of our house so we could make babies.

I was stupid.

"Let’s get this started, then," Nadine said, her voice smooth, unbothered by the weight of the situation. "I’ll file the paperwork today. We’ll begin the process. I’ll need you to sign some forms, and we’ll go from there."

I nodded, my throat hard and tight making me struggle to swallow the thump that gathered in my mouth. This was really happening. I was really walking away from everything. From him.

When I returned home, I found Ethan sitting at the kitchen counter, as if nothing had happened, as if everything were still the same.

“The audacity.” I scoffed out in disbelief.

He was sipping his coffee, his face pale but somehow still carrying that look….the one I used to love….like he was both my protector and my equal.

It made me sick.

"You’re still here?" I asked in a very flat voice. I hated how much I sounded like a stranger in my own house.

Ethan’s eyes widened. "Gabby, we need to talk. I—"

"No." I cut him off. "I’m done talking."

He stood up quickly, his chair scraping across the floor. "Please, just listen. I didn’t. .. "

"Don’t," I snapped, turning away from him and heading toward the stairs. "You don’t get to talk to me anymore. And I don't see why you would be in my house, Mr. Man."

His footsteps followed me, desperately. "Gabby, please. I made a mistake. I don’t know what happened. I was confused, but I never meant to hurt you. I was going to fix it. That was why I took the penthouse in Lila's name. I was…."

"Fix it?" I spun around, glaring at him. "You don’t get to fix this, Ethan. You don’t get to pretend it didn’t happen. You slept with her. You had a relationship with her behind my back. You don’t get to fix ‘that’. I couldn't even get pregnant. How many years of our marriage and do you know one thing that just sank in my head. You never for once cared. You didn't even ask me how I felt with no babies."

He opened his mouth, but I didn’t let him speak. "You don’t understand. You’re not sorry. You’re sorry you got caught. You are sorry you won't be able to get what you have planned out, Ethan."

I could feel my hands trembling, but I clenched my fists, trying to steady myself. I was done. I was so done. Done with being manipulated.

"I’m filing for divorce," I said in a low cold voice.

His face faltered, and for a moment, I thought I saw real panic hovered in his eyes. "Gabby, don’t. You’re not serious. You don’t really want to leave me. You don’t want to give up on us."

"You’ve already given up on us," I said, the words burning out of my tongue. "You’ve already given up, Ethan. It’s over. Don’t make it harder."

His face twisted, and for a brief moment, he looked like the man I married ….the man who promised to always stand by me, no matter what.

But that was a lie. Everything was a lie. A facade to get what he wanted.

"Please," he begged, his voice breaking. "I love you. We can fix this. I swear, I’ll do anything….."

"Stop!" I shouted, my chest rising up angrily with my eyes closed. "I’m not your fixer, Ethan. You don’t get to use me anymore. You don’t get to use her either. Or do you think I don't know anything? You want to wire off the business in your name but Nadine was smart enough to always decline. All I just want now, is my peace, Ethan. Just leave." I whispered tiredly and turned my back to leave but his next words stopped me in my tracks.

“You can never find the right person for you, Gabby. It's better you know that now. I will instruct Lila to abort the pregnancy and she will be out of our lives so we can make babies. I am the only one for you!”

And just those sentences, send me rolling in my thoughts with my head spinning. He is the only one for me.

“Get out!.......”