RISE OF THE EX WIFE : Mona's Revenge

Chapter 1

Mona stood alone in the corner of the sparkling ballroom, her eyes constantly drifting to the entrance doors. Emily Caldwell's birthday celebration swirled around her, but Mona's mind was elsewhere, replaying this morning's unexpected intimacy with Samuel.

She smiled to herself, fingers absently tracing the rim of her champagne glass. After months of cold distance, Samuel had finally reached for her, his touch tender in a way she'd almost forgotten. Perhaps after five years of marriage, they were turning a corner at last.

"He should be here by now," she whispered, checking the ornate clock. Samuel had promised to meet her after his meeting. "Just save me a dance," he'd said with a wink before leaving their bedroom, his lips still warm on her forehead.

Two women passed by, their conversation faltering as they noticed her. They exchanged glances before hurrying away, whispers trailing behind them.

Mona frowned. All evening, she'd noticed strange looks, hushed conversations that stopped when she approached. The uncertainty made her shoulders tense, but she pushed the worry aside. Tonight was about new beginnings.

Across the room, she spotted Laura, Samuel's cousin, huddled with family friends. Their eyes darted toward her before quickly looking away, expressions a mixture of pity and schadenfreude.

"Have you seen Samuel?" Mona asked, approaching with a smile.

The group fell silent. Laura cleared her throat. "Not yet, Mona. I'm sure he'll be here... eventually."

Something in her tone made Mona's stomach tighten. "His meeting must be running late," she offered.

"A meeting. Is that what he told you?" One woman muttered, not bothering to lower her voice.

As Mona walked away, Laura's voice carried after her: "Poor thing has no idea, does she? Five years wasted."

Five years wasted? Mona's hands trembled slightly, but she straightened her shoulders. Whatever gossip was circulating, it couldn't touch the reality of what she and Samuel had shared this morning. After five years together, she knew her husband. She knew his touch, his love.

She found Emily Caldwell holding court near the grand piano, resplendent in emerald silk. Samuel's mother had never warmed to Mona, not in all the years she'd been married to her son, but tonight, Mona was determined to make an effort.

"Happy birthday, Emily," Mona said, leaning in to kiss her mother-in-law's cheek.

Emily drew back slightly, barely accepting the gesture. "Mona. I wasn't sure you'd come." She glanced over Mona's shoulder. "Samuel isn't with you?"

"He had a meeting. He should be here soon."

Something flickered across Emily's face, knowledge, perhaps even satisfaction. "I see." Her tone was ice cold. "Well, I'm sure he'll arrive when he's... ready."

The grandfather clock struck nine. Samuel was officially late.

Mona checked her phone. Nothing. She sent a quick text: *Where are you? Everyone's asking.*

Minutes passed without reply. She was about to call when the ballroom doors swung open, and the air in the room shifted.

Samuel walked in, but he wasn't alone. Beside him stood a woman Mona recognized as Lora Bennett, a client from his law firm. Lora's red dress caught every eye, clinging to her curves. Samuel's hand rested on the small of her back, not professionally, but possessively.

Mona froze, champagne glass halfway to her lips. This wasn't right. This couldn't be right. Not after five years. Not after this morning.

Samuel and Lora moved through the crowd like royalty. Samuel was laughing, relaxed in a way Mona hadn't seen in months, except for this morning. Had that tenderness been guilt? A goodbye?

Lora's eyes locked with Mona's. A smile, cold and victorious, spread across her face as she pulled Samuel toward where Mona stood frozen.

"Mona," Lora called out, voice sweet as poison. "Samuel was just looking for you. We have something to tell you."

Samuel finally met Mona's eyes, and what she saw there shattered her hope. Not love. Not even guilt. Just impatience, as if her presence was an inconvenience.

"Samuel?" Mona whispered, her voice small and confused. "What's going on? I thought... this morning..."

"You thought what?" Lora cut in, hand sliding possessively up Samuel's arm. "That this morning meant something? Oh, honey. Men always give the best goodbye sex, don't they?"

