5

~Alexa

I couldn’t restrain myself from scoffing harshly. “Cheated on you with another guy?”

“Are you for real, Justin? You are the only guy I loved. How can I ever cheat on you with another person?”

“Don’t try to act like you’re innocent, Alexa,” Gia snapped, rubbing Justin’s arm softly while fixing her pretentious eyes on me. “You of all people shouldn’t deny cheating on Justin. Besides, the papers in your hands say it all! That worthless child of yours didn’t even belong to Justin. You cheated on him and got pregnant by another man!”

“Do you think everybody is like you, Gia?” I finally gathered the strength to face the bitch standing in front of me.

Her face twisted instantly, contorted with aggression. I didn’t care, I kept going.

“Unlike you, Gia, I have my principles. I don’t go around spreading my legs for married men to f*ck me—”

“Mind your language, Alexa!” she howled, lunging at me, but Justin held her back.

“Calm down, Gia. I’ll take care of this,” he whispered to her, gently moving her behind him as he stepped closer to me.

Our eyes met, and for a brief second, I saw something strange in Justin’s expression something I had never seen before. His face was shadowed with sympathy as he spoke.

“I’ll give you one last chance to prove yourself, Alexa. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me if you cheated on me. Whatever you say, I promise to believe it. Just tell me you never cheated on me…”

As Justin said this, I wondered what gave him the nerve to speak so softly. He despises me, doesn’t he? Then why is his face lined with concern?

“Why are you quiet? You really did cheat on me, didn’t you?” he said, jolting me from my thoughts.

I clutched the box of ashes tighter and tried to speak, but before I could, Justin let out a brief, bitter laugh.

His face shifted from soft to savage. The deep hatred I’d seen before returned with full force. He clenched my shoulders in rage and shoved me back.

“Your cold silence says everything, Alexa! You cheated on me! You had the guts to use me to cover your adulterous life!” he shouted, gripping me tighter as I winced in pain.

Gia grinned at me, sipping her juice with satisfaction.

“Let me go, Justin. You’re hurting me,” I managed to say, my voice low and shaky.

Justin instantly let go and looked at what I held. I tried to hide the ashes, but he snatched the box from me forcefully.

“So, it’s all because of this dead child! Now I’ll make you regret lying to my face,” he spat, lifting the box.

I quickly realized what he was about to do and pleaded.

“Don’t think about throwing his ashes away, Justin…”

Before I could finish, Justin flipped the box and the ashes spilled through the air. I dropped to my belly and crawled beneath him, letting the ashes rain down on me.

“Stop, Justin! Please don’t throw my baby’s ashes away…” I cried out. “This is the only way I can remember him forever. Please don’t do this!”

My sobs fell on deaf ears. Justin emptied the box onto me and threw it at my body.

“You pathetic woman. You can pack the ashes if you love them so much,” he sneered, his voice venomous.

I wept loudly, watching the ashes of my son scatter across the ground.

Then Gia’s voice pierced the air.

“Come on, Justin. She looks filthy…”

I looked up at her, watching as she handed her juice to Justin.

“I think you should rain this milk on her. She’s so dirty and all stained with ashes!”

“You’re right, Gia,” Justin agreed, locking eyes on me. “Let’s watch her clean up with that juice. Hand it over!”

He reached for the bottle, and Gia gladly passed it to him.

With hatred burning in his eyes, Justin lifted the bottle and began pouring it over me.

The juice landed on my head with a splashing sound. I could only cry.

What else could I do?

I had no courage left to fight. I couldn’t even raise a hand against Justin. He had never been this cruel before. This was the first time.

He might have been enjoying himself but for me, every drop of juice washing over me was washing away the love I had for him.

The same way he poured that juice on my body, that was the same way my love for him was being POURED OUT!

“You’re not doing it right, Justin! Let me do it!” Gia’s voice rang out again.

She grabbed the bottle from him and splashed the rest of it onto my face.

“Hmmmph!” she exclaimed with glee, smiling as the juice dripped from my chin.

“That serves you right! This is what useless animals like you deserve! If I were you, I’d just kill myself and vanish from the earth…” Gia mocked, flipping her hair with a smirk.

Justin suddenly grabbed her hand, and his face shifted again but this time to something almost sympathetic. He looked at me with a new expression, as if he wasn’t fully conscious of what he’d just done.

“Let’s go, Gia,” he said, eyes still on me. “There’s no point staying with this pathetic woman.”

“You’re right, Jus. Let’s go. I don’t want to get infected by her,” she joked, laughing to herself.

I watched them walk out of the cemetery.

At that moment, my tears stopped. I was broken, depressed, hopeless, and ruined. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know where to go.

I wandered out of the cemetery like a madwoman.

Just as I was about to exit through the cemetery gate, a loud HORN blared behind me. It was too late to move. Before I could turn around, a luxurious car hit me and everything went black.

The next place I found myself was a large room filled with a beautiful fragrance. I knew I was in a rich man’s house. But whose?

I opened my eyes quickly and saw three people sitting beside me.

I jumped up in panic, grabbing the duvet to cover myself.

“Who are you all, and what am I doing here?” I asked, voice trembling in shock.

As I scanned their faces, one of them stood out.

Sitting beside me, holding my hand, was THE CITY’S DUKE—Mr. Emerald Sullivan. The richest man alive.

Before I could say anything more, he smiled gently at me.

“Welcome home, my daughter. You are Alexa Sullivan, my long-lost daughter. After fifteen years of searching the earth, we’ve finally found you! You’re the true heiress to the Sullivan Empire and the richest woman the whole world has been searching for.”