Her whole world was about to crash right before her eyes.

She couldn’t breathe, and that was an irony because she, Sophie Arnold Billiard, had mastered the art of breathing. Breathing usually helped her see through a lot of things in life. Her husband was a cheat who didn’t mind showing off his mistress to her and the servants. Take a deep breath, Sophie. She lived in the same estate with her husband’s family and was always under their watchful and suffocating eyes. Breathe, Sophie. Her husband was an arrogant narcissist who always brought his mistress home, and while she slept in the next room, she always heard their moans and sighs whenever they had sex. Breathe, Sophie. She was an expert at breathing.

But now, all of a sudden, she didn’t know how to breathe. Her breath was caught in her throat in such a manner that she felt if she remained in that position for another minute, she was going to die.

“Did you hear me, Sophie?” Simon’s voice came crashing through her mind to bring her back to her senses, and she blinked twice to clear the hazy view before looking deep into his blue eyes.

That was when she breathed again.

“A divorce?” She asked, her wary eyes searching his face for any hint that he might be joking. “A divorce, Simon?”

“Yes, a divorce, Sophie,” he answered in the most ruthless manner. He pointed to the envelope on the ground, and having no other choice, her gaze followed it. “Pick it up, sign it, and let’s get the hell away from each other.”

“I don’t understand.” She called before he could leave, her hands flying upwards to clutch her bare throat. No, she did understand why he would want a divorce considering how they had lived the past two years, but why did he want a divorce all of a sudden? “What did I do, Simon?” She was forced to ask, going forward to touch him, but he shrugged off even before she could come closer, looking at her like she was a disease.

“What is there to understand?” He demanded, his voice loud enough to wake the servants. “This shambolic marriage is a farce, Sophie; it is suffocating and very infuriating. I cannot do it any longer.”

“I…” she stammered, still thinking she was in a dream. “We have lived like this for two years now.” She said, subtracting the years they had liked each other from the years they struggled to tolerate each other…or he struggled to tolerate her. “I don’t mind you having your flings and doing whatever you want, but…”

“A fling?” Simon asked, shutting her up immediately. She tried to speak, but her words were only hanging in between her throat and mouth, refusing to be let out. “If you think what I have with Monica is a fling, then you are mistaken, Sophie. I am going to marry her, so I no longer need you breathing down my neck.”

His words shot through her like an arrow, and without knowing it, she began to shake her head, refusing to digest the information. Maybe she should use another route to try to stop him; maybe she should remind him who he was and what a divorce would mean for him and his family’s name in the media; maybe that would work. She thought. But as she looked at him, she realized that nothing would work on him anymore. His mind was made up, and the only thing she could do was accept it.

“After everything?” She asked, her voice breaking but not as much as her heart was. “After four years of living together, of tolerating your excesses and disrespect. You serve me annulment papers?”

She didn’t want to cry, didn’t want him to see her cry, but it was difficult. The tears were already burning by the side of her eyes, and she knew it was only a matter of time before they came flooding down her face. She still had a lot of things to say to him, a lot of things to tell the man she had loved and given herself to for four years, so the tears better damn well wait. The tears had to give her a moment to speak her truth.

“Simon, I…”

“It is done, Sophie.” Simon said harshly to her, stopping her from speaking. “I came all the way here to give you the papers. Sign it and leave before I return tomorrow. You will get your alimony when the process is done…”

“I don’t want anything from you,” she whispered, trying to save face even though she knew she wouldn’t be able to survive without collecting his money and properties. “I don’t want any more insult from you.”

“Good, then. I see everything is settled.” Simon said, turning to walk away from the house without saying any other word to her. Sophie listened till he was out and the door was closed before dropping to the ground and bawling her eyes out.

************

It was some minutes past midnight, and Sophie was alone in her room, staring at the document Simon had left for her to sign. She stared hard at the names written at the bottom, her heart breaking into a million pieces seeing Simon’s signature already scribbled above his name. Her gaze moved to the right-hand side of the paper, and she took note of her name boldly written beside Simon’s, with the space indicated for a signature still left blank.

Sophie stood up from the floor where she sat like a miserable person and walked out of the room. Since Simon was out and probably in the arms of Monica, she could walk into the master’s bedroom without seeking permission.

And that was what she did.

She walked into her bedroom like she owned the place, which apparently, she did, at least two years ago. The room was still in the same state she had left it in the previous morning, so she had no trouble finding her way even though the place was dark. The sight of their bed by the corner got her attention, and since it was spotless and the sheets had been changed from the ones Monica and Simon made love in to a new one, she walked closer and lay on it, closing her eyes instantly.

Then the memories flooded in.

Her first night with Simon came clouding her thoughts, and so did other nights when they were still on friendship terms. The sex, the romance, the cuddles, and the late-night pillow talks all flooded in to remind her that her marriage hadn't always been rocky and that she had had good moments before the bad ones started coming.

But like everything, good moments did come to an end, didn’t they? She asked herself, her eyes flying open immediately. She stood up from the bed and made a tour around the bedroom, the bathroom, and even the walk-in closet, where she had selected all of Simon’s clothes for the past four years. With a smile, she touched some of the clothes before leaving the closet and the room in total, closing the door quietly behind her.

Sophie walked into her room with more determination than before, and without any thoughts or reasoning, bent down, took the pen sitting on the bedside table, and signed the divorce papers.

She walked into her closet, which housed most of all her clothes since Simon had banished her from the room they used to share, and threw a few of her things, mostly underwear and cosmetics, into a small suitcase.

Then she was out of the house in no time, taking the long walk along the roads of the estate. She used the east wing like she had advised Monica earlier on, just to avoid being seen and being asked lots of questions. It took her nothing less than ten minutes to finally get to the entrance of the estate, and since she knew the code to the automatic gate, she was able to leave without the alarms going off.

Yes, she was leaving. Sophie thought to herself. Never in her life had she ever thought she would leave the Billard estate with her two legs and not in one of their luxury cars, but it was happening.

As she walked down the road at midnight, a car, whose sound she hadn’t even heard, stopped in front of her, and the back door opened to reveal Joe Billard, Simon’s grandfather, sitting like the king that he was. She gasped as soon as she saw him, but he only shook his head at her with arrogance, making tsking sounds with his teeth.

“What are you doing?” He asked with the authoritative voice she had always known him to use. “Get in.”