Chapter Six

(Rebecca’s Pov)

“Rebecca?!” Arabella yelled my name into the cold evening air, her shrill voice bouncing off the walls of the house. “Where the hell is she now?”

I sat still on the high stool, taking my time to spoon the remainder of my potato pudding into my mouth as I popped in the last bit of garlic bread left in my hand to follow.

“Fucking hell! Rebecca? Can you come out here already?” Arabella called out again.

I sat still, unmoving, as I washed down my meal with a glass of orange juice. The sound of footsteps rapidly approaching nearly caused me to choke on my drink. Hard as I tried to hide it, I'd grown a bit anxious of the combo of Arabella and Jason. A woman as manipulative as that could easily convince my husband to hit me. Yes, I still hadn't given up on showing Jason the light and kicking her out.

“Why the hell are you ignoring Arabella's calls? You're on borrowed time here so I suggest you get fucking useful, Rebecca,” Jason growled angrily from behind me.

“I was just trying to finish my meal.” The words hardly left my mouth before Jason closed the distance between us and in one swift move, managed to displace the glass from my hands with one hand while he pulled me up to my feet with the other.

“Get the fuck out there now!” He screeched in my ear and shoved me towards the door.

I swallowed the hurt and despair swirling up my throat as I walked out to the dining room.

“Where the fuck have you been? Take the dishes out. We're done. You messed up the soup and the rice was all soggy in the middle, thanks to your poor kitchen skills,” Arabella raps away with mocking disgust and a scowl on her face. “Make sure you do the dishes. I hate to have dishes in my sink overnight,” she quipped.

“Your sink?” I raised my eyebrow in sheer amusement. This woman, this imposter, was sitting in the house I'd called home for years, listing out orders to me while addressing my kitchen as hers? The nerve!

“I don't suppose you have a problem with that, do you?” Arabella goaded as Jason rejoined us in the dining room.

“Of course not,” I smiled through my teeth and turned on my heels, a pile of trays and dishes in my hands.

While I was washing the dishes, Jason strode into the kitchen, his displeasure rippling off of him like cologne.

“Why the fuck haven't you signed the papers, Rebecca? Why are you still here?” He demanded angrily. “You're stalling on purpose, aren't you?”

“Jason, I really am not in the mood for..” I began saying.

Without warning, he closed the distance between us and yanked my hand out of the sink, sending the plate I'd been rinsing under the faucet to the floor in a loud crash. The plate had been part of a set imported from China. Jason's grandmother had gifted it to us for our wedding and we both loved the set. I felt a sting in my heart at the sight of the broken pieces around my feet.

“Look what you've fucking caused! If you'd only get the hell out of my house!” Jason berates me angrily.

I didn't say a word. Instead, I wordlessly walked over to the corner, picked up the broom and dustpan and began taking care of the pieces of broken China ware.

“Are you dumb now?”

I remained silent, picking the larger bits of the broken plate and placing them in the dustpan.

“You're gonna pretend you can't hear me, huh? Wait till I call the cops on you for trespassing,” he threatened and whipped out his phone.

I felt a dozen blind spots too many hit my vision and a sharp pain shot through the walls of my stomach. I held my palm over my mouth as I began coughing badly. I felt a wetness in my palms and looked down to find a blood stain in the middle of my damp hand.

I knew I should leave at that moment. But I was too stubborn to accept defeat. Not just yet.

“Please, Jason. I'll be gone from your faces as soon as I can. But I need a couple of days at least…”

“Absolutely not! I can't have you around. Go to the house downtown. I can let you stay there for the rest of the week. Heck, you can keep the damn place if you want!” Jason declared, his nostrils flaring.

“No. Can't you see? I don't want any of those things, Jason. I just want my life back. I want my husband back. Our life back. Please,” I pleaded with despair.

“You wish,” he scoffed. “Oh you fucking wish.” He paced the kitchen angrily before pausing to speak again. “Look, and I'm being more generous than I should here… but I'm willing to put you up in a motel for a few days, just anywhere far away from me and my family.”

Hearing him say those words broke my heart instantly, but I was desperate. “Please, Jason.. I’m.. I'm dying. I need you…”

“Oh fucking hell,” he rolls his eyes in exasperation. “A couple of days. That's it. Been gone by weekend. And bloody sign the papers already, Rebecca.”

I finished up my self-imposed chores in the kitchen a little later, my vision mostly blurry with tears as I worked. When I finished, I trudged weakly to the guestroom and found Arabella snooping through my things.

“What are you doing?” The words flew out of my mouth, heavy with bitterness and anger for the thief that had come to steal my home.

