Nothing

Mrs Bennett started laughing, and not just a quiet, polite laugh. No, it was high-pitched, sarcastic, and sharp enough to slice through the tension in the room.

For a moment, I was frozen, just watching her, unable to move. When she finally stopped, she raised her hand dismissively, as though to wave away the tension.

“Sorry,” she said, trying to feign sweetness. “I’m so sorry, dear. Truly. But sometimes… sometimes you can be very funny.”

“There’s nothing funny about this,” I said, my voice steady as I countered. “Everything Ryan has belongs to me. And I’m taking it back.”

She chuckled again, shaking her head like she was indulging a child. “You can be so funny sometimes. And to think I thought you were smart.”

The way she said it, so full of herself, so sure sent a chill through me. Doubt started to eat at the edges of my confidence. I narrowed my eyes.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my voice calm though the storm inside me raged.

She gave me a look, one I could only describe as sympathetically smug as if I were too naïve to understand the simplest truth.

Then she said it. “You signed everything over to Ryan, dear. Everything. You have nothing. You have nothing to your name.”

“No,” I said sharply. “No, I just gave him power to.....”

“Yes,” Mrs. Bennett interrupted, her smile never wavering. “You gave him power of attorney over your father’s estate. He could do anything he wanted with it. And he did. He sold most of it. He invested it into Bennett Corporation.”

I straightened my back. “Yes, but I also own shares in Bennett’s Corporation. That company is 50-50, and I’m pulling out now.”

That’s when she laughed again and this time, she looked at her husband. He joined her in that mocking laugh, as though I had just said the most ridiculous thing in the world.

Their laughter wrapped around me like a noose, making me feel exposed, humiliated… foolish.

“Why are the two of you laughing?” I demanded. “I signed those documents. I know what I signed. I own half of Bennett’s Corporation!”

“Yes, you do, dear,” Mrs. Bennett replied, but the way she said it told me exactly what she meant: I didn’t. Not really.

So I turned my eyes to Lydia. She wasn’t on my side, but at least she had been honest, even if her honesty was laced with cruelty. In this room of liars, she was the only one telling the truth. And that truth cut deeper than any betrayal.

Lydia sighed when she saw me looking at her, then turned to her parents with a hint of frustration.

“Why don’t you just put her out of her misery?” she said, her voice sharp. “Why are you dragging this out? Wouldn’t it be easier to just tell her so she knows where she stands? There is no need to keep the pretence.”

Her mother, still chuckling, responded with a tone that made my skin crawl. “Oh, but I really like Monique,” she said sweetly.

“She’s such a good girl. So trusting. So loving. She loves with her whole heart.” She paused and looked around the room as if recalling fond memories. “She introduced me to her society. I’ve made friends in high places thanks to her. She’s such a good daughter-in-law. I just… I don’t have the strength to hurt her like that.”

She turned to me, giving me a mockingly gentle look. “That’s why I’m giving you sound advice, dear. I’m telling you to think this through, because you and I, can still have the same relationship. We can still be friends. I really don’t want to hurt you.”

None of what she was saying made any sense. Her words were veiled knives dressed up as kindness. I turned to Lydia again, my voice raw.

“Just tell me the truth.”

She shrugged. “You don’t have anything, Monique,” she said, her tone flat and unapologetic. “You have no money. You sat back, relaxed, and gave everything to Ryan. Let him lead your life. Let him control your life. Whatever he said, you did it. He would say jump, and you’d ask how high. That’s how you got here.”

Lydia didn’t stop. “He changed everything. Took everything from your dad… from you. You didn’t even have your own personal account. I mean, seriously? I know you trusted him, but still. You have no survival instinct, Monique. No self-preservation.”

She leaned back, arms folded, looking at me like I was a lost cause. “I want to feel sorry for you, but on behalf of all women everywhere, I just think you were dumb. You are completely dumb. That’s how you got here.”

And her words… they got to me. They pierced through something inside me that had been asleep for ten years. Because as cruel as she was, what she said was true.

I had trusted Ryan with everything in.me.... my heart, my life, my family’s legacy and where did that leave me? With nothing. No money. No friends. No family. No purpose beyond being Ryan’s wife.

And the worst part? I wasn’t even really his wife in the first place. Not in the way that mattered.

So I sat there, and my mind drifted to the beginning, how I met Ryan. How charming he had been, how understanding. He always wanted to do things for me, and always made sure I was comfortable. And I let him. At first, it felt like love, like safety. Letting him take charge made everything easier, and bit by bit, I gave up control. Slowly. Quietly. And when we got married, it only got worse.

But I never questioned it, why would I? I was so sure Ryan loved me. That was the one thing I was certain of. And now, to sit here and realize this, it crushed me. I wanted to cry. I felt the tears pushing behind my eyes, but as I looked around the room.... at all of them, I stopped myself. Crying would only make me look more… what had Lydia called me?

Dumb. And if I cried, I’d only become dumber. The dumbest.

But that wasn’t even the worst part.

The worst part was the realization that no one in this room cared about me. Not a single one of them loved me. Not Mrs. Bennet with her sugar-coated cruelty. Not Lydia with her brutal honesty. Not even Mr. Bennet, who hadn’t said a word.

This wasn’t the place I should’ve run to.

And as I stood up to leave, another truth hit me just as hard: I had nowhere else to go. No friends. No meaningful relationships. Nothing. I was completely alone.

“Where are you going, dear?” Mrs. Bennet asked as if I were simply going to the bathroom,

I shook my head, no words would come. I couldn’t speak, couldn’t even look her in the eye.

But she kept talking. Of course, she did.

She stood up and started toward me, her voice soft and patronising, like I was some lost child.

“Ryan is angry now,” she said. “He’s mad that you went to his house and upset Ariana, but that’s okay. Why don’t you just stay here, sleep here tonight? Tomorrow, I’ll talk to him. When he’s in a better mood, I’ll help him forgive you.”