CHAPTER 4

Tonya's POV

The front door opened, and my older sister, Sonia, walked into the living room, dragging two large suitcases behind her. My breath caught in my throat, she was heavily pregnant.

For a moment, I couldn't think. My mind went completely blank as I stared at her swollen stomach, trying to convince myself that what I was seeing wasn't real.

My trembling hand slowly lifted to point at her. "Is she..." I croaked, my voice barely coming out. "Is she the other woman?"

Sonia smiled warmly as she gently rubbed her baby bump, looking happier than I had ever seen her. Before she could answer, Philip walked over to her without hesitation.

He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulled her close, and kissed her forehead affectionately before looking back at me.

"Yes," he said calmly. "But she's not the other woman. She's the main woman. She's the one I love, and she's the one I want to marry all over again."

His words shattered whatever was left of my heart, I slowly turned toward my parents. "You knew?"

My voice shook violently, I ran my fingers through my hair, scratching my head as though I was on the verge of losing my mind.

"You knew?" I repeated, staring from one of them to the other. "You knew he was sleeping with Sonia this whole time? You knew she was carrying his child and you encouraged it?"

Neither of them answered, they couldn't even look me in the eye. My chest tightened painfully. I clutched my heart with one hand, afraid it might stop beating from the weight of the betrayal crushing me.

"They knew," Sonia answered for them. She slowly stroked her stomach again before looking at me with a victorious smile. "They knew I was the woman he loved. The woman he always wanted before they forced him to marry you." She tilted her head slightly. "But I was never going to let my man go. Not for anyone."

Her eyes swept over me with nothing but contempt. "Especially not for a woman who didn't even need much convincing to spread her legs for another man."

The insult hit me like a slap across the face, she turned to Philip, her expression instantly softening. "You know I'd never do that to you, right?" she asked.

"You all used me," I said, my voice breaking under the weight of everything I had just learned. My eyes moved from Philips to my parents. "Even my own parents?"

I laughed bitterly, though it sounded more like a sob. "Are you even my biological parents?" I asked. "Because all you have ever done is taken from me. Every single time, it was always about what I could do for you."

My mother finally spoke. "It's not our fault that Philip chose Sonia," she said. "We couldn't force him to choose you. Back then, he specifically asked for Sonia, but she refused to come back, so we begged him to marry you instead."

Every word that left her mouth drove the knife deeper into my heart.

My father cleared his throat before speaking. "We knew that once you found out, you would hate us," he admitted. "So when Philip decided to approach Jael Blackwood, we supported his decision. We figured you were going to hate us anyway after finding out about him and your sister."

I slowly nodded, so while I had been sacrificing my happiness for them, while I had spent the last two years putting them before myself, they had been betraying me behind my back all along.

Without saying another word, I reached into my bag and pulled out a pen. My hands were trembling so badly that I almost dropped it. I looked down at the divorce papers one last time before signing my name across the bottom.

The moment I finished, I walked over to Philip and flung the papers at him. The documents hit his chest before falling onto the floor.

"I will transfer five hundred thousand dollars to your account as compensation," he said as though we were discussing a business transaction instead of the destruction of my marriage. "Consider it payment for everything you've been through and for your service.”

I looked at him with nothing but disgust. "Don't send a single cent of your filthy money to my account," I said coldly. My eyes slowly swept across everyone in the room—Philips, Sonia, my father, and finally my mother.

"I hope every one of you remembers this day," I said, my voice steady despite the tears running down my face. "Because when I come back for my revenge, none of you will be able to say I didn't warn you."

"Come on, Tonya," Sonia said with a mocking smile. "If you don't take the money, you are going to suffer. You'll probably end up dying poor." She shrugged carelessly. "It's your sweat and blood that earned it anyway. You should take it."

I didn't respond, there was nothing left to say to any of them. I tightened my grip on my bag and walked past everyone before heading upstairs.

The moment I closed the bedroom door behind me, the tears I had been holding back came pouring out. I cried for myself, for the woman who had spent two years sacrificing her own happiness for people who never deserved it.

For how blind I had been. I had given up my dreams, my peace, and my dignity for people who wouldn't have done the same for me.

I laughed bitterly through my tears, all this time, I had believed Jael was the villain. I had blamed him for everything but I was wrong. The real villains had been living under the same roof as me all along. I realized my parents deserved every single thing Jael had done to them.

After wiping my face, I quietly packed the few belongings that truly belonged to me.

When I was done, I looked around the bedroom one last time, this room had been my home for two years. Yet as I searched my memories, I couldn't think of a single moment when I had genuinely been happy there.

Taking a deep breath, I picked up my suitcase and walked downstairs. The moment I reached the living room, my mother spoke again.

"Tonya, don't be foolish and let your pride get in the way," she said. "Take the money from Philip." She sighed as though she was giving me motherly advice. "It will help you start over. You don't seriously think some man is going to come and save you, do you? You are a divorcée now. Men won't find it easy to settle down with someone like you."

Sonia let out a quiet snort before covering it with a smirk.

I didn't even bother looking at either of them, just then, the front door opened. Everyone instinctively turned toward the entrance. Two men dressed in black suits walked into the house with confident strides. They looked professional, their expressions calm and unreadable.

Philip immediately stepped forward, his voice sharp. "Who are you?"

One of the men looked at him briefly before shifting his attention to me. "We are here to help Miss Tonya move her belongings to our boss's mansion," he said politely. "We are acting under the instructions of Mr. Blackwood."