Chapter 2

Alessia’s mind went completely blank. The world around her stopped moving. The air in the room felt heavy, choking her. She stared at the bed, her eyes wide with shock. The woman sitting naked next to Evander was Liora—the same girl she had called her sister for ten years. The girl she shared all her secrets with. The girl she cooked for, laughed with, and loved with all her heart.

"Liora?" Alessia’s voice shook, so tiny and broken it barely sounded like her own. "How... how could you do this to me? I trusted you. I took you like my own blood sister. How could you sleep with my husband?"

Liora didn't even look ashamed. She didn't try to hide under the bedsheets anymore. Instead, she sat up, fixed her messy hair, and let out a cold, sharp laugh that cut straight through Alessia's heart.

"Look at yourself in the mirror, Alessia," Liora said, mocking her as she pointed a manicured finger at her. "Look at your body. You are fat, heavy, and shapeless. Why would a handsome, rich man like Evander stay with a woman like you? He deserves someone sexy, someone beautiful like me. I satisfy him in ways you never could."

Alessia stumbled backward, her hand reaching out to grab the doorframe so she wouldn't collapse on the floor. Her chest burned with a deep, unbearable pain.

As Liora moved, the dim light from the bedside lamp caught something shining on her chest. Alessia’s eyes locked onto it. It was a silver diamond necklace, sparkling brightly against Liora's skin.

Alessia’s heart dropped into her stomach.

Four months ago, while washing Evander’s jacket, she had found a velvet jewelry box inside his pocket. When she opened it, she saw that exact diamond necklace. Back then, her heart had filled with joy. She had thought, He bought this for me. He sees how depressed I am after losing our baby. He wants to surprise me. She had quietly put it back, waiting for the day he would place it around her neck. But weeks passed, then months, and the necklace never came.

Now, seeing it resting on her best friend's neck, the terrible truth hit her like a heavy blow.

Evander had been cheating on her for more than six months. For half a year, her husband and her best friend had been sleeping together behind her back, lying to her face, and making fun of her foolishness. While she was crying at night over her lost baby, while she was stressing herself and putting on weight, while she was worrying about her father's brain tumor, Evander was buying diamonds for Liora.

"Get out of this room, Alessia," Evander said coldly, not an ounce of regret on his face. "I love Liora. I have loved her for a long time. So stop standing there like a fool and leave us alone."

Alessia thought of her father lying in the hospital bed, hooked up to machines, waiting for a hundred thousand dollars for his surgery. Tears flooded her eyes, streaming down her face like a river. She wanted to scream, to destroy everything in the room, but her throat felt completely dry.

She couldn't leave the house that night. She had nowhere else to go, no money for a hotel, and her heart was too shattered to walk the streets. So, she dragged her heavy body down the hallway to the small guest room. She locked the door, sank onto the cold floor, and wept into her hands until her eyes were swollen and her head throbbed with pain.

The next morning, the sun rose, but everything inside Alessia felt dead. She washed her face with cold water to hide the swelling around her eyes. She couldn't afford to stay in bed and cry. She had to go to work. Her father needed that brain surgery, and every penny counted.

Alessia worked at a busy bakery shop downtown. The smell of fresh bread and sugar filled the air as she tied her apron around her waist. Her body was tired, her feet were swollen, and her soul was completely exhausted.

During their afternoon break, her colleague and friend, Tessa, walked into the staff room holding two cold drinks. Tessa was a mother of three children, but she was slender, young-looking, and effortlessly beautiful.

"Hi, love," Tessa said gently, setting a drink down in front of Alessia. "You look so sad today. What's up? Is everything okay?"

Alessia quickly forced a smile onto her face, wiping her palms on her apron. "I'm fine, Tessa. Just a little tired from work."

Tessa giggled, leaning back against the table with a blush on her cheeks. "Girl, I am tired too, but for a totally different reason! My husband didn't let me rest last night at all. Even though I was so tired from standing all day, he came into the bedroom and went crazy on me. He kissed me everywhere, sucked my breasts, and made me feel so wet and alive. We had sex all night! I swear, that man can't get enough of me."

Alessia looked down at her hands, her heart squeezing painfully inside her chest. She looked at Tessa’s slim waist and flat stomach.

Of course her husband wants her every night, Alessia thought bitterly. She is slim. She is beautiful. She didn't lose a baby and get fat. No man wants a heavy, useless woman like me.

Tessa nudged her arm playfully, smiling. "So what about you, Alessia? I know Evander must be taking good care of you in bed too, right? A handsome man like that must be going crazy over you every night!"

Alessia felt a lump form in her throat. Deep inside, she was screaming. Her husband hadn't touched her in four long months. He looked at her body with disgust. He was sleeping with her best friend while she starved for affection. But she couldn't tell Tessa. She couldn't bring her shameful family problems to the world. She couldn't let anyone know how broken her life really was.

Alessia forced another bright, fake smile and looked Tessa in the eye.

"Yes," Alessia lied, her voice cracking just a little. "He takes very good care of me. He kisses me, touches me, and makes me feel like a real woman every single night."

Tessa smiled happily, totally believing the lie, and walked back out to the front counter to serve customers.

As soon as the door closed, the fake smile slid right off Alessia’s face. She sat alone in the quiet staff room, staring at the floor. The memories of the past few months played in her head like a bad movie.

She remembered the way Evander pushed her hands away whenever she tried to hold him. She remembered him calling her fat, ugly, and useless. She remembered Liora’s evil laugh, the diamond necklace on her neck, and the secret moans from her own bedroom. She remembered how he promised to pay for her father's brain surgery, only to spend millions buying a brand-new car for his mistress instead.

I gave him my youth, she thought, her hands tightening into tight fists. I gave him my love. I carried his child and lost it, and he left me to suffer alone. He treats me like garbage because he thinks I am weak. He thinks I will stay because I have nowhere else to go.

A cold, hard feeling settled deep inside her chest, replacing the sadness with pure determination. She was done crying. She was done lying to protect his name.

When her shift ended, Alessia didn't run away. She walked straight back to their house, her head held high. She unlocked the front door and pushed it open. Evander was sitting on the sofa in the living room, looking at his phone, completely unbothered by the damage he had caused.

He looked up at her with a cold sneer on his face. "Oh, you're back? I thought you would have gathered your things and gotten out of my house by now."

Alessia didn't cry. She didn't shake. She looked him dead in the eye and spoke in a clear, sharp voice.

"I want a divorce.”