01: A Divorce

ALMA

Three Years Ago

"How could you bring shame to us?"

A disdainful glare flashed across my way. "To our family?" my stepmother screamed while I stood trembling in the corner of the room, the blue duvet wrapped firmly around my naked body, while I tried to process how I got myself in a scandal I knew nothing of.

My gaze fell on Linda, who was standing behind her mum, a smug look on her face.

It was her...

She was the one who offered me a drink last night and the last thing I remembered was her taking me to a room when I told her I felt sleepy.

Did she drug me?

I stared in horror when the realization hit me deeply.

I had woken up to a man next to me who happened to be her fiancé, Carl Harrison, with camera flashes everywhere.

But why?

Everything seemed confusing to me... why would Linda drug me and make me sleep with her fiancé?

An ear-ringing slap brought me out of my trance, my face stinging from the excruciating slap my stepmom had landed on my face.

Hot tears filled my face as I slowly brought my left hand to where I'd been slapped.

"How dare you stand there and smear mud on our family's name, you filthy whore?"

"I-I do-don't know how it happened," my lips quivered.

"Linda?" I stared at her, hoping she would tell her mum the truth, but her expression was blank.

A loud sob escaped my lips. "I didn't do anything."

My stepmom moved closer, and I flinched fearing what she was about to do to me.

"You didn't do anything, huh?" she questioned, her eyes filled with rage.

"You shameless slut, you see no man to do it with but your sister's fiancé?"

"What a disgrace!"

"Mother, I told you she had always had eyes for my man, but you wouldn't believe it," Linda said, and I gaped at her speechlessly.

What?

I've only met her fiancé thrice and that was when we had a family dinner with her fiancé's family, I was least interested in him and I couldn't even hold a proper conversation with him each time Linda introduced me to him.

"Now, the so-called daughter of the great Jenkins was caught in a one-night stand with her step-sister's fiancé,"

"What a great headline," my stepmom laughed noxiously.

My head was spinning, how could I be entangled in such a mess?

A cry tore through my mouth when my stepmom clutched my hair tightly in her hands and pulled me closer to her.

She pulled back my hair, making me look her in the face which was filled with nothing but bitterness.

"I don't care how you're going to do it, you are marrying into the Harrison family and cleaning up your stupid mistakes."

That being said, she pushed me to the ground and my ass slapped hard against the surface of the floor as I winced in pain.

I watched her walk out of the room helplessly until my devil of a stepsister squatted in front of me and I glared with all the hatred in me.

"You did this, didn't you?" I seethed angrily.

The corner of her lips curled into one of her annoying smirks.

"Oh dear sister, you've been of another help to me," she sighed and reached out to brush off the strands of hair covering my face.

"Did you realize what you've done?" I scowled at her.

"You ruined my life, Linda," a tear slipped down my face and she pouted.

"You'll get out of it dear sister, I'm sure you've had a taste of Carl's joystick," my eyes widened at her choice of words.

"This isn't a game, Linda, what the hell are you saying?" I screamed at her.

She snickered. "I doubt you'd remember."

She chuckled, straightening up. "Don't worry, you'll have more of him when you get married to him," she said and walked out of the room.

I was left with so many unanswered questions...

Why did Linda do this to her fiancé?

And why was I caught on the web?

Never have I ever been so left in the dark until this day.

Present Day

I walked excitedly towards my husband's office, my heart racing with a mix of avidness and nervousness as I clutched the little gift I had prepared for our third Anniversary.

I couldn't wait to see his expression when he learns of our new phase of life together. I exchanged pleasantries with the staff who walked past me.

No one in the company where I worked for my husband knew I was the wife of the charming billionaire boss, Carl Harrison, the CEO of HARRIS LTD company. My marriage to Carl was held in secret for reasons best known to us.

I knocked on the door and waited for my husband's response before I could go in.

"Come in," his deep baritone voice resounded through the door, and I eagerly walked into the office, a wave of anticipation sweeping over me. My eyes fell on Carl who was sitting at his desk typing away on his system and a bright smile formed on my lips.

"Darling,"

Carl looked up from his laptop, his expression bland as always. "I told you to stop calling me that when we are at work," his icy gray eyes bore into mine and I let out a slight cough.

"There is no one in here," I mumbled, glancing around to be sure of that.

"Why are you here?" he asked indifferently, moving his swivel seat back a bit and adjusting his tie while I beamed, my hands were behind me, and I was holding the test result and moved closer to his seat.

"Carl..." I started, his eyes fixed on me.

