Chapter Three

Carlton's words echoed in Stacy's ears as she sat cold in her bathtub shivering badly, submerging her head in the tub of water like it would take away her pain and wipe away her reality. Her heart viciously ached with so much pain that it threatened to suffocate her, and she sobbed incessantly because she just couldn't understand why he suddenly wanted a divorce.

The hurtful words, "We should go our separate ways," haunted her throughout the night so much that she couldn't sleep.

Her mind traveled back to the message she had received on her phone again and again, as she wanted what was suddenly going on and why she would get such a message.

'Who could it be? Was her husband cheating on her? Or was it a prank message? Perhaps a spam message?' her head conjured different kinds of thoughts and scenarios, as she cried harder the more the thoughts came to her mind.

But then again, Stacy tried to encourage herself that Carlton wasn't someone like that. Though he didn't love her, he had never had eyes for other women either. She wanted to believe that she was just overthinking it.

'But still, he was asking for a divorce now,' her head reminded her and her breath became shallow and erratic again, as she struggled to swallow the tears that were provoked by her thoughts again. Her chest tightened and constricted in pain, as she hit it hard to stop it from hurting.

She cried the entire night and managed to stand up from her bed the next day with a puffy face, as she stood in front of the mirror to examine the damage her excessive crying had done to her face.

'How would the maids not gossip again now, when she had cried her eyes out now?' Stacy worried as she pressed her red cheeks with her hand. She couldn't let them see any flaw in her.

She dressed up in a gorgeous gown like any other day, and wore the perfect make-up which concealed the bags under her eyes. Stepping out of her room, her lips stretched into a huge smile as she sauntered to his room, which was at the other side of the large hallway that led to their room.

Disappointment glinted in her eyes when she realized that he had left home so early, without eating breakfast after she opened his door. She hesitated for a few minutes before going downstairs, in fear of what the maids might gossip about after observing like spies.

She couldn't make them see that she was breaking, and that there was a crack somewhere in her marriage. However, the untouched anniversary food and cake already gave room for them to talk.

"Breath, Stacy. They cannot see you break," she whispered to herself, as she walked to the kitchen to choose the food that would be prepared for Carlton by the chefs, with extra care put into the preparation of each meal. She ordered the food be packed and delivered to his office an hour later, with a handwritten note from her attached to it; Have a great day ahead.

'She had to act like nothing had happened between them the previous day. She had to. For her peace of mind.'

With nothing much to do, Stacy remained indoors all day extremely bored and more tired than usual. She was trying hard not to think or cry, and sat down at the mansion library reading random books. But it was extremely hard because it was hard for her not to think about what ensued between her and Carlton.

His phone remained unreachable after she tried calling him several times again, and ended up leaving a few texts for him. He didn't reply to her messages even if it showed that he was active, and she felt like she was losing her mind in fear that he might be ghosting her.

Suddenly, she remembered a way to get out of her pain.

********

A black luxury car glided to a graceful halt in front of a huge building, as the chauffeur alighted and scurried to open the door to the back seat. Stacy stepped out of the car in a luxurious red dress that accentuated her sexy body, as it shimmered under the lights in accordance to her diamond-encrusted heels.

Every eye around her turned, transfixed by her presence, and they wondered who she was to step out of such a luxurious car because her face was not familiar. She had been invited as a guest by a friend she made from a bakery class she once attended, and was honoring the event invitation for the first time. She needed her sanity back.

Stacy gracefully made her way into the building, even if she was not sure what she was going to do there or what a charity event was all about. Seeing a different world from the one she had been living in for years made her awed, because of the number of A-list socialites, and elites that she recognized who were present. It was a world of opulence and grandeur.

'Breathe, Stacy. No one knows you here,' she told herself repeatedly, in order to get rid of her extreme anxiety.

Silently and sophisticatedly, she moved through the crowd and stood alone, while observing everyone and everything around her. She was very conscious of everything unfolding before her eyes and people around, because she had not been to such events before.

Though she had married a billionaire and lived a luxurious life in her two years of marriage, she had always enjoyed simple things that revolved around only her and Carlton. She had never had the chance to explore outside of her marriage, because no one knew that she was married to someone like him. They had never made public appearances either. And she was satisfied with all that, so far he was with her. She truly was.

