A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL

These injections are the worst.

Five IVF rounds, hundreds of tests and I still come back empty, no child in my womb.

Yet, Doctor Silas insists there's nothing wrong with my womb, and I should keep trying.

I'm supposed to be heading home afterwards but I just need comfort.

It's getting overwhelming.

"Lucas," I called to my driver, "take me to the Manhattan office."

"The Headquarters?"

"Yes," I sighed, laying my head on the window and watching people drive by.

Did they have such a painful life as mine?

I just wanted a baby, someone I could pour all my love into and they wouldn't raise a hand against me when I don't obey.

Jason isn't always such a brute though, that's why in my moment of pain, I am going to him.

He's my husband of five years after all.

When Lucas parked, my eyes caught the steel signage on the skyscraper I designed five years ago, fresh out of College and the month Jason and I got married.

Whitlock Architecture.

Our pride.

I want a child that'll inherit this and turn it into a global masterpiece.

Is it such a bad desire?

But it seemed that was beyond my reach.

When I walked into the lobby, Sanya was typing away at her keyboard, while also responding to a client.

I didn't bother her, I just headed into the elevator. I don't need an appointment to see my own husband.

The elevator made a strange sound, and I pulled out my phone and texted the repair guy.

If only I'd known that it was simply giving me a sign.

The doors opened and I stepped onto Jason's floor.

Well, it was supposed to be ours but I spent more time at home, drawing the designs and didn't need to be here.

It was big, I had a small office on the left, and the rest were for his meetings and his secretary's office.

I've never liked Ivy, she was disrespectful and Jason always excused her behaviour.

Which was why I didn't wince when I heard her laughter coming from his office.

They laugh together a lot these days, something he'd stopped doing with me years ago.

I was about to open the door, my hand was literally on the handle when I heard a sentence that made me pause.

"Everything happens tomorrow, right?"

"Yes my darling," I heard my husband's voice, soft, sensual and directed at another woman. "I have the buyers on standby and once she signs her shares to me, I'll sell it and we'll be filthy rich. I'll buy you that Yacht you've been dreaming of."

"And then we'll kill her after?"

My blood ran cold.

Surely he won't..

"Of course. I don't want a divorce battle or it's aftermath. You know she owns almost everything, not just the company. Her skills and business prowess is what built this place and the investors will realise it if we get divorced and she starts another company. So she has to go. I'll just sell the rest of the company, citing grief as my reason so no one will ask questions."

"You're such a genius! We'll be very rich! Did I tell you I love you already?"

"One more time won't hurt," he drawled, "get on your knees baby girl. I miss your mouth around me."

I heard movements and soon, moaning sounds followed.

I'd always heard shock was capable of killing someone but I didn't understand it until then.

My hands froze, my body got hot from the inside and I stopped breathing for a long while.

The sounds of her mouth working him into a frenzy were what shook me out of my reverie.

Immediately, I was opening the door but I stopped..

The last time I confronted him for cheating, he sweet-talked me into forgiving him.

And honestly? I don't know how he does it but he's always been able to keep me on a leash, one I didn't see until now.

My chest burned hot as I stepped back.

"Yess, just like that Ivy. You're so perfect, nothing like that rigid, fat bitch."

I looked at my body, ruined by years of trying to get pregnant for him.

And this is what he says?

"Wait, did.. ugh, ahh Ivy, I think someone's at the door."

That sent me spiralling towards the stairs instead of the elevator as though he was already with a gun, ready to kill me.

I took off my heels and ran down and hid under the staircase before he came out.

"There's nobody," he said, frowning at the face I once considered handsome.

It still is, just marred by cruelty.

"Oh baby, you're too paranoid," Ivy slurred, dragging him back, "there's nobody there and there's no way anyone will be able to catch us. We're very careful."

"You're right. I'm sorry. Let's continue, I miss your.."

Their words faded away as he took her again, and only her screams of pleasure remained.

For the last six months, I've been begging for intimacy in my own home, meanwhile he's here, screwing his secretary.

But that's not it, that's not what has me hot and cold. It's that plan.

He wants to sell this company and to enjoy the money properly, with his side piece, he wants me dead.

Dead!

Not even gone or divorced or hurt, he wants to completely take me out of the picture?

I repeated the words in my head until rage replaced the pain.

He's the man I took a chance on when he was a nobody.

His mother was a janitor at NYU and he was literally an airhead.

I built this company and handed him everything but the deed.

The lifestyle, the impeccable suits, the money he uses make Ivy feel like she was something more.

It was all because of my talent and years spent designing the best houses all over the country.

Now he wants me dead?

No, I won't let this slide.

If he thinks he can kill me and take everything I suffered for, I'll remind him that a woman's wrath is not to be toyed with.

I took a secret entrance I built into the company and went out, calling Lucas to drive to the back.

When I got in, I gave him the instructions.

"Take me to the precinct.”