Mark was everything to Alexa, and when he lost his job and mobility, she never left his side. She loved him, fought for him, and kept him from drowning in despair. Then, a powerful conglomerate gave Mark a second chance—paying for his surgery and making him rich. And just like that, he discarded the one person who had stood by him. "I'm saying we should get a divorce. I don't feel the connection anymore." Left with nothing, Alexa refused to break. She rose higher than ever, building an empire of her own. Now, Mark watches in regret, desperate to have her back. But will she ever let him in again?
view moreALEXA
The phone screen burned into my eyes, the moans filling the quiet room like a sick joke.
“Oh yes, harder, Mark, please fuck me harder!”
My stomach twisted as I watched my husband thrust into another woman, her voice shamelessly calling out his name. The same name I had whispered in the dark when he was unconscious in that hospital bed, clinging to life. The name I had prayed over when I fought to bring him back.
And this was my reward? This betrayal—on the night of our fifth anniversary? On my birthday?
My fingers trembled as I gripped the phone tighter. A notification popped up, a fresh slap to my face.
"Do you like the birthday gift I sent you, dear sis?"
I didn’t need to check the sender. I could already see Ivy’s smug face in my mind, could hear the gloating in her voice.
"See? Just a flick of my finger and he comes running back. Don’t think your pathetic care ever mattered. To Mark, you’re just a poor nanny."
A poor nanny. A mocking smile curled my lips. That was what he called the five years I had spent by his side? The sleepless nights, the endless days nursing him back to health? I never expected love—our marriage had been sudden, born out of obligation rather than affection. But respect? I thought, at the very least, I had earned that.
How foolish of me.
Another message came through.
"Wait and see, he’ll divorce you soon and put his heir in my belly. If it weren’t for you, we would have had our happiness five years ago."
My blood ran cold. How dare she?
Five years ago, Mark had been on his way to their engagement party when tragedy struck. The accident left him in a coma, hanging on by a thread. And Ivy—his so-called love—didn’t even hesitate. She fled the country that very night.
She abandoned him.
But when Mark miraculously woke up a few months ago, she slithered back into his life, rewriting history as if she had never run away. And now, she dared to blame me?
I dialed her number, fury shaking my hands. The call went straight to voicemail. Coward. I switched to Mark’s number, only to realize—I didn’t even have it saved.
The bitter truth settled deep in my bones.
I was never really his wife, was I? Just a replacement. A convenient stand-in to keep the Ronaldo family’s honor intact. My father had begged me to take Ivy’s place, desperate to secure our family’s standing. And I—starved for his approval, for a shred of belonging—had agreed. I told myself it was for Mark, that I pitied him. But the truth was simpler.
I loved him.
I had loved him since childhood, long before Ivy ever entered the picture. And when I put that ring on my finger, a tiny, foolish part of me had hoped.
But hope had no place in this marriage.
Mark’s first words to me when he woke up had been ice-cold:
"Don’t expect love from me. You know who has my heart. You’ll only ever be my wife on paper."
I should have walked away then. But I stayed. And now, as I stared at the video of him with another woman, as I read my stepsister’s taunts, I realized—
This was my final humiliation.
I shut off the phone. My gaze landed on the birthday cake I had carefully prepared, the candles still unlit. Slowly, I struck a match, watching the flames flicker to life.
I whispered to the empty room, “Happy birthday, Alexa. And happy every day from now on.”
The candlelight danced before me, the wax melting away—just like the years I had wasted.
I took a breath and blew out the candle.
A door creaked open behind me.
I didn’t turn. I knew who it was.
The air shifted as Mark stepped inside, flicking on the lights. His presence swallowed the room, commanding as ever. He glanced around, his eyes landing on the untouched food on the table. Then he looked at me.
I waited for him to say something—anything. But he didn’t. His silence, the cold indifference in his blue eyes, said enough.
Then he turned, heading for the stairs.
Something inside me snapped.
Before I knew it, I was on my feet, my chair scraping loudly against the floor. “Aren’t you going to say anything to me?”
He stopped mid-step, his shoulders stiffening for the briefest moment before he turned to face me. His expression was unreadable, but the mild irritation in his eyes was unmistakable, as if I had interrupted something far more important than acknowledging the woman he had vowed to spend his life with.
“What’s there to say to you?” His voice was cold, devoid of even the smallest trace of warmth or guilt.
I swallowed, my fingers curling into fists at my sides. My nails bit into my palms, but the pain was nothing compared to the ache swelling in my chest.
“It’s our anniversary,” I said, my voice quieter than I intended. I forced myself to hold his gaze, even though the indifference in his eyes made my stomach churn. “And my birthday.”
Mark’s gaze flicked lazily to the dining table, where the untouched food sat growing cold. Then his eyes met mine again, just as empty as before.
“So?”
The single word cut through me like a blade, slicing away the last shred of hope I didn’t even realize I had been clinging to.
So?
That was all he had to say? Not a hint of acknowledgment, not even a pretense of care. Just a dismissive, thoughtless response, as if the significance of this day meant absolutely nothing to him.
A lump formed in my throat, my chest tightening with something I could no longer suppress. Pain. Anger. Humiliation. It all swirled together, suffocating me. But I refused to let it show.
I forced my shoulders back, my chin lifting slightly. If he wanted to pretend that I was nothing, then I would pretend that his words didn’t just shatter something inside me.
I had given him everything. And to him, I was still nothing.
Mark barely noticed my turmoil. He simply turned away. “I don’t have time for this.”
He started up the stairs.
“Wait,” I called out, my voice steady now.
He paused, his impatience clear.
“It seems I won’t be receiving a birthday present from you today.” I smiled, but it was bitter, hollow.
