chapter 1

Rita’s heart raced as the doctor’s words echoed in her ears, a melody she had longed to hear for years. She was pregnant. After endless nights of silent prayers and hidden tears, the universe had finally answered. She imagined the joy lighting up James’ face as she shared the news, a spark to revive their crumbling marriage.

Clutching the ultrasound picture close to her chest, Rita hurried home, her heels clicking against the dusty path leading to the farmhouse. The faint smell of freshly tilled soil lingered in the air. For the first time in months, her footsteps felt lighter, her lips trembling into a smile she could no longer suppress.

“James!” she called as she pushed open the front door, her voice filled with eager anticipation. The house was strangely silent. The curtains, partially drawn, cast eerie shadows across the living room.

Her instincts urged caution, but excitement propelled her forward. She headed to their bedroom, her mind rehearsing the words she had longed to say. “You’re going to be a father,” she whispered under her breath, tasting the words like a sweet secret.

The moment she opened the door, her world came crashing down. There, tangled in the sheets of their matrimonial bed, was James, her husband, and Linet, the governor’s daughter. Their laughter, once a sound of comfort, now felt like shards of glass piercing her soul.

“James?” Rita’s voice cracked, disbelief and betrayal dripping from her words.

James scrambled to cover himself, but Linet, smug and unbothered, sat up with an air of defiance. “Oh, Rita,” Linet sneered, “I didn’t think you’d be home so soon. But since you’re here, it’s time you knew where you really stand.”

“What…what is this?” Rita stammered, her body trembling as tears threatened to spill. She turned to James, desperate for an explanation. “James, how could you do this to me? After everything?”

James avoided her gaze, his silence louder than any confession.

Before Rita could process the betrayal, her mother-in-law stormed into the room, her expression cold and unyielding. “Rita, stop making a scene,” she snapped. In her hands were divorce papers, thrust forward like a final blow. “Sign these. James doesn’t need your barrenness weighing him down anymore. Linet is a better match for him, a real woman who can give him children.”

“What kind of man have you become, James?” she whispered, her voice barely audible. But when she turned to leave, Linet’s mocking laughter stopped her.

“You’re not going anywhere without signing those papers,” Linet taunted.

Suddenly, the room erupted into chaos. James’ mother grabbed Rita by the arm, forcing her to sit at the table. The physical aggression shocked her, but the humiliation cut deeper. “Sign them!” the older woman barked, slamming a pen into her hand.

Bruised, betrayed, and outnumbered, Rita found herself cornered. She looked to James one final time, hoping for him to step in, to defend the love they once shared. But he remained frozen, a coward in the face of his own betrayal.

Rita stood frozen in the center of the room, the divorce papers trembling in her grasp. Linet leaned against the bedpost, her arms crossed and a sly smirk plastered across her face. Her presence exuded arrogance, as if she had already claimed victory.

“Oh, poor Rita,” Linet drawled, her voice dripping with mockery. “You really thought you could hold onto a man like James? A barren wife living in a fantasy world, clinging to dreams of a perfect family. How pathetic.”

Rita’s throat tightened, her gaze shifting to James. His silence was deafening, cutting deeper than Linet’s cruel words. The ultrasound picture, now crumpled on the floor, seemed to mock her hopes.

“Say something, James,” Rita whispered, her voice cracking under the weight of betrayal. “Tell her she’s wrong. Tell her this isn’t what you want.”

James shifted uncomfortably but avoided her pleading eyes, while Linet chuckled darkly. “He doesn’t have to say anything, darling,” Linet said smugly. “We both know the truth. You’ve always been the unwanted guest in this house, a burden to his family and his future. It’s time you left gracefully, if you even know how to do that.”

Rita’s mother-in-law stepped forward; her disdain palpable. “She’s right. Sign the papers and save us all the trouble. James has found a proper wife now, someone who knows her place and can give him what you never could. You’re nothing but dead weight.”

The humiliation pushed Rita to the brink. Her chest heaved with suppressed rage and heartbreak, yet she refused to crumble. “You don’t know anything about me,” she said through gritted teeth. “And you never will.”

Linet laughed, a cold and hollow sound. “Oh, sweetie, I know enough. You’re a fool who gave up everything for a man who doesn’t want you anymore. Look around, no one here will miss you when you’re gone.”

