Chapter 1: Lena's shame

Lena's POV

I sat at the edge of the massive dining table, surrounded by strangers in fancy clothes, pretending to smile like I belonged. My hands were clenched in my lap, nails digging into my palm.

I didn’t belong here anymore.

Adrian, my husband, stood a few feet away, holding a champagne glass and laughing at something a tall woman in red just whispered to him. She was Maya, Adrian’s ex and she also bullied me in highschool.

She touched his arm.

He didn’t pull away.

My stomach twisted.

They looked good together, he was in his black suit, while she was in a tight dress that showed off her curves and the slight bump in her belly.

She was pregnant and I wasn’t.

That truth burned more than anything else in the room.

This was supposed to be Adrian’s celebration party. The board had finally named him CEO of his father’s company. He was the golden boy now. Powerful, admired and wanted by all women.

And I was invisible.

A soft clink echoed through the room as someone tapped their glass.

Adrian stepped forward. “Thank you all for being here. I feel honored to lead the Huntley Corporation into the future.”

Cheers filled the air. He waited for them to settle, then smiled again but bigger this time.

“But I have one more announcement,” he said. “Something even more important to me than this new title.”

He reached out his hand.

The woman in red walked up to him, smiling wide.

“This is Maya,” Adrian said. “And she’s carrying my child.”

The room went silent. Then gasps followed with soft claps. A few shocked faces turned to look at me.

I didn’t move.

I couldn’t.

My heart had stopped beating the moment he said her name.

Adrian glanced at me, just a flicker of a look and then turned back to Maya.

“We’re starting a family,” he said. “And I’m finally going to be a father.”

A soft murmur went around the room. Congratulations and a louder clap this time.

I wanted to scream.

Instead, I stood up, legs shaking under me. I tried to walk away calmly, but my heels wobbled on the marble floor.

He didn’t even tell me in private.

He humiliated me in front of everyone.

After everything I did for him.

After all the times I stayed up late helping him prep for meetings. After the nights I cried in the bathroom over another failed pregnancy test. After the surgeries, he treatments and the blames.

He replaced me.

Just like that.

Outside, the air was cold against my skin. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying not to cry. But the tears came anyway.

I blinked up at the stars. They were bright, quiet, far away from this mess.

And just like that, the memory hit me.

That day in the bathroom.

The test.

Just one pink line.

Another month of failure.

I had stood there frozen, staring at it like maybe it would change if I waited long enough.

Then the door burst open. Adrian.

“What is this?” he snapped, grabbing the test from my hand.

I couldn’t speak.

His face twisted with anger. “Again? Negative again? Lena, how many times are you going to disappoint me?”

“I’m trying,” I whispered. “I’m doing everything I can.”

“Trying isn't enough!” he shouted. “Do you know how this makes me look? I’m a Huntley, and I can’t even get an heir because my wife is broken!”

His words cut deeper than any slap.

Tears stung my eyes, but I refused to let them fall, not in front of him.

“I didn’t ask for this,” I said quietly.

“No, but you signed up for it. You think love is enough in this world? I need a son, Lena. A future, a legacy and you’ve given me nothing!”

He threw the test strip on the floor and stormed out.

I had dropped to my knees, staring at the shattered plastic, wondering when it had all gone so wrong.

---

A tear rolled down my cheek now as I stood in the garden, arms wrapped around myself. That memory still echoed louder than the party inside.

That moment told me everything I needed to know.

Adrian didn’t love me not anymore.

He wanted something I couldn’t give him.

And now he had found someone who could.

“Aw, still crying?” a familiar voice said behind me.

I turned.

Maya stood in the doorway, arms crossed, a cruel smile on her face.

“I always knew you weren’t good enough for him,” she said. “He needs a real woman, one who can give him what he wants.”

“I’m still his wife,” I said, my voice barely holding.

“For now,” she replied. “But not for long. Trust me.”

I looked at her. She had everything I didn’t. Confidence, a child on the way and now, Adrian’s heart.

She stepped closer and whispered, “You lost, Lena. Just accept it"

Then she walked back into the party, leaving me alone in the dark.

And for the first time, I finally realized, I was truly alone.