CHAPTER 1: The day hope died

MARIA'S POV

I raced up the stairs, my heart dancing with every step. Three years, three long years of cold, empty marriage, and now, finally, I had a reason to hope.

I was pregnant.

I could hardly breathe as I imagined the look on Ethan's face.

Maybe, just maybe, this baby would change everything.

Maybe it could make him see me and love me so much.

Though he did, it was just a little, and ever since we got to the third year of our marriage, he started behaving so distant.

I burst through the door, my cheeks flushed with excitement.

But as soon as I stepped inside I heard muffled voices.

I paused.

My smile froze on my lips. I shook my head, pushing the doubt away.

No, this was a happy day.

But when I opened the door to our bedroom, my world shattered.

There he was. Ethan, my husband was on the couch with a woman sitting casually across his lap like she belonged there.

Her lips pressed against his, their bodies entwined as if I didn't exist.

"Ethan!" I gasped, my voice breaking. He pulled back, startled, his eyes meeting mine with a mixture of shock and annoyance.

"Maria,” he said, his voice flat, almost bored. "You are back earlier than I thought."

I stood there frozen, the room spinning around me. ”Who is she?" I managed to choke out, pointing at the woman who seemed comfortable in my home.

He didn't even have the decency to look guilty, at least that could be better but instead, he smirked, he did and said

"This is Susan, my college sweetheart and we are getting married soon."

His words hit me like a slap.

"Married?" I whispered, my voice trembling. "But we are married, you and I, for three years, Ethan."

Susan, still sitting on his lap, chuckled softly, a smile spreading across her perfect face. I felt my heart twist painfully at the sound.

Ethan rolled his eyes, a look of irritation crossing his face. "Oh, come on, Maria, you knew this was a business arrangement from the start. Your father practically forced me into this mess, and now that he is gone, nothing is holding me here anymore."

My chest tightened, and I felt a tear drop down my cheeks.

"You promised, Ethan, you said we had to give it a chance, that we would try!"

"Try?” he laughed, a bitter sound that echoed through the room.

"I never agreed to any of this. You threw yourself at me, and your father made sure I had no choice. But now I'm done, Susan and I are moving on together."

I staggered back and felt my world crumbling around me.

I wanted to scream to tell him about the baby, but the words were stuck in my throat, swallowed by my pain and shock.

Susan's smile only grew wider, her hand reaching to caress Ethan's cheeks. ”Why are you doing this?". I cried, my voice breaking. "I thought we were finally getting somewhere..."

"Getting somewhere? Where exactly?" Ethan snorted. "Maria, you are delusional. This was never real, not to me, and now it's over."

Tears blurred my vision as I stepped closer, and my hands trembled.

"But— I love you," I whispered, the confession sounding so small and pathetic in the face of all their confidence, their certainty.

Ethan's face darkened, his eyes flashing with anger. "Love me? You don't even know what that means. You think you can trap me with your desperate infection just like your father tried to trap me into this sick marriage."

His words were like knives each one cutting deeper than the last.

Susan's laughter was soft and mocking.

"Ethan, don't be too hard on her," she cooed, her voice dripping with fake sympathy.

"She is just... confused."

I wanted to run to hide but I forced myself to stand tall even as my heart shattered. "I'm pregnant”, I blurted out, hoping and praying that it would change something. That he would soften, that he could remember the man he used to be for a moment, just a moment. There was silence, and then Ethan's expression turned cold, the lips curling in disgust.

" You are lying”, he spat. “ Do you think a baby will fix this? Fix us? You think you can manipulate me into staying?"

" I'm not lying!" I cried, feeling the tears stream down my face.

" This baby is yours, Ethan, our baby —"

Susan leaned in closer, her smile even more smug. "Ethan, don't fall for it. She is just trying to hold on to you to cling to some pathetic hope that you will stay."

Ethan didn't even look at me. He turned to Susan, who handed him an envelope with joy plastered on her face.

He tore it open and pulled out a stack of papers.

" Here," he said, tossing them at me. The divorce papers landed at my feet and my eyes bulged out in shock.

"Sign them," he commanded. “I already have."

I stared at the papers, my vision blurring with tears.

I felt like I was drowning in the air, thick and heavy in my lungs.

"How can you be so cruel?" I whispered. "How can you throw me away like this?"

He sneered. "Cruel? The only cruelty here is you forcing yourself into my life for three years. Sign the damn papers, Maria!"

I looked from him to Susan, her smile so victorious, so assured.

My hands shook as I picked up the papers. This was happening. The life I had tried so hard to build, the love I had so foolishly believed in, it was all falling apart.

With trembling hands, I grabbed a pen from the table, my heart was breaking with every stroke.

"You’ll regret this, Ethan”. I whispered, my voice hoarse with emotion."I swear you’ll regret this”.

His cold laughter followed me as I turned to leave, my world crashing down around me.

I stepped out of the room each step feeling heavier than the last

I was alone, abandoned, but as I reached the door, I glanced back one last time.

"You think this is over?" I whispered to myself. “Just wait and see”.