However, she probably was starting to regret that she had been too enclosed. Her life might not have been so boring and pathetic if she had friends, and took advantage of her social position to get rid of her pain.

"Oh dear! I am so glad to see you. I thought you would not make it here," Evelyn, the beautiful lady who invited her, caught sight of her and scurried to meet her immediately.

"Thank you for inviting me," Stacy smiled shyly and modestly as she heaved a sigh of relief to finally see the only person she knew amongst everyone. She didn't know how she managed to gain the attention of a lady like Evelyn from a mere cooking class, whose father owned many major companies in the city. She was a luxury herself.

"Come meet my friends. I told them about you already," Evelyn grabbed her arm along with her as they sauntered to the other side of the room. The young, beautiful heiress had a natural liking for Stacy, even if she was not interested in a friendship that would warrant questions she could not answer and expose her private life.

In a few minutes after exchanging pleasantries with the three high-class ladies she was introduced to, they could not help but admire and feel intimidated by her gorgeousness.

"Dear me! Is this not the new Hamilton Hamish design? These earrings cost a fortune!" Natalie, one of the ladies, noticed and could not hide her outburst, as her eyes scanned across every part of the new lady that had just been introduced to them.

"Really? The ones that don't come in pairs and cost twice the amount to get the other?" Jasmine, a young, well-accomplished lawyer, cut in surprisingly as she tried to take a closer look at it, which made Stacy stiffen. She wasn't used to that kind of closeness from people.

"Fuck, yes," Natalie affirmed astonishingly while wondering if she was indeed seeing the limited edition jewelry, as her eyes trailed down to value the price of everything that Stacy was putting on.

"Damn. I recognize these heels. They were auctioned in Paris two months ago, and my dad desperately tried to get one for me to no avail. Only two pairs were sold out for a freaking outrageous amount!" Khloe, the third lady blurted out with a deep gasp, with her eyes glistening greedily at her heels. She was determined not to get along with Stacy because she looked way out of her class, and pretended not to hear her friends talking about the earrings.

Stacy just stood there as she watched the lady value the prices of the things she was wearing, without knowing what she could say as a reply to sound humble enough. Though they were all ladies of high class, they could help but comment on Stacy's luxurious and impeccable taste.

"You are so beautiful. Who is your dad? What school did you attend? Have we met before?" Jasmine rushed her question, suddenly having the urge to become friends with her. She speculated that Stacy had to be from an influential and extremely wealthy family, which was well-affiliated enough to get all those limited edition accessories for her.

'She was the wife of Carlton Howard. It was only natural if all those things came easily to her,' Stacy thought to herself, 'But how would she tell these ladies in the room that her father wasn't as rich as they thought?'

"Thank you," She replied with a modest smile, as she tried to think of what she would give as an answer to who her Dad was. Her head swore in happiness because it had been a while since she had been complemented by someone, and it suddenly boosted her self-esteem, which had been sinking for months.

"Are you new to town? How come I have never seen you before?" Khloe, who was still swelling with jealousy asked rigidly, unable to stand the fact that she was nowhere compared to Stacy.

"Isn't that Marilyn Gray?" Jasmine suddenly announced as her eyes darted to the other side of the room, and recognized someone familiar.

'Marilyn?' Stacy's brain remembered the name immediately.

"Marilyn Gray is at this charity event? I thought she had been out of the country now for a long time," Natalie asked incredulously, as her eyes darted to the direction Jasmine was looking.

"It is really her," Evelyn cut in as she joined the conversation, with irritation lacing her eyes, "Marilyn is so affiliated with a lot of people. Imagine, she could even hold a conversation with someone like Carlton Howard," she added.

'Carlton's ex-girlfriend was back?!' Stacy panicked inwardly, as her eyes traced along the movements of the gorgeous lady that was standing at the other side of the room with a charming smile.

Even from that distance, the aura of the lady she had always felt inferior to, bashed her and sucked out the confidence that the ladies around her had elevated just a few minutes ago.

'She didn't know she was back in the city.'

Still thinking of how she could act indifferent to Marilyn's sudden presence, Stacy sighted her husband from nowhere as he made his way into the event. There were hushed tones of people around in awe when they saw him, speculating about what had changed, because he was not the type to attend such events. And he was walking in her direction.

'Carlton was at an event with his ex-girlfriend present too?!'