The words hit Mona like physical blows. Goodbye sex? Her mind raced back to this morning, Samuel's unusual tenderness, the way he'd held her close, whispered that he'd missed her. It hadn't been reconciliation. It had been farewell.

"Is that true?" Mona asked, eyes fixed on Samuel, praying he would deny it, explain it away. After five years together, he couldn't be this cruel.

Samuel sighed, as if her question was tedious. "I was going to tell you tonight, after the party. Lora and I... it's been going on for months. Everyone knows, Mona."

"Months?" The word barely escaped her throat. "Everyone knows?"

"Don't act surprised," Lora said with a tinkling laugh. "He hasn't touched you in how long before this morning? Six months? Seven?"

Heat flooded Mona's face. It was true. Samuel had been distant, their bed cold. She'd thought it was work stress, had been so patient, so understanding. All while he was with this woman.

"This morning..." Mona began, her voice catching. "You made love to me this morning. You said you'd missed me."

Guests nearby were turning now, sensing drama. Conversations quieted as people strained to hear.

Samuel looked uncomfortable, for the first time showing something other than indifference. "I'm sorry about that. It was... I don't know, closure maybe."

"Closure," Mona repeated, the word like ash in her mouth. Five years of marriage reduced to "closure."

Emily appeared beside them, materializing like a shark scenting blood. "Samuel, Lora, there you are!" she exclaimed, embracing Lora warmly before turning a cold eye to Mona. "I see you've heard the news."

"What news?" Mona asked, though her heart was already crumbling.

Emily smiled, the expression never warming her eyes. "Samuel's moving out tonight. He and Lora are going to stay at the lake house for a while until everything is... settled."

The lake house. Their lake house. Where they'd spent their honeymoon. Where they'd celebrated anniversaries. Where Samuel had promised her forever.

"I must say," Emily continued, voice rising enough for nearby guests to hear, "these two make such a perfect match. Truly, you're everything this family needs, Lora."

"Thank you, Emily," Lora purred, placing her hand on Samuel's arm. "That means so much coming from you."

More guests were turning now, forming a loose circle around the unfolding scene. Mona felt their eyes on her, saw the eager anticipation on faces she'd served dinner to, people whose children's birthdays she'd remembered, whose secrets she'd kept.

"It's about time Samuel made the right choice," Emily added, gaze sharp as it landed on Mona. "You've always been so... ordinary. Five years we gave you to become worthy of the Caldwell name, and you failed spectacularly."

The crowd murmured in agreement. Mona felt tears threatening but forced them back. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

"Samuel," she whispered, reaching for his arm. "Please. Can we talk privately? After everything we've shared..."

He pulled away from her touch as if burned. "There's nothing to discuss."

"Nothing to discuss?" Her voice rose despite her efforts. "Five years of marriage? Our home? Our life together?"

Emily laughed, the sound cutting through Mona like broken glass. "Your life together? Please. You were always temporary, Mona. A placeholder until Samuel found someone suitable."

The words echoed in the suddenly silent room. A placeholder. Temporary. For five years.

"I think," Emily continued, her voice carrying to every corner of the ballroom, "we should handle this now. No reason to drag things out." She snapped her fingers, and an assistant appeared carrying a leather portfolio. "Since you're here, we might as well take care of the paperwork."

"Paperwork?" Mona felt dizzy, unmoored. This couldn't be happening.

"Divorce papers," Emily said coldly, taking the portfolio and opening it on a nearby cocktail table. "Already prepared. Just your signature needed."

Divorce papers. In the middle of a party. After making love this morning. Mona's legs nearly gave out beneath her.

"I can't... I need time to think, to talk to a lawyer..."

"A lawyer?" Emily laughed again, the sound echoed by several guests. "That would imply you have rights to negotiate. The prenup you signed is quite clear. You get nothing."

The prenup. Mona had signed it five years ago, young and trusting, believing Samuel when he said it was just a formality, that they would build their fortune together. Another lie.

"Samuel," she pleaded, turning to the man who had shared her bed for five years, who had held her through her father's death, who had promised to love her forever. "Please. Not like this."

He wouldn't meet her eyes. "Just sign, Mona. Don't make a scene."

