Chapter Three

I thought I was waking up on my bed, so I decided to roll my body to the other side of the bed. Then I found out I was at the edge of the bed, about to fall; the space was too small.

Panic began to rise within me as I struggled to recall how I ended up here.

Then, like a flickering light, fragmented memories started to piece together. My husband was in bed with a strange lady.

The strange lady under my husband is none other than Elle, the heiress of the Kone family. She is an actress. I have met her countless times in my husband's office during lunchtime.

I always thought she visited my husband's secretary. It never occurred to me that she was my husband's mistress.

Did they attack me? Why did I end up here?” I asked. There is no one to answer my question.

The door swung open. I could not believe what my eyes saw. My husband walked in with his hand around Elle Waste. Tears welled up in my eyes. I didn't want it to fall. Alaric didn't deserve it.

I gazed away as I saw them and said, “Get out!”

"Congratulations!" Jane, finally! You are carrying an illegitimate child like you,” Alaric sneered as he came in.

“What a shame!” Elle chipped in.

I touched my stomach to confirm what he was saying, no wonder everything pissed me off, ‘Could it be that I'm pregnant?’

“Can we get a divorce?” I asked.

“Jane, don't divorce me; I will take care of the bastard you are carrying,” he snickered.

Is that not what you wanted? I hate you, Alaric; you are so disgusting,” I spat.

“Actually, I don't have anything to do with you, and no one would ever accept you; this marriage was a bet between my grandparents and yours. As soon as you get divorced, the $100 million fine will go into my account. If you don't want the money to go into my account, you have every power to stop it now.”

“You are a joke, Alaric, I wish I never married you; I wish I never loved you I don't care about how much money you will get; I just don't want to see you again,” I yelled

“Alaric, why are you stopping her?? Do you love her?”

"Elle, love, not in this life I will ever love a woman like her, i love you, and I can never trade you for anything. I want her family to see that she requested a divorce and the mistake she made,"

“If I had loved her, she wouldn't have ended up with a stranger that night,” he smirked.

“You set me up, Alaric?”

“You want someone to devour you, and I helped you to do that. By lacing your drink and slipping away, you met your boyfriend instead of the helper I sent, so how did I set you up??”

"What have I done to deserve this?”

“Is it a crime to love you?”

"Not a crime, Jane, but I will not stain my family name by starting my life with an illegitimate daughter. I hate you for that. Who knows how your mother ended up with your father?"

“You should have told him you weren't interested then.”

"Why would I say that? I am a businessman, and I know your family will lose that kind of money, I always want your loser family to remain a loser,"

"So you ditched me because of money.”

"No, because you are illegitimate and I don't love you; money is just a bonus for wasting my precious time for three years,"

“Can I get the divorce document?” I asked in a husky tone.

"Don't ever try to come back to my house,"

"I still have my clothes and some other things to pack,"

"Not yours anymore, you came in with just your wedding gown, so your clothes will be worn by my dogs,"

"Do whatever you like, I'm sure you will regret this, I hate you," I yelled

They walked out.

The tears I had fought for began to fall.

“I need to get out of here,” I muttered.

I changed into my clothes and went downstairs. I was glad I wasn't noticed by any workers at the hospital.

I boarded a taxi and stopped at the front door of my father's house.

It's been three years since I left this house.

There was noise in the house; my heart skipped as I realised I was returning to this house. I left eagerly; peace wasn't here for me. I didn't know why I returned to this place again.

She is a bastard; how can I pay a $100 million fine to Alaric for being a bastard?

“I told you not to allow her to marry Alaric, but you didn't listen to me.”

"You told me not to, then would you allow Stellar to marry that jerk instead of her, or have you forgotten that the purpose of their marriage was for business transactions?”

“Let's assume we lost.”

“I won't assume that; I will kill her together with the baby she is carrying. I know she had no place to return than this place; she would be locked in one of the empty rooms in the basement, I'm tired of having illegitimate blood in my family.”

“How about the $100 million?”

That is not going to happen; I will sue Alaric for kidnapping after I finish Jane, so it is going to be an unsolvable case. Since Jane would be out of the picture,”

“Just be careful; you should have ended her when her mother died; a situation like this wouldn't have come up.”

“Grandpa protected her; if not for his demise, no one would have known I have an illegitimate child.”

I sat down weakly on the floor; my heart was clenching in pain, and many thoughts were running through my mind. How could my family try to kill me?

What have I done to deserve this?

I was glad I knew about this earlier; I couldn't believe they would poison me with a child in my stomach. How wicked they are.

I rubbed my still-flat stomach this time around, trying to communicate with my baby.

‘You are the only one Mummy has now; please bear with me and hang in there; I will protect you with my last breath.’ At least I have a reason to stay strong now.

I walked dejectedly out of my father's house and booked another ride to a nearby hotel as the night was drawing near.

The room allocated to me was not looking bad for the amount I paid; it had everything to make my stay there comfortable. I made quick plans for the next few days that I will be spending here, but most importantly, I have to pull a call across to my best friend.

“Hello, how have you been?’’ the voice of Celine came from the other end of the phone.

I paused, sometimes pondering whether to tell her or not.

“Not too bad; how is work?” I answered, trying to sound cheerful.

“What is wrong with you? Your voice is not energetic. And to answer your question, the hospital has been good but stressful,” Celine said cheerfully.

I didn't want to hide anything from her, so I recounted everything that happened from the last two months until now.

“So you got pregnant by an unknown man? What do you plan to do with it?” she inquired.

“What else? Give birth to it. I can't cut it short.”

“Have you tried searching for the man that got you pregnant?”.

“Truth be told, I never wanted to do anything with an escort that got me pregnant. How could a man sleep with a random lady and take advantage of her vulnerable state?”

“I don't want my child to have anything to do with that kind of person, an escort,” I said with a heavy heart.

“It's okay, but we have to look for him.”

“I will look for him and teach him a great lesson,” I muttered in defiance.

“You know what? Let's meet up for a coffee tomorrow; we have to discuss,” she said from the other end of the phone. After that, we discussed other things and ended the call.

I woke up energetically the next morning, did a little workout, and then prepared for my appointment with my best friend.

The first thing on my agenda was to branch over to the hotel where I was taken advantage of to retrieve the CCTV footage. Maybe I will be able to find a hint as to who the escort made out with me.