LOGINA R I A N A
I mustered up the remaking sanity left in me packing my stuffs in silence. My hands moved on their own, shoving clothes into a suitcase, grabbing the few things that were truly mine. Photos. Jewelry. The little trinkets Angelo had given me over the years things that now felt like lies. I didn’t cry. I had cried too much that there were no tear left to cry. The only thing that kept me going was the tiny life inside me. My baby, the one good thing left in this mess. I zipped up the last bag and took one final look around the bedroom just hours ago, I had been so happy, all the plans I had made for our anniversary, telling Angelo he was going to be a father. All that is shattered now. I grabbed my box of things and walked out, not looking back. I was halfway down the stairs when she appeared. Bella. Fucking cheat! The woman who had laughed with me, cried with me, stood by me at my wedding. The woman who had just been in bed with my husband. She leaned against the railing, arms crossed, a smirk on her perfect face. "Leaving so soon?" she purred. I didn’t stop walking. She stepped in front of me, blocking my path. "Oh, come on, Ariana. Don’t be like that." I clenched my jaw. "Move." She laughed a cold, mean sound. "Or what? You’ll cry some more?" I tightened my grip on the box. "You’re disgusting! You should be ashamed of yourself" Bella rolled her eyes. "Please, you never deserved him anyway." My chest burned. "I didn’t deserve him? You’re the one who slept with your best friend’s husband! I trusted you Bella, if anyone could do this to me, it shouldn’t be you” She shrugged, like it was nothing. "Angelo was never really yours." "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Bella’s smirk widened. "I’ve had my eyes on him since college long before you ever did." I froze. What? What was she even talking about? She tilted her head, enjoying my shock. "Oh don’t act oblivious Aria we both know that I liked him first. But he chose you." Her voice dripped with venom. "So I waited and when the time was right… I took him back." My stomach twisted. "You… you planned this?" She laughed. "Of course I did you really think I was your friend all these years? I was just waiting for my chance, if I want something Ariana I make sure I get it, absolutely no one deserves Angelo but me, he’s mine and he has always been mine" I felt like I’d been punched. All the late-night talks, the secrets we shared, the times she pretended to care. It was all a lie. "You’re a monster," I whispered. Bella’s eyes gleamed. "And you’re a fool. Did you really think he loved you? He only stayed because he felt sorryfor you. You’re nothing Ariana!” My hands shook. "That’s not true." "Oh, it is." She stepped closer, her voice dropping to a cruel whisper. "And you know what else? I made sure you never got pregnant. Because if you had, he might have stayed." The world stopped. My breath caught in my throat. What did she just say? I stared at her, my heart pounding. "What… what did you do?" Bella smirked. "Birth control pills in your coffee. Every morning for the past year." My knees almost gave out. She had been drugging me. She had been stealing my chance at a family. And now Now that I was pregnant She had taken Angelo from me anyway. I felt sick. "You bitch," I choked out. Bella just laughed. "Too late now, isn’t it? He’s mine and there’s nothing you can do about it. We both know you’ve been leaching off of him to pay your debts. You’re a slut Ariana a fucking cheap one that aims for high class man to get money to live your fake lifestyle" “How dare you!” I yelled. She shrugs, “He doesn’t want you anymore he never did, he just didn’t realize that and now that I made him realize his mistake, it’s safe to say he’s done with you.” She spat I wanted to scream. I wanted to hit her. I wanted to destroy her. But instead I decided not to, I didn’t want to give her the reaction she wanted my heart had already been shattered by the man I thought loved me, Bella’s pain was nothing compared to Angelos. I let out a breath turning and walking away, She was right, there was nothing I could do. Angelo had chosen her. And I I was left with nothing but a broken heart And a baby he would never know about. “Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” She grabbed my hair. I yelped, “Let go of me” “Okay..” And she did pushing me instead making me stumble and toil down. I felt excruciating pain in my stomach as I hit the ground, I let out a scream in pain. “No! My baby” I cried watching as blood drizzled down legs the pain growing. “Please… help me, please… I can’t lose my baby” I stuttered as I sobbed watching Bella march down to were I laid lifless. “Die you bitch! If you think I’d let you have Angelo’s baby then you’re more dense than I thought you were.” She hissed. “You can’t use the baby to get Angelo back or his property and I’ve made sure of that… there’s no way you can save the baby… rot in hell you fucking slut!” She mocked before walking away. I watched as her walk away, her figure retiring before everything went blank.A R I A N A"Sit. I'll get you some water. Or tea? Something stronger?""Water please " I whispered my throat was raw from crying.As promised marcus picked me up and brought me to his place. He came back with a glass and sat in the chair opposite me, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees. "Now start from the beginning. Tell me everything."I did, I told him about Melissa arriving. The argument in the garden, how Dante took her side. The crushing loneliness. Then, Angelo revealing the truth that Melissa was Dante's ex-wife, that Leo was his son. "I went to Angelo's I was desperate… I had no where to go after the incident in Dante’s office. I thought I could stay there for the night before o figure things out and he could maybe help." I took a gulp of water. "But he wasn't alone in his house, she was there, Melissa."Marcus's eyes widened. "At Angelo's?""Yes and I heard them talking. I heard everything." I repeated their conversation word for word as I remembered it the plan and