"A scene?" Tears threatened to spill. "You bring your... your mistress to your mother's party, announce you're leaving me, and I'm making a scene?"

"Oh darling," Lora said, false sympathy dripping from her voice. "This is why Samuel needed someone stronger. You're so emotional about everything."

Laughter rippled through the crowd. Mona saw familiar faces, people whose children she had babysat, whose anniversaries she had remembered with thoughtful gifts, now watching her destruction with amused interest.

Emily pushed a Mont Blanc pen toward her. "Sign the papers, Mona. Or shall we discuss the other option?"

"What other option?" Mona asked, her voice small.

Emily leaned closer, her voice dropping to a stage whisper that was still clearly audible to those nearby. "We could discuss your... failures. The inability to bear a child after five years of trying. Your... inadequacies in the bedroom that drove Samuel to seek comfort elsewhere."

Gasps and whispers erupted. Mona's most private pain, her deepest insecurities, laid bare for public consumption. The fertility treatments they'd tried. The miscarriage last year that had devastated her. Things she'd only shared with Samuel in their most intimate moments.

"How could you tell her that?" Mona whispered to Samuel, her voice breaking. "How could you share our private struggles?"

He looked away, a muscle ticking in his jaw. For a moment, she thought she saw regret, but it vanished as Lora pressed against him.

"Sign the papers, Mona," Emily commanded. "Unless you'd like us to continue this discussion?"

The pen trembled in Mona's hand. The papers blurred through her tears. Each line required a signature – her name, over and over, signing away five years of marriage, signing away the only family she had left after her parents' deaths, signing away the life she had believed in just this morning.

"Look," someone whispered too loudly, "she's actually doing it. No fight at all."

"Always was a doormat," another voice agreed. "Samuel deserves someone with backbone."

Mona's hand froze mid-signature, the cruel words cutting through her fog of pain. She looked up at the ring of faces, at these people who had smiled to her face for five years while apparently despising her behind her back.

"That's it," Emily encouraged, as if speaking to a child. "Just a few more signatures and you can go."

"Go where?" The question escaped before Mona could stop it.

Emily's smile was shark-like. "That's hardly our concern, is it? The house is Samuel's. The cars are Samuel's. Your joint accounts will be frozen by morning."

Five years, and she would walk away with nothing but the clothes on her back. Five years, and she was being discarded like trash. Five years, reduced to nothing in a single humiliating moment.

Samuel wouldn't even look at her as she signed the final page, her hand shaking so badly the signature was barely legible. Five years, ended with a stroke of a pen while his mother's guests watched and whispered.

"There," Emily said with satisfaction, collecting the papers. "That wasn't so difficult, was it?" She handed them to her assistant with a triumphant smile. "These will be filed first thing tomorrow. You can collect your personal belongings then. Only what you brought into the marriage."

"And what about tonight?" Mona asked, her voice hollow. "Where am I supposed to go?"

Emily shrugged, already turning away. "That's no longer our problem, is it?"

The crowd began to disperse, the entertainment over. Conversations resumed, glasses clinked. Samuel led Lora to the dance floor without a backward glance, pulling her close as the orchestra began to play. The same song he and Mona had danced to at their wedding five years ago.

Mona stood alone by the cocktail table, the pen still clutched in her trembling hand. Five years of love and loyalty repaid with public humiliation. Five years of trying to be the perfect wife, erased in a single evening.

She had signed it all away, with an audience to witness her final degradation, while the man who had made love to her that very morning danced with another woman.

Numbly, Mona placed the pen on the table and turned toward the exit. There was nothing left for her here. No husband. No family. No dignity. She would walk out into the night with nothing but the blue dress she wore and somehow find a way to survive until morning.

"Mona." Emily's sharp voice cut through the buzzing in her ears. "Where do you think you're going?"

Mona paused, her back to the room, shoulders tense. What more could they possibly want from her? What was left to take?

She turned slowly to find Emily standing behind her, a cold smile on her perfectly made-up face, something predatory gleaming in her eyes.

"We're not quite finished yet," Emily said, her voice carrying just enough for nearby guests to pause in their conversations, sensing more entertainment to come. "There's one more matter to discuss."