CHAPTER 3

Tonya's POV

Jael's driver dropped me off in front of my house just as he had promised. I thanked him softly before stepping out of the car. As the vehicle pulled away, I stood outside for a few seconds, staring at the front door.

I didn't want to go inside, taking a deep breath, I forced my feet to move.

The moment I walked into the living room, everyone was there,waiting. My mother and father were sitting beside Philip, all three of them looking in my direction as though they had been waiting for me all morning.

Philip stood up and rushed towards me. “Welcome, we have been waiting for you all morning.” He said as he took my hands. "Did Jael sleep with you?"

The question caught in my throat, I opened my mouth, but no words came out at first. My fingers tightened around my handbag as I remembered Jael's instructions.

I swallowed hard. "Y-Yes," I stammered. I closed my eyes for a brief second before forcing the lie out. "Countless..." I whispered. "We... we slept together countless times."

Philip didn't react the way I expected, he didn't look angry or jealous. Instead, he glanced impatiently at his phone. "I'm just waiting for the alert," he muttered.

Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, a notification echoed through the room. Philip's eyes lit up as he looked at his phone.

A second later, my father's phone chimed, their faces broke into wide smiles as they checked their phones.

"The money is here!" my father exclaimed.

Philip let out a loud laugh before running across the living room in excitement. "It worked!" he shouted, unable to hide his happiness.

My parents hugged each other tightly, laughing as they celebrated. "We finally got it."

"I told you everything would work out." They congratulated one another as though they had just achieved something extraordinary.

Not one of them looked at me, not one of them asked how I felt after sacrificing the little dignity I had left for their sake. It was as though I wasn't even standing there.

After they were done celebrating, my father turned to me with a proud smile on his face. "You finally made us proud, Tonya," he said.

I stared at him in disbelief. What kind of father said something like that after selling his own daughter for money?

I forced myself to nod, not trusting my voice. I turned and started walking toward the stairs, desperate to get away from everyone, but Philip stopped me before I could take another step.

"Hold on, I have something for you," he said.

He hurried over to the couch, picked up a large envelope that had been lying there, and walked back to me before holding it out.

"I don't want anything out of this, please," I said quietly, refusing to take it. "I just want to go upstairs and rest."

"Well, it's actually not money that's in there," he replied. "You should open it and see. Besides, I'm still going to pay you for your service. You really did a good job."

He casually tapped my shoulder as if he had just complimented me for completing a normal task. I looked at him in confusion before reluctantly taking the envelope from his hand. My fingers trembled as I slowly opened it.

The moment I pulled out the documents, my heart stopped. My eyes scanned the bold words at the top of the page, and the color immediately drained from my face.

"Divorce papers?" I whispered, my voice shaking. I looked up at him in complete shock. "How? Why? What did I do?"

Philips slipped both hands into his pockets and stood there with an air of arrogance, completely unbothered by the tears already gathering in my eyes.

"Well, you knew this was coming," he said without a hint of guilt. "I don't feel anything for you, and you don't feel anything for me. There's no chemistry between us. I have only been managing this marriage for the past two years, but I'm tired now. I need my freedom, and you need yours too."

He spoke as though he was doing me a favor instead of destroying my world.

"So you waited until now?" I asked, my voice rising as tears rolled freely down my cheeks. "You decided to tell me after using me?"

I could hardly believe this was happening to me. Everything around me suddenly felt unreal, as though the ground beneath my feet had disappeared.

“It would have happened sooner," Philip said without a trace of regret. "I was already cheating on you. Don't act like you didn't know."

Of course I knew. The late-night phone calls he always took in secret, the nights he never came home. The countless business trips that left him even more broke than before. I knew about all of it.

I had simply chosen to endure the humiliation for the sake of my parents and my elder sister. I kept hoping things would get better once we got back on our feet. Instead, I had only been fooling myself.

"You used me," I said, my voice trembling as tears streamed down my face. "You knew you were going to divorce me today, yet you manipulated me into sleeping with Jael?"

Philips didn't even look ashamed. "Don't act like you didn't enjoy it," he said with a shrug. "You got to sleep with a man you could only dream about. Besides, I'm sure he compensated you."

His words felt like another slap across my face. "I'm going to compensate you too," he continued casually. "Your parents will be compensated as well. Then you will finally be able to achieve the dream you have always wanted."

I slowly turned to face my parents. My heart pounded painfully against my chest. "Did you know about this?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

Neither of them answered, they simply swallowed nervously and avoided looking me in the eyes. Their silence told me everything.

Before either of them could speak, Philip spoke again.

"Look, I fell in love. I found the woman I'm meant to be with, and I realized there was no point staying in a marriage with someone I couldn't stand anymore." He paused, a smile creeping onto his face. "My girlfriend is pregnant, and we are expecting a baby."

Every word shattered another piece of my heart, I stood there, unable to breathe, unable to think. Then, just as the suffocating silence settled over the room, the front door opened.

My body went completely still. I slowly lifted my head toward the entrance and froze the moment I saw who had just walked in.