I was wrong... all along

ZEPH

The tray I was holding crashed to the floor, everything spilling with it. My blood grew cold, and my lips trembled with my hands as I stood at the other side of the door, staring, mouth open. I'd just gotten the best news of my life an hour ago. The doctor said I had a possibility of conceiving after months of telling me I couldn't.

I'd kept my visits a secret from Lysander, hoping, one day to surprise him with it. However, standing at the door now, eyes wide, my mind tried to process all I heard. 

The door opened, and a partially clad Lysander walked out, his eyes narrowed, and his lips thinned in a line. I'd always thought he was handsome, but at that moment, all I could see was the darkness swirling in his gaze, the hatred I had failed to see all these years, blinded by love and a desperation to be seen by someone. 

“You…” Lips still trembling, I looked behind him as she stepped out in just a towel. Lyra, a woman he had claimed was his friend, didn't seem like that anymore. I'd suspected, but seeing it now, my suspicions were justified. 

I drew a step back, overwhelmed by emotions. The pieces fitting in as he wrapped his hands around her were like a weight that pinned me to the floor, making it hard for me to breathe, think or move. Every ounce of trust and respect I'd given him felt like a pound of betrayal now. 

“Surprised?”

Lysander's voice broke through my thoughts, cold, like it had always been. He had never been gentle with me. It was all on my mind. I'd always thought getting pregnant would make him love me more, show him I could do better than the others.

I gulped, my eyes fixed on the hand he had on her waist, my already broken heart scattering into pieces. “Did you… Did you do it?” I wanted to know.

“And what if I did?” He stalked towards me. “What if I did all those things with her? What will you do?”

I scoffed, the rage building within me almost blinding me. “You lied about her being your friend, didn't you? I was such a fool to not have read between the lines.” I wiped the tears trailing down my face.

“And? What use would that have made if you realized in time, ZEPH? You were nothing but a stand-in.” Lysander's eyes met mine, a flash of defiance crossing his face, as if daring me to say more. There was no guilt, no shame. Just a distant, almost calculating gaze that caused my blood to run cold.

His remarks were like a sharp knife, slicing through me and leaving me hollow, bleeding inside. 'A stand-in?' The word repeated in my head, refusing to make sense. I'd loved him with every fibre of my being, and he'd just been using me as a temporary fix? The pain from those words was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. It was a deep, gnawing ache that threatened to consume me whole.

Despite that pain, I chuckled. “I see. You're just a user, aren't you? Manipulating me as a placeholder until someone better comes along? No, darling, you're not as smart as you think you are. You're just insecure. You need to cheat just to feel like a man.”

The words had barely left my lips when his face contorted in rage. The slap came out of nowhere, its force sending me crashing to the floor, luckily away from the broken glasses from the plate I was holding a few minutes ago.

I lay there, stunned, my cheek throbbing in agony. For a moment, I was frozen, my mind reeling in shock as fear crept in.

“Have anything else to say?” The darkness in his eyes seemed to intensify.

Shaking, I scrambled to my feet, my heart racing as I backed away from him. My eyes darted towards the door, and with a surge of adrenaline, I turned and ran, desperately escaping from the monster I had fallen in love with. 

I didn't know what I was doing or where I was going. All I knew was that I had to get as far away from the house as I could. Tiny stones bit into my naked feet as I ran, but I dared not stop. My tears blinded me, my heart hurts, shattered into pieces by the same man I love.

He had planned all along, to get rid of me. I'd heard him tell her that while I stood at the door. It was just my luck that I overheard it in time.

I paused when I realized how quiet everywhere was. I stopped and rubbed my palms on my eyes to wipe the tears. My legs had been carrying me on pure adrenaline, fuelled by anger and hurt. But as I halted, I realised I was alone. I'd forgotten his house was practically at the outskirts of the town, and it took 30 minutes by car to get to the other side of the city.

Just then, as I was regretting my decision to run out of the house without putting on slippers, I noticed them. I wouldn't have if I kept running, but now I did. As the strangers approached, fear crept in like a fog, chilling and suffocating, shrouding my mind in a damp, dark mist that obscured all hopes…

Terror seeped into my bones like ice water, freezing my veins, numbing my senses and turning my legs to lead. For a lengthy minute, I couldn't move, held down by fear as the men approached, their faces masked by their hoodies, which made no effort to hide their frames.

The men seemed to close in with alarming speed, and that snapped me out of my fear-induced space. I drew a step back, my eyes darting between the two of them as I tried to keep a distance from them, intending to run back when I got the chance. A few steps back, and I felt a grip on my arms, holding me in place.

They didn't even give me a second to react before the ones in front caught up with us. He reached out, his hand covering my nose and mouth. I tried to struggle, putting my all into it, knowing I had to escape, but it was futile. They were stronger. The world began to blur, and my lungs fought for air, screaming for them to let go, to let me gulp the air I had always taken for granted. Everything went dark, and I felt myself being pulled into nothingness.