James, standing by the window like a ghost of the man he once was, finally spoke. “Linet, stop it.”

But his weak protest only enraged Linet further. “Stop what, James? Telling the truth? She needs to hear this before she wastes more time believing you’ll come back to her.”

Rita took a deep breath, trying to steady herself against the whirlwind of emotions. She turned to James, her voice trembling but resolute. “James, do you really believe this is the life you want? Is Linet worth throwing away everything we’ve built together?”

James hesitated, his eyes flickering with doubt before his mother interjected. “Enough of this nonsense! Sign the papers, Rita. There’s no future for you here. Let James start fresh with someone who deserves him.”

With Linet smirking in the background and James’ mother looming over her, Rita felt the weight of the room suffocating her. Her love for James, once a beacon of hope, had now become a curse. And as tears streamed down her face, she realized the battle was already lost.

Linet’s final blow came as she leaned in close, whispering venomously, “Don’t worry, Rita. Once you’re gone, I’ll make sure James forgets you ever existed.”

Rita’s hands hovered over the divorce papers, her fingers trembling as if the pen weighed more than she could bear. Her vision blurred with unshed tears, and her heart clung desperately to the love she once believed in.

“I don’t understand,” she murmured, her voice barely audible. She turned to James, who stood by the window with an expression void of emotion. “How did we get here, James? I gave up everything for you. I chose you over the life I was born into because I believed in us. Don’t you love me anymore?”

Her words hung in the air, heavy and pleading, but James didn’t respond. His silence was a knife twisting in her chest, the confirmation she didn’t want to believe. Rita’s mother-in-law, growing impatient, slammed her palm on the table.

“Enough of this nonsense,” she snapped. “What love? My son needs a future, not a barren wife dragging him down. Sign the papers, Rita, and stop wasting everyone’s time.”

“I can’t,” Rita whispered, shaking her head. “I can’t sign them. I still love you, James. I know you love me too deep down, I know it.”

James finally turned to face her, his jaw clenched and his eyes dark with frustration. “Rita, stop making this harder than it needs to be. Just sign the papers and go.”

“No!” Rita’s voice rose, her anguish spilling over. She stood, clutching the pen like a lifeline. “This isn’t you, James. This isn’t the man I fell in love with. What has she, her eyes darted to Linet “done to you? What has your mother made you believe?”

Linet, lounging on the bed with a smirk, decided to fan the flames. “Oh, please, Rita. Spare us the melodrama. James isn’t some puppet you can control. He made his choice and that is me. So why don’t you do the respectable thing and leave?”

Rita’s chest heaved with rage and heartbreak. She stepped closer to James, her tear-streaked face filled with desperation. “Look at me, James,” she begged. “Look me in the eyes and tell me that you truly want this. Tell me that you don’t love me anymore.”

For a moment, James faltered. His eyes flickered with something, guilt, regret, or perhaps love. But before he could respond, his mother’s sharp voice cut through the tension. “James, don’t let her manipulate you! Tell her to sign and be done with it.”

James’ face hardened, and in one swift motion, he stepped forward. “Just sign the papers, Rita,” he said coldly. But when she shook her head, his frustration boiled over. “Stop making this so difficult!” he shouted, his voice echoing in the room.

Rita flinched but stood her ground. “I can’t,” she whispered. “I can’t believe you’d do this to me, James.”

Linet’s laughter rang out like a cruel melody. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, just get it over with!” she sneered. “Hit her if you have to.”

Rita barely had time to process Linet’s venom before James, in a moment of blinding anger, raised his hand and struck her across the face. The sharp slap echoed in the room, and Rita stumbled back, clutching her cheek in disbelief.

The room fell silent. Even Linet’s smirk faded as she stared at James, surprised by his outburst. Rita’s mother-in-law, however, seemed unfazed. She shoved the divorce papers toward Rita, her voice ice-cold. “Now, sign them.”

Rita straightened, her entire body trembling, not from fear, but from heartbreak. The man she had loved and trusted more than anything had just broken her in the most unforgivable way. Tears streamed down her face, but her eyes burned with a new fire, one of realization and resolve.

Without a word, she picked up the pen, her hands shaking as she scrawled her signature across the papers. Each stroke felt like a knife carving into her soul. When she was done, she shoved the papers away and turned to James, her voice hollow.

“Congratulations, James,” she said, her tone laced with bitter finality.