CHAPTER 4 Divorce
Amelia's POV.
"Breathe." A calm voice instructed behind me, and almost immediately, I felt someone tap my back gently and whoever it was slowly caressed the length of it. My eyes were still glued to Marcus who was still in the water with Rose in his arms.
I was heartbroken at the sight. He wasn't even bothered about me, and if whoever it was hadn't reached out to pull me out at the last minute, he wouldn't have cared if I lived or died.
"Talk to me. Are you alright?" The voice behind me came again, and I could sense the panic in the masculine tone. A tremor clung to the edges of his voice that caught my attention, and forced me to glance back at who was behind me slowly.
I had never seen him before. His dark hair was glued to his head due to how wet they were, and his brown eyes pierced mine with such intensity that I dared not look away. His muscles flexed under his shirt anytime he moved, and when I managed to glance down at him, I was welcomed by the sight of his abdominal muscles since his white shirt now stuck to his skin.
A gasp slid through my lips, and I had to peel my eyes away from him and back to his face just so that I could concentrate on what he was saying.
"Can you hear me?" He shook me gently when he realized I wasn't listening, and when he saw the blank look on my face, he panicked and tried to lift me in his arms.
"Call an ambulance." The sound of his voice alone commanded obedience, and even though I had no idea who he was talking to, I knew the person had obeyed immediately.
I was too dazed to react to anything that was going on around me.
"She's just being dramatic. There is absolutely nothing wrong with her," Marcus called out from his spot in the pool.
The stranger and I turned in his direction in unison just in time to see him get out of the pool and then turn around to help Rose out like a real gentleman would.
I wondered why he was like that to her and not to me. I was his wife legally and socially, yet he treated me like I was the only one who wanted whatever happened between us that night.
Right there and then, the tears began to pour down my face. I gasped for air as my body shivered uncontrollably. Even though I had already been pulled from the water and saved by a stranger's hands, my mind was still trapped in the horror of what had just happened.
My husband, my own husband, had chosen to save his lover instead of me. He had left me to drown, to die, while he saved the woman he loved more. The realization and pain of that betrayal were suffocating me, crushing my chest.
My body convulsed with each cry. My muscles ached from the force of my emotions. I was cold, so cold, my skin was numb from the pool water.
But it was nothing compared to the icy grip of heartbreak that had taken hold of my heart. I felt like I was drowning all over again, this time in a sea of despair.
Suddenly, I felt something warm wrap around my body, and by the time I figured out what it was, the man beside me was gone and had left his jacket behind.
Still very shaken up by the event, I managed to pull myself together when I noticed a few of the guests were still around, and they were staring down at us from the balcony.
I had never been this ashamed before. They definitely saw what Marcus did and how he wasted no time at all to make that decision.
There was no hesitation.
As I made my way to the door that led back into the house, I searched everywhere with my eyes for the stranger who had saved me, but he was nowhere in sight. He should have at least given me an opportunity to thank him before he disappeared.
"And where do you think you're going?" Rose's voice yelled angrily behind me just as I felt her grab a fistful of my hair and yank me backwards, "You're not going to get away with trying to drown me."
I yelped in pain as I struggled to get her to let go, but it was of no use. She held on way too tightly and had enough hair in her grasp. The jacket slid off me, and the cold air slammed against my already wet body.
What was she talking about?
Roughly blinded by the pain that shot through my scalp, I pushed her off me. She tumbled backwards, and she could have crashed to the rough bare floor if Marcus had not caught her on time.
"Amelia!" He roared angrily.
I didn't intend to push her that hard, but when I heard and saw the way he turned into a raging bull because she almost fell, I smirked.
"You see that?" Rose asked angrily as she pretended to be in pain. We both knew her body didn't touch the ground, but for some stupid reason, Marcus was totally blind to that.
"She didn't succeed when she tried to drown me, so she wants to kill me with her hands instead."
"We fell because you…" I began, but Marcus cut me off harshly.
"You should apologize to her right now!" He demanded with a stern voice.
"What?"
I couldn't believe my ears. He couldn't possibly mean that. There were still a handful of guests behind us, and as if witnessing him save his mistress rather than his wife in such a life-threatening scenario wasn't bad enough, he decided to publicly humiliate her too.
"What are you talking about, Marcus? She clearly just wants you to…"
"Don't test my patience, Amelia. Apologize to Rose right now." He snapped, and I felt my blood boil underneath my skin as I clenched my fists tightly.
What was he doing? Even if he didn't love me, would it kill him to respect me for once?
That was it.
That was the last string that held our marriage together, and now it has broken. I was a Knight, and it's pathetic enough that I get to give up on that for him, but this… this is something else entirely.
I am done being the pathetic one here. I am done being the one holding this marriage together.
I didn't understand what was going on inside my head because it was all happening too fast, but the next thing I knew was that I opened my mouth, and the word that made its way out surprised everyone, including me.
"Divorce," I mumbled under my breath, and Marcus' brows knitted into a frown as he took a step closer to me.
"What did you just say?" He asked with an intimidating tone, but even that couldn't scare a determined and fed-up Knight.
"I said I want a divorce," I repeated, and he scoffed.
"Is this a joke?"
"No, Marcus, it's not. I want a divorce, and I want it now."
"If this is one of those your stupid games to get me to apologize then think again Amelia because I would never apologize and I would sign the divorce papers in a heartbeat ."
I didn't flinch even after he had just threatened me.
He called out to one of the guests on the balcony, and a man I recognized as one of his associates hurried down to join us.
"You want a divorce right? Well, I already went through the stress of getting the papers ready, so all you have to do is sign." He said with an evil smirk as he handed a pen over to me, and his associate pulled out some papers from the briefcase he was holding.
So Marcus had planned to divorce me all along! I looked up at him through my tear-stained eyes, and he looked away without remorse.
Blinded by my tears, I took the pen and signed.