"I have great news for you," I smiled, biting on my lower lips, and he arched one of his brows at me when I sat on his legs and wrapped my arms around his neck.

I leaned forward and dropped a kiss on those alluring pink lips of his, then proceeded to kiss him, but he hesitated and pushed me away gently.

"Alma, we can't do this," he uttered, and I got up from him wondering what happened.

"What's wrong?"

He sighed and got up from his seat, his height towering over me as he walked away from me and kept a distance between us.

"Whatever that's been going on between us has to end," he said as a matter of fact and I blinked severally trying to register what he had said, but I couldn't.

I don't get...

"I don't think I understand what you're saying,"

Carl ran his fingers through his hair and stared at me. "Linda is back."

"And?" I questioned, my heart skipping a beat.

"Alma, I need to be honest with you. Linda had always had a place in my heart, you know that she was my first love and now that she's back in the States, I want a divorce."

What?

I swallowed the lump stuck in my throat, trying to register what he said. His words hung so heavily in the air that they punctuated whatever I thought of saying.

Is this a joke?

"So, after all these years I've been with you, your heart still longed for Linda?" I managed to say.

Somehow, I wasn't that surprised. My sister was always a gorgeous presence. Everyone loved her.

But hearing these from my husband, still made my heart sink in despair, deeply.

"Yes," he answered, and I snapped my gaze at him in shock.

I was caught off guard, and it felt like the ground beneath my feet would give away. The revelation that Carl's heart was still entangled with Linda, who had betrayed him shattered me completely.

So, all those times that I felt he was adjusting to me were all in my head.

I had come into his office to tell him that I was pregnant with his child, but instead, this was what was in store for me.

A divorce.

I can't let that happen for the sake of our child. I can't be left at the most critical stage of my life, especially when I left everything behind to be with him.

"Carl... you know I love you," How strange. I didn't know what to say, but "I love you" seemed to be the only sentence that could save the situation, and my ears welled up in my eyes.

"You love me?" he scoffed, and I stared unbelievably at him.

Carl's face had a mask of cold determination as he stepped closer to me, his gray eyes piercing through mine.

"This was never supposed to be permanent, need I remind you that we were in a contract marriage for two years, and you've even overstayed your welcome? Our marriage was a mistake, fueled by your deception and your ulterior schemes," he spat, and I gasped in disbelief.

"I never deceived you, Carl, I never did... There's so much you didn't know about that night."

"You think I didn't know how much of a trouble you were since we first met?"

I stared confused. "What do you mean?"

"You've been nothing but trouble since the beginning. Our marriage happened because you drugged me and orchestrated that scandal with the paparazzi. I had to marry you to salvage my reputation."

Carl's words hit me like a series of painful blows, and I incautiously squeezed the test result in my hands that I was about to show him. "That's not true, I-I wo-would nev—" I find my stuttering until he cut me off.

"Save it, Alma, I've had enough of your lies, I should have known better than to have trusted someone like you," his voice grew sharper, and it made me stagger backward until I was stopped by the desk.

"Carl, I was framed. I never drugged you, and I didn't orchestrate any scandal. Linda set me up and you and manipulated the whole situation. Please, you have to believe me."

"The effrontery of you to bring up Linda's name in your lies," his eyes flashed with fiery.

"Please, Carl, you have to believe me," I sobbed.

Carl's expression remained unyielding. "I've heard enough. I've made my decision. You're fired, Alma. I don't want to see you again. Our marriage was a mistake, and it's time to set things right with Linda."

"I'm fired?" I uttered in shock, not believing my ears.

"Yes, your divorce papers and sack letter are on the desk,"

"Wh-what?"

Carl turned away, and I couldn't just let him go like that, I hugged him from behind, stopping him from moving further.

"Carl I'm your wife," I wrapped my arms tightly around him. "Think about it. You must be too impulsive now. You love me, I know..."

"You are not my wife anymore," he said, and aggressively disentangled himself from me and pushed me to the floor, "And I never loved you."

I winced in pain, but I launched forward and grasped his left leg, refusing to let him go, I couldn't just let him go that easily after everything we'd been through.

"I'm begging you for the sake of o—" Carl snatched his leg forcefully from my grip before I could finish my statement as he walked out of the office.

I was left on the floor, shattered and broken beyond repair, so I thought. The weight of his accusations and the finality of his decision hung in the air, which made me cry uncontrollably as I placed my hand on my lower stomach.

Oh, no!

"My baby... our baby, Carl, for the sake of our baby..." I wailed.