A R I A N AMy legs moved on their own one step back then another as I tried to log me breath so they don’t hear me.I had come to Angelo’s apartment to seek comfort just like I did the other time when we had a fight.After what happened in the office, I didn’t have anywhere to go soI came here. Seeing them both together made my heart crunch in pain, it made my blood went cold. It couldn’t be.Angelo’s voice was smooth and approving.This was all part of their plan… how stupid could I be?“I told you I could handle him. Dante and I… we have a history.”Melissa’s voice.I had listened to every single word. The plan. The lies. The manipulation. The divorce papersa “masterstroke.” The children—a cruelty she decided on because she didn’t care. She wanted Dante miserable. I stumbled back and back into my hip hit a small side table a vase wobbled but I was quick to grab it, my fingers fumbling, and it settled with a soft clink.Had they heard?Panic, pure and electric, shot through
M E L I S S AI smiled as the door clicked open, I didn’t bother to turn I knew who it was, Angelo came up behind meHe looked… pleased. He set his hands on my shoulders.“You did a great job,” he said his voice a low hum in the quiet room. “Truly. I have to admit, I didn’t think you could make it all seem so… possible in a very short time.”I allowed myself a small tight smile in the reflection. “I told you I could handle him. Dante and I… we have a history and you know that… I know him better than anyone. I know what makes him feel guilty. What makes him panic. What makes him shut down.” I turned around to face him leaning back against the cool window. “I know every single one of his buttons All I had to do was push them in the right order.”Angelo’s eyes were bright admiring as he reached out and took the wine glass from my hand, taking a sip himself. “The divorce papers were a masterstroke. Handing them to her like that so cold and clinical. I almost believed it myself watching.”
A R I A N AFor a long time I just stared at him as I struggle to digest the words nothing making sense to me.Ex-wife. Son. His. I took a step back my back hitting the hard edge of my desk. The pain was sharp real. It grounded me in this nightmare.“No,” I whispered. Then louder. “No!”I looked right at Dante. “All this time,” I said my voice shaking. “All this distance. The coldness. You not looking at me not touching me.” I could feel my face getting hot the tears drying up replaced by so much rage and pain “No wonder It all makes sense now! No wonder you don’t give me the attention I want or spend all your time with her It’s because of her isn’t it? Your ex-wife!”I said the word like it was poison. Dante flinched.“It’s because you want her back!” I yelled the truth of it felt like a knife twisting. “That’s it right? You brought her here your secret family because you want her back! Was our whole marriage just a lie? Was I just some… some placeholder until she showed up again
A R I A N AI sat in my office unable to concentrate on my work, I’ve been trying to get the paper works sorted but nothing is moving.For days it had been like this a cold heavy silence, it was like I was losing myself day by by day.Dante had been so distant. He moved through the house like a ghost, h didn’t look at me.Not really. When he did his eyes were sad and tired but also closed off like he deserted me.. like he was regretting something.Maybe bringing me back.And Melissa… he was always with her, chit chatting. Laughing at silly jokes she made and then sometimes talking in low voices in the hallway. It was breaking my heart into tiny sharp pieces. He wasn’t just being kind anymore It felt like something else, something that left me out in the cold.He was off with the kids too. Short-tempered. Distracted. He barely spends time with them like he use to.Isabella asked him to read a story last night, and he just patted her head and walked away like he wasn’t the same p
D A N T E I watched Ariana run into the house her sobs tearing at something deep inside me hating myself even more than I already do. But Ariana shouldn’t have said those mean things to Melissa, it actually surprises me that she said those things… it’s that part of her that I’ve never seen before. “Oh Dante,” Melissa’s voice was a shaky fake whisper beside me as she clutched my arm her fingers digging in. “I’m so sorry…I didn’t mean to cause any trouble I just wanted to be her friend.” Melissa was faking whatever it was… and I wasn’t liking it. “Let’s go inside Melissa,” I said, my voice tired. I pulled my arm from her grip. “We need to talk.” I didn’t wait for her answer I just turned and walked towards the house my steps heavy. I heard her quick light footsteps following me we went upstairs forcing me myself to keep walking to the guest room and not run to Ariana and offer her comfort. I held the door open for Melissa and she walked in and the moment I closed t







