THE DAY I STOPPED LOVING YOU

Claire brushed her lips against Richard’s neck planting a soft kiss then let out a soft, pitying sigh. “ Oh my Poor Lisa, She tried so hard to be loved….It almost hurts to watch… almost.” her feigned sniffing echoed with a sarcastic laughter.

******

The Fiftieth floor of LONERIA INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CENTER was a world apart from the suffering it concealed. Private suites disguised as luxury penthouses overlooked the glittering city skyline through floor-to-ceiling windows while expensive artworks hung on cream-colored walls and the faint scent of fresh lilies tried and failed to mask the sterile bite of disinfectant and impending death.

I lay motionless on the oversized hospital bed with an oxygen cannula tucked beneath my nose while machines beeped out the weakening rhythm of my heart and transparent tubes snaked under the blanket feeding medications that had long since stopped working. The hereditary cancer that had ravaged my family had finally won and my body no longer obeyed me so I could not lift a finger or open my eyes or even whisper yet only my hearing remained cruelly sharp forcing me to witness everything.

Outside the suite nurses moved like ghosts with their voices hushed and the doctors had already told my family I would not survive the night and I knew it too.

Then came the soft click of the door followed by two sets of familiar footsteps, one confident and heavy and the other lighter accompanied by the sharp tap of expensive high heels on marble.

Richard my husband and Claire my best friend.

A wave of bittersweet sorrow washed over me because even now on the edge of death I still pitied them for the grief I thought they would feel yet they did not know I could still hear.

Claire’s soft mocking laugh broke the silence first.

“So this is really the end for her. Look at her lying there so peacefully. She always hated making a scene.”

Richard’s smile was cold and relieved. “It took eight fucking years but yes. Finally, I was starting to think she would outlast the building.”

My heart clenched so hard I thought it might stop right then thinking my ears were playing tricks on me. 

Claire traced a finger down his chest. “Poor Lisa. She really believed she had the perfect husband. All those nights you sat by her bed holding her hand whispering how much you loved her while slipping the poison into her IV. You were brilliant. Honestly the performance deserves an award.”

The words sliced through me sharper than any scalpel so it was my so-called husband all along.

Richard gave a low chuckle that held no warmth. “She believed everything I wanted her to believe. It was not even that hard. The doctors kept blaming the progression of her hereditary cancer. I just helped it along with small doses at first then stronger once her body was weak enough. The best part? Her own mother thanked me for being such a devoted husband. She signed over more shares to me every time she got worse. Free labor and free assets. Efficient.”

Claire laughed softly. “We have been planning this since before you even married her. I told you to pick the richest most trusting heiress and you chose perfectly. She practically wrapped herself in a bow.”

A broken sound tried to rise in my throat but died there and hot tears burned behind my closed eyelids yet even they refused to fall because my body had betrayed me one final time.

Richard’s hand slid under Claire’s skirt but his voice stayed casual, almost proud. “The board is already prepared to vote me in as permanent chairman the moment she flatlines. All the offshore accounts are ready. Her patents, her family’s research data, everything transfers to me. To us sweetheart. She built an empire thinking she was securing our future. Instead she funded her own slow execution. Thoughtful of her really.”

Claire leaned in and kissed the side of his neck. “Eight years of watching her deteriorate while we fucked in every hotel in the city. It was the sweetest foreplay. Every time she thanked you for staying by her side I came so hard knowing we were killing her. Her mom is so cooperative. Family support is important.”

Richard’s grip tightened on Claire’s thigh. “She never suspected a thing, fragile trusting little Lisa. Always so grateful for the smallest affection so pathetic really. I almost felt bad. Almost.”

Every word carved into me like acid and the years of pain, the endless hospital stays the way I had defended him to everyone, none of it was illness, it was murder slow calculated intimate murder by the two people I trusted most.

Claire’s voice turned breathy as Richard’s fingers moved between her legs. “I am so wet just thinking about it. She is dying right there and we are about to own everything she ever loved. Talk about a farewell party.”

Richard’s response was a hungry growl. “Then let us celebrate properly.”

What followed was raw and frantic as he shoved her skirt up, freed himself and pulled her onto his lap in one motion and Claire sank down onto him with a loud moan riding him hard and fast while her nails dug into his shoulders.

“Fuck yes,” she panted. “Harder. Cum inside me while your wife is lying lifeless, make it memorable.”

Richard thrust up into her roughly gripping her hips with his face twisted in pleasure and triumph and their bodies slapped together for a few intense minutes until Claire shuddered violently crying out as she came and Richard followed right after groaning her name as he spilled inside her.

They stayed locked together breathing hard and exchanging lazy kisses.

“She will be gone before morning,” Claire whispered, satisfied. “At least she was useful until the end.”

“Everything is ours now,” Richard replied, his voice thick with victory. “She should be proud because not everyone gets to fund their own replacement.”

I lay there silent and shattered as their words and moans burned themselves into my soul because the betrayal was worse than death itself.

Questions burned through my mind how long how could you but my lips refused to part and even the tears I so desperately needed would not fall.

Instead I buried the searing hatred deep inside letting it fuel what little life remained.

Richard Hale and Claire, If there is any justice in this world if fate can hear the silent screams of a dying woman let this betrayal be repaid a thousandfold may you both taste the same despair you forced upon me may you lose everything you stole from me and if there is another life I swear I will never love you again.

The vows echoed endlessly in my mind and not a single word left my lips yet the hatred engraved itself upon my soul refusing to die even as the last traces of warmth slipped from my body.

Little did I know fate had been listening…suddenly darkness swallowed everything as I welcomed death then….

“Gasp!”

I bolted upright in bed chest heaving as if dragged from drowning depths with no oxygen tube no searing pain no machines just the thunder of my own healthy heartbeat.

I stared at my smooth youthful hands unmarked by needles or age and panic surged as I scrambled out of bed and stumbled to the full-length mirror.

The girl staring back at me looked seventeen with long black hair glowing skin and eyes wide with the innocence I had lost long ago.

“No…” my voice cracked. “This cannot be real…” I rushed to the calendar on the wall September 12th the year I was seventeen two days before I met Richard two days before everything shattered.

My shaky legs buckled and I collapsed to the floor as memories flooded back Richard’s cold smile Claire’s mocking laughter, their bodies moving together on that sofa while I lay dying.

Tears streamed down my cheeks, real tears this time of shock relief and burning gratitude, my body shook violently as a bitter determined laugh escaped my lips.

“Fate… you really gave me another chance. How generous. And how inconvenient for them.”

When I lifted my head again the softness in my eyes had vanished, replaced by a glacial resolve that could freeze fire itself.

“This time,” I whispered, fists clenched so tightly my nails bit into my palms, “I will not waste it.”

“I will not love Richard Hale.”

“I will not trust Claire.”

“I will not surrender my family’s empire.”

“And I will never become that pathetic broken woman again.”

Outside my window the morning sun rose over a city that had no idea what was coming. For everyone else it was an ordinary day, but for me ? It was the first day of their destruction.