Mark frowned. He hated that look on my face—the look that said I had suffered for him. As if it wasn’t my choice to stay. As if I hadn’t benefited from this arrangement. He had given me the Ronaldo name, unlimited wealth. Wasn’t that enough?
I took a step forward. “Then how about I give you a gift instead?”
“Don’t bother,” he sighed. He was done with this conversation. Done with me.
But I wasn’t done.
“Listen, Mark Ronaldo.”
This time, my voice didn’t waver.
“It’s my anniversary present to you. Let’s divorce.”
ALEXAThe packing truck I hired to move my things from Noelle’s apartment to my new apartment arrived at the same time that Gina did.“Good morning, Miss Alexa,” she greeted warmly.“You called me Alexa before, and I think I want it to remain that way,” I told her with a smile.I wasn’t one to make friends easily, which was why Noelle stayed as my only friend all these years, but something about Gina just made me feel warm around her. She was younger, but it didn’t matter to me.“Alright, Alexa,” she accepted, making me feel more at ease.“And I am sorry about my friend, Noelle, yesterday. She probably mistook you for someone else and she can be a bit pushy when she thinks she is right,” I told her lightly.“It’s okay,” Gina said.“No, it’s not. I need to apologize for it because I noticed that it made you uncomfortable,” I told her.“Alright then, apology accepted. Can I help you arrange your things now?” Gina said.She was always so free-spirited and eager to help, and even though s
IVY“Am I that easily recognizable?” Donald Shell asked with a tough smile on his lips.“You have been hanging around my stepsister lately,” I grumbled.Donald scoffed. “Just sit down,” he ordered me.I listened to him and sat down, the same time that the detective also took his seat.“Did anyone see you both come in?” Donald asked the detective.“No one,” Detective Kent responded, making Donald relaxed.I didn’t realize that Detective Kent and Donald Shell knew each other, so after recognizing Donald, then settled in the confusion.Then I turned to the detective and asked, “You two know each other?”Donald Shell scoffed again. “I heard that you ask too many dumb questions, and barely five minutes here you are already proving that it is true,” Donald sneered. “Isn’t it obvious?” He asked rhetorically.He was mean and rude, and I wondered what Alexa was doing around him.The Alexa I knew and grew up with was too soft to be with a man like Donald who didn’t know the right way to speak t
IVYAfter the court hearing, I lingered around. I stood in a private place and watched Mark and Vector drive out of the court premises.“I hate you both,” I blurted in a whisper.I really wished that they would both spend the rest of their lives in jail. It upset me that after my attempt to cause a rift between them, it didn’t work.Anyway, I waited for Detective Kent.They took longer than expected inside the courtroom, but I didn’t mind. I wasn’t waiting for him because of our last discussion, but I waited for him because of something else I wanted to ask him.Eventually, they came out.Fortunately, Mark’s new lawyer was the first to come out. Some seconds after he drove out, Detective Kent came out.I hurried to him.“Detective!” I called.When he saw me, he became carefully alert instantly. He looked around to ensure that no one was looking at him before turning to me.“Ivy, I thought you had left,” he said.“Obviously I haven’t,” I responded with a small smile. “I was waiting to
ALEXA“What’s that?” Noelle asked me worriedly.“It’s an email from my dad’s lawyer,” I said.Noelle was trying so hard not to encroach, especially now that I had made it clear that I wanted to start handling things on my own, but I knew that deep down, she wanted to know. Knowing her, she would have grabbed the phone by now, read out the email, and even begun to analyze it and tell me what she felt I should do.“Is there a problem? Is your dad okay?” Noelle asked worriedly and carefully.“I think he is fine,” I stated, but I was still confused about the email.“Is it anything troubling?” Noelle asked.“It’s just something about…it’s not quite clear,” I responded. Then abruptly, I dumped my phone inside my handbag where it had earlier been. “You know what, I don’t want to rack my head over it right now. It might have been a mistake anyway,” I stated.“Your father’s lawyer would mistakenly send you an email?” Noelle asked.She didn’t believe what I just said, and neither did I. I only
ALEXA“Why did you have to get an apartment?” Noelle asked me hours later.At first, she hadn’t pressed the issue, and we went back to working, but she was obviously troubled by the news and she could barely stay still about it.Especially as the clock was gradually ticking by.“I just wanted to live on my own,” I told Noelle.My response didn’t make her feel any better.“This is because of what I did, right?” Noelle asked, almost at the verge of tears. “Gosh, I have unintentionally kicked you out of your apartment,” she added wistfully.I shook my head.“Noelle, please, not everything is about you,” I said.“That’s not true,” Noelle objected. “I pissed you off and you decided to get an apartment to stay away from me,” she added sadly.I refused to feel guilty about making a decision by myself for the very first time. “Indeed, what you did pissed me off greatly, Noelle, but one thing it did was give me clarity,” I tried to explain.“And that clarity led you into realizing that you ne
MARK“My client, Mark Ronaldo, has been unjustly accused of conspiring with Oscar when he was alive, while his friend, Vector, has been accused of murdering Oscar,” Brent started.“Accused?” The attorney asked in a sneer.“Is there an issue with what Brent just said?” The judge asked the attorney.“Yes,” the attorney said.“What is it?” The judge asked.My eyes turned at that moment, and it met with Ivy’s. She definitely wanted me to get nailed for this; I could see it clearly in her eyes.“The person accused here was Mark Ronaldo, not Vector. A witness attested to seeing Mark run out of the apartment, but somehow, Vector jumped in and claimed that he was the one who was seen. The report is here, my lord,” the attorney said.He sounded really smart. I realized that Brent knew exactly what he was saying when he said that the state picked the absolute best to fight against me.And I knew without a doubt that this had all of Donald Shell’s involvement in it.“I know that this is an enclo
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