“You've got quite an interesting collection,” she chuckled as she picked up a handful of items from my jewelry box. “You got all this stuff with my baby's money. It shouldn't be in your possession anymore, y’know,” she flashed me an evil smirk as she held up a necklace to the light. I instantly recognized the emerald stone pendant and my eyes did a quick sweep of her person. It was part of a set, complete with a pair of earrings and a bracelet, which Arabella was wearing right in front of me. If they'd been any random piece of jewelry I'd have overlooked her foolishness. But these were a gift from Jason's grandmother, a family heirloom she'd passed down to me.

“Please, take those off now,” I said, doing my best to reign in my anger as much as I could.

“And if I don't?” Arabella goaded. “I think they look just perfect on me,” she posed this way and that in front of the dressing mirror. “I’m keeping them and I don't think you can do anything about that.”

Everything in the room turned a dark shade of red as my vision flooded with anger. I rushed forward, my hands instinctively reaching for the bracelet on Arabella’s wrist. After a brief struggle, I managed to unlock the clasp of the bracelet. It slipped to the floor and I quickly snatched it up before Arabella could get it. But the sudden move caused her to crash her head into the side of the bedpost. She held her head and screeched in agony like a wounded vulture.

“You witch! Fucking bitch!” she snarled.

“You did that to yourself,” I shot back.

“We’ll see about that,” she lay back down on the floor and rolled towards my leg. She grabbed my ankle and began screaming for Jason. “Help! She's gonna kill me!”

“Let go!” I tried to break free. I could hear the sound of Jason's steps as they thudded against the floors, approaching faster than a speed train.

“What's going on here?” he asked as he pushed his way into the room.

“The witch is trying to kill me, honey!” Arabella cried.

Arabella let go of my leg just into time so it appeared as if I'd been trying to step down hard on her head. I could totally imagine the picture from Jason's perspective.

I quickly turned around to explain but he didn't give me the luxury of time to clear my name. He cleared the distance between us in two long strides and forcefully yanked me away from Arabella slamming me into the wall. My vision was blindsided by the pain shooting through my side.

Jason rushed to Arabella's side and began comforting her. “Are you okay, baby?’

“No, I'm not okay,” Arabella cried fake tears. “This bitch tried to kill me because I came into the room and found her jewelry lying on the dresser and I just thought I'd try it on. I wasn't even gonna take them. I hate cheap shit. And she just came out of nowhere and began hitting me and trying to pull the items off without even properly unhooking them. Are my ears bleeding, baby?” She held her ears, writhing in false pain as she pushed her head into Jason's face.

“No, love. They're just alright,” Jason kissed her ear tenderly. He turned to face me. “How cruel can you be, Rebecca? Couldn't you have just asked nicely for her to take the damn things off?”

“She fucking slammed my head into the floor too. She was gonna step down hard on my skull, baby. Oh my gosh!” Arabella cried some more.

I'd been too stunned by Arabella's lies to speak initially, but hearing her latest set of sinisterly concocted lies snapped me out of my shock.

“That's a lie and you know it!” I argued defensively. I'd hardly finished speaking before Jason flew to my side in a flash, slapping me hard across my face.

“Don't you ever call her a liar!”

I held my face in shock, too stunned to speak, until my surprise gave way to anger. “Jason, you know what that piece means to me. Your grandmother passed it down to me. You know how important it was to her and her mother before her. It's special. Are you gonna insult the memory of your grandmother for the sake of this imposter?”

Another slap landed on my cheek before I could think, this time from Arabella.

“Never speak about me like that bitch!”

The world slowed down to a pause at that point, everything else fading away as my heart hardened to a firm resolve.

I turned to Jason, my eyes stinging with tears I was fighting hard to keep back. “Please, I'd like my property which rightfully belongs to me to be handed over now, Jason.”

Jason shook his head vehemently. “No, Rebecca. I'll tell you how this is gonna be. You'll let her have it or you'll get out of my house right this instant.”

“Yes. Make your choice, bitch,” Arabella echoed, a satisfied smirk lining her lips.

I knew right away that my time in the building was up. Well it had been over longer than I cared to admit, but I was finally ready to accept it. I knew what I had to do and I was going to do it this time around. Unapologetically. I was done.

I quietly walked over to the reading desk in the corner, opened a drawer and took out the heavy manilla envelope holding the divorce papers. I picked up a pen from the table and signed them, blinking away the tears that bemoaned my sealed fate.

Once I was done, I put the papers back in the envelope and walked over to Jason. I shoved it into his chest. “I hope you're happy now?”

His eyes were wide in disbelief. Somehow, he expected me to grovel at his feet for even longer. So he'd been secretly enjoying my despair the whole time. I felt bitter and heavy with anger at his betrayal as the realisation sank in.

Then, turning to Arabella, I looked her square in the eyes, my voice cold and direct as I said, “Take off my jewelry now, before I do something we'd all regret.”