Facing The Consequences Of Her Actions.

CATALINA

The sound of the alarm ringing in the background jolted my senses awake. My head buzzed with pain, and the bright sunlight peeking from the half-closed curtains only made it worse. I felt like I had been hit by a truck and then thrown to the side to die alone. It wasn't until I blinked twice that I suddenly realized something wasn't right.

Black ceiling. Crystal chandelier. Grey curtains.

I jolted upright when I saw those things. Dread crawled in my throat as my eyes scanned the rest of the room, spotting my clothes scattered across the floor. 

Wait, were those my panties hanging on the chair?

“No mames…” I whispered, my voice growing dry.

At this point, I felt a slight movement on my left. The male groan that reverberated across the sheets made my heart skip a beat. I didn't need to move to discover the identity of the person lying next to me, and I'm sure he didn't either.

He stiffened for a few seconds before he yanked down the sheets to reveal his handsome face. His dark eyebrows scrunched with confusion at first, and then dread. "Catalina?"

I buried my face between my palms while he jumped off the bed like a wet cat. Panic gripped my heart as I watched him gain some consciousness about his surroundings. I knew I had no reason to be like this since this was consensual, but that didn't stop my thoughts from racing. My heart pounded loudly in my chest when I scanned the room, searching for my phone or my purse.

"This cannot be happening," Theodore muttered, pacing. His fingers raked through his dark, tousled hair as he turned to face me, clearly stricken. "Please tell me we didn't have sex."

My heart dropped when I heard the pleading in his voice. Quietly, I dropped the sheets to reveal my naked body, confirming his worst fears. I wasn't the kind of person to be ashamed of my actions because I always did whatever I wanted.

But for the second time this week, I couldn't get rid of this feeling of shame that had been eating my heart from the moment I met Theodore. The heavy feeling on my chest made me unable to look at him, even when he dropped onto the bed with a shocked expression.

"Theodore, I am so sorr-"

The door suddenly swung open with a loud bang, cutting off my words. Madelyn burst into the room and saw both of us on the bed. A pained cry escaped her lips before she slammed the door shut.

"Madelyn, wait-" Theodore cursed under his breath and shot up from the bed. He simply grabbed his boxers and put them on before exiting the room.

I sank into the sheets once the door closed, letting the silence drown my chaotic thoughts. No matter how hard, I couldn't remember anything about last night. My brain was a blank slate, and my entire body hurt more than I wanted to admit. 

Forcing myself to stand up, I began picking up my clothes that were scattered across the room. I ran my fingers through my hair to smooth it a bit, but things changed when I walked to the vanity table to apply my makeup.

"What...the hell?"

I gasped in shock when I stared at myself in the mirror. My whole body was covered in bruises and love bites. If I hadn't known what happened last night, I would have thought a beast had attacked me.

Just as I finished applying my makeup, the door suddenly swung open with a loud bang. I turned around, ready to deliver the apology I had rehearsed countless times, but the words caught in my throat when I saw him.

"W-What’s wrong?" I stammered, my heart pounding like a war drum as I took in his pale, drawn features. 

Theodore raised his hand, a silent command that halted my approach. When he met my eyes again, he shot me the coldest glare I'd ever experienced.

"Was this your plan all along?" he growled, his voice low and dangerous. "Did you conspire with Mateo to trick me into marrying you?"

My heart sank at his words. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Watch your language, Catalina!" he warned. In the next moment, he flung a stack of papers at my face. The papers were scattered through the air before landing on the floor. "See for yourself. Is this what you meant when you said you wanted to teach me to live life a little?"

I scrambled to the floor, picking up each paper from the floor. The photos of us taken going to the club and dancing weren't beyond my expectations, but nothing would have prepared me for the last two papers that I saw. The sight of us standing in front of the magistrate rocked me to the core, causing the papers to fall from my limp hands.

I couldn't believe my eyes as I stared at the marriage certificate. How the hell did this happen?

I was now married to Theodore Knight, the most influential man in Los Angeles?!

"My grandmother told me these papers were leaked to the press," he explained, his jaw taut with anger. "Now the whole world knows that I'm married to a woman who's slept with half of the men in Florida!"

His words struck me hard like a slap. "Well, I guess you must be very dumb to ask for help from such a woman in the first place. Do you really think I wanted to be shackled with a narcissist like you?"

"You are the one who asked me to take a drive in the middle of the night!" He argued back. "Because of you, I had to lie to my entire family that we married out of love. Why? Because I couldn't admit to them that I got tricked by a ruthless gold digger who gave up her own son!"

Before I could even process my emotions, I slapped him so hard he nearly lost his footing. By the time he regained his clarity, I had already grabbed my purse and my phone. I was so furious that I could have done a lot worse to him, but I chose to retain some bit of sanity because of the elders living in the mansion.

 Fuck him. I didn't need his help or his money to find my son because I was a strong, independent woman who had been surviving through hardships from the moment I was born.

I pulled off the wedding ring from my finger and slammed it on the table with a loud thud. "You might think you are some hotshot, but you're not. You are just a weak, pathetic man who doesn't care about anyone but yourself."

"What did you just say?"

"Oh, for the record, I would have definitely left you, too, if I were Madelyn because you don't deserve her. If you did, you would have never hid the truth about our marriage from her," I sneered. "So make sure you send me the divorce papers in a week, or else I'm going to get it done myself."

With those last words, I slammed the door with all the force I could muster and left the Knight mansion.