Chapter 1

“Oh Susan… you really are a pathetic little brat, aren’t you?” He leaned back against his desk, his arms crossed as he watched me with a smug expression.

“Did you actually think I forgot you? That I forgot us?” he scoffed and shook his head. “No, sweetheart. I was just sick of you.

I stood at the doorway frozen. I fixed my eyes on him, trying to make sense of what he had just said. His words hung in the air like a challenge, crashing over me like a wave of ice. I parted my lips to speak, but no sound came.

“Darling she looks like a lost puppy” Lily chucked softly. She tilted her head pretending to pout “It’s almost sad, isn’t it?”

He smiled at what she had just said before pushing off the desk and he walked towards me, his steps were slow and deliberate until he stood inches away from me. Close enough that I could smell his cologne, the same scent that used to make me feel safe. Now it only made me sick

“You tried so hard, didn’t you?”, he lifted his fingers to count “Saving up, running around like a desperate little fool, hoping I’d come back to you” he dropped his hands and looked me right inside my eyes “but the truth is…” he exhaled slowly and let it out like a whisper “I’m never coming back… not now. Not ever.”

My hands trembled. My heart pounded. His words pierced through me like a dagger, I finally found my voice “Why” my voice cracked, but I forced the words out “Why lie? Why did you pretend you lost your memory?. Why her?”, my stomach twisted “my sister”, the words came out almost like a whisper as tears welled up in my eyes

“Half-sister” Lily corrected, “you never liked to share, did you? If you did, you wouldn’t be worried about me having your man”

“You were never meant to find out this way but you made it easier,” he said with an unbothered shrug, his expression was neutral and unaffected as if all of this pain, the betrayal was just an inconvenience to him. A complete joke.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, my chest tightening with something between anger and heartbreak, the weight of everything I had sacrificed for him felt heavier now“I gave you everything, Jamie. EVERYTHING!”

“And that’s the problem sweetheart,” he said with false sweetness, “You gave me too much and you still weren’t enough…never enough, not in eight years, not even for a second”. He took a step back, he glanced at Lily before turning back to me.

His eyes flashed with something—satisfaction. “Lily—She knows how to keep me interested” he counted his words as he spoke, like he wanted me to register every word in my soul “She knows how to satisfy me in ways you never could…you never measured up Susan. Not in bed. Not in life”

I felt like I had been hit by a ton of bricks. Tears burned my eyes, spilling down my cheeks and I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t help it but I hated it. I hated that I was crying. I just watched the man who had been my safe space, my lover, my everything say those cruel words to me.

“I sold everything…for this,” I said with a trembling voice as I raised my hand that held the vial all this while.

He looked at the bottle and scoffed “Keep it, I don’t need it. What I need is someone who can keep me interested and satisfied.” He looks at Lily and then back to me. “And you can’t do that”

The silence between us became thick and suffocating, I tried to stop my tears from falling but I couldn’t, I never for one-second thought that Jamie would play me this dirty, all my life I have done everything I could just for him, he is a billionaire but that didn’t stop me from doing everything a wife should do for her husband. I loved him, cherished him, and my loyalty to him is something even he cannot deny, for a fleeting second, the thought of begging crossed my mind, of dropping to my knees and promising to be whatever he wanted. But I knew better. He had already decided. And I wasn’t ready for another round of humiliation.

Jamie had said his piece. Lily was smiling victoriously, her fingers tracing circles on his chest like she had already won—maybe she had. I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat and turned to leave, my legs felt weak, but I forced them to move, one step at a time, I didn’t want them to see me break any more than I already had but just as I reached the door his voice cut through the hair and I came to a halt.

“Walk out that door and you’ll have nothing.” His voice cut through the air like a knife.

How worse could it get? I really hoped the ground would open and swallow me but it didn’t, what did I do to deserve this humiliation? I thought to myself, Jamie knew, he knew I had nothing, he knew I had nowhere to go and I hated it, I really hated that I couldn’t help myself.

“Let’s be honest with ourselves Susan, you sold everything for that small bottle and now it’s useless. You don’t have anything, no home, no money, no family, no me” he paused like he was giving me time to understand that I had lost everything before adding “So tell me… where exactly do you think you’re going?”

I squeezed my eyes shut, I was broken because I knew, every word he said was true. His lips curved into a wide smile, he had me exactly where he wanted me.

“Work for me,” he said sharply, I blinked, I wasn’t sure if I heard him right.

Lily inhaled sharply, her eyes widened in surprise, followed by an extremely pleased laugh “Ohh, that’s cruel” she said holding her chest.

Jamie leaned forward on the desk “Think about it, you need a job and I do need more staff. It’s perfect, isn’t it?”, he smirked “You can be my maid”