Chapter 2

She manages to hold back her tears but as soon as she steps into the house, the dam breaks. 

   She covers her mouth to reduce the noise from her sobs. Her back against the door, she continues crying forgetting that the maids are around.

    She decides to go to her room to avoid any unnecessary attention on her. As she stands up from the floor, she sees a familiar figure descending from the stairs. 

    Confusion seeps into her facial expression as she sees her cousin, Sophia, take a seat on the sofa. Sophia is looking at her with a victorious smirk on her lips.

    “What are you doing here Sophia?”. She walks to where she is sitting.

   “I see that my fiancee has given you the divorce papers. I hope you signed them without a fuss”. Sophia looks at her nails, admiring the acrylic designs on them without a care in the world.

   Ava stumbles back in shock. Her mouth opens and closes a few times in surprise.

   “What do you mean by fiancee?”. She sputters out.

    “I knew you were lazy but I didn’t know you were also dumb. What does fiancee mean?”. She says with a snare.

   “So you knew about all this? How could you do this to me?!!”. She shouts at her. 

   “Oh darling. Let me remind you if you have forgotten. I am the one that was supposed to get married to Caleb in the first place but because of your father, you were able to steal him”. She says with so much disgust as if Ava is the other woman in the relationship.

    “But…but you told me you were okay with it…”

    “Yeah I was. Until he became a billionaire anyways. So I decided to get my man back”. At her statement, Ava doesn’t even whether to laugh or to cry at her thought process.

   “So basically, you want to be with him now because of his money? Aren’t those traits of a gold digger?”. Sophia starts to chuckle at her question.

   “You are quite funny, you know? I don’t reckon that you called yourself a gold digger when you took his $100,000 in exchange for a divorce”. Ava’s jaw goes slack.

    “How do you know that?”

“Damn, she is dumb”, she facepalms.

“Dear cousin, I planned everything. He just did as he was told. I don’t know why he ended up giving you so much money because that wasn’t what we agreed on but I guess he must have pitied your jobless, penniless ass and decided to add more money. Did you perhaps get down on him?”.   

      She asks with a sly smirk. Unable to handle her anger anymore, Ava moves towards her and in one swift move, lands a hot slap on her face that resounds in the house.

    Sophia’s face turns red immediately. Her eyes burn in fury as she raises her hand to touch the cheek that was assaulted.

   “You bitch!!! How dare you?!”. She yells at the top of her voice, drawing the attention of the maids in the house, who starts coming out to watch the drama.

    “I always regarded you as a sister even though you were always nasty to me. I still can’t believe you are behind all these!”. Tears start pricking the back of her eyes.

    “You were always a thorn in my flesh! You always stole everything I wanted! I hate you to death!”. A sob escapes from Ava’s mouth but she quickly wipes her tears away.

   “Then no problem. I will leave you and your ‘fiancee’. I will go far away from both of you. I hate both of you!”. She sidesteps and heads upstairs. 

   Surprisingly, Sophia doesn’t say anything as she leaves. Ava enters the room she has regarded as a safe space for two years. 

    With tears streaming down her cheeks uncontrollably, she starts packing her clothes and personal property into two suitcases.

    After packing up, she stands in front of her mirror and places a hand on her stomach. With a wistful smile, she looks down on her stomach.

   “Hey, little one. It looks like we are alone now. On the good side, we have each other. Although your father may not care about you, I promise to stand in for both sides. I will love you with all my heart. You are now my family and I am yours. I love you “. She wipes a stray tear and goes back to the bed to zip up her suitcase.

     She carries both outside her room and calls for one of the butlers to help her with them. A minute later, one of the butlers arrives in front of her with a sympathetic smile. 

   As he carries the first suitcase down the stairs, Sophia sits on the sofa feeling victorious and on top of the world. To her, a slap is a little price to pay to be Caleb Reed’s wife. 

   “Hurry up! I don’t want her in this house for another minute”. The butler carries the second suitcase down and Ava follows behind.

   Ava briefly contemplates messing with her mind and telling her that she is pregnant. But she figures that her cousin could try to cause her and the baby harm to get what she wants.

    The Uber she ordered is just two minutes away so she starts dragging the suitcases towards the door. The butler helps her carry it outside. 

    When she gets to the door, she pauses to look around the house she had called home. Over the years, she was always consoled with the fact that she now had a home that she could call hers without a shadow of doubt. 

   Turns out it would be taken away from her the same way other things have been taken from her. Her parents, the house she grew up in, her home, and now, even her husband. 

    She makes a silent vow to protect her child no matter what it takes. The Uber driver calls her to inform her that he is there. 

    The butler helps her get the suitcases into the boot and bids her goodbye. 

    They drive off with Ava looking at the side mirror to see the house. With a deep sigh, she accepts her new reality.