Chapter 3

LYDIA

It was rather whatever she handed down to me and later saw it to be better, she’d reclaim!

"I just took back the man you stole from me Lydia. That shouldn't be a problem."

She took a step back.

I saw red, lunging across the space to wipe the damned smirk from her face.

"I didn't steal him. It was fucking you who abandoned the wedding!" I screamed.

I was so close to getting her when Adrian caught my arm and pulled me back. 

His grip was firm like steel.

My breath came in ragged gasps as I stared up at him with angry eyes.

"Let go of me!" I yelled.

"That is enough Lydia," he barked with furrowed brows. "We are leaving."

I shook my head.

"No! No we will not! I still have so many things to say to this husband snatcher!" I was mouthing away.

He hissed and began to drag me out of the dining room, towards the front door.

"Leave me be!" I was shouting as I tried to wrench my arm free.

But he held onto me tight.

I leaned down and bit into his arm just as we arrived at the entrance.

He groaned, pushing me away and releasing me so suddenly. 

I stumbled backwards. 

"Fuck you!" He grunted.

"Fuck you too!" 

The retort seemed to have angered him.

"What did you expect, Lydia? You were never supposed to be my wife. That was always meant to be Vanessa."

I closed my eyes.

"Then why on earth didn't you just end everything back then?" 

I opened my eyes to look at him, hating the fact that my voice was shaking.

"Why didn't you just tell them no when they made you stick with me?"

"I tried."

The tears gathered fast at the corner of my eyes, threatening to fall down my cheeks.

"Lydia, the marriage certificate and the contracts had been signed. My grandfather insisted we honor the agreement." 

He turned away from me while running his hand—the one I bit—through his hair. 

"This will all be over," he began, his gaze returning to my face, "in four months."

I swallowed softly.

"Then I'll marry Vanessa."

My heart shattered.

The tears started to fall before I could stop them, my vision blurring rapidly.

"What about me?"

God, I was such a fool… why had I ever thought he’d grow to love me?

My voice was small, like that of a timid mouse.

"I will make sure you get a sizable alimony, one enough to allow you to disappear."

His hands came to rest on my shoulder.

"So Lydia, I am begging you, just be sensible until then. Please."

I hated the desperate look in his eyes.

None of this was my fault.

This situation.

It was all Vanessa's.

"Sensible?" 

I wanted to scream. 

"You want me to be sensible while you parade your pregnant mistress in front of me, gracing magazine front pages?"

He exhaled deeply.

"Lydia, there was never a time that I never promised you love. Yikes, I never even promised you respect."

"You knew what this marriage was from the beginning—just a business facade."

I made to speak but he beat me to it.

"And it's all your fault. It could have been me and Vanessa!"

I flinched slightly, always hating whenever he raised his voice at me.

"We could have had our happy ending if you hadn't meddled and drugged her!"

I shook my head, blinking my tears away.

"It wasn't me. I never drugged anyone!" I started. 

He just glared at me.

I continued, desperate to make him believe me no matter what.

I need him to see I wasn't the liar.

It was his beloved.

Vanessa.

"It really wasn't me. I tried to tell you what happened at the wedding. I tried to explain that I was forced by my…"

"Enough!" 

His voice was flat. 

"I don't care." 

My heart dropped to my duodenum.

"What you did at the wedding is in the past. This stupid marriage is almost over and nothing you say will change that."

He made to open the door… then hesitated.

A spark of hope lit in my chest because I thought he wanted to hear me out.

But he turned away from the door, from me and walked back to the dining room.

The realization that if had always been her sank in as he left me standing there.

I have had to abandon my life to step in for her shame only for her to decide she wanted this life and ruin mine!

Suddenly, a resolve I never had possessed me and I stormed after him.

I couldn't take it anymore.

Adrian had to know everything that happened that day, especially Vanessa's elopement with her lover.

I would expose that black lotus bitch.

But my legs stopped at the top of the stairs, my body freezing as the sound of their laughter drifted to me from the dining room. 

I knew they were celebrating the baby who would replace me completely.

It was enough to break down.

The sobs that raked through my body as I leaned against the war was pure agony.

I couldn't do anything else but cry for what I had never acquired and lost all the same.

Maybe I wasn't worth it.

The sound of footsteps behind me caused me to lift my head and I saw Vanessa.

She was standing at the top of the stairs with a smug expression on her face.

"You look upset," she said sweetly. "You should go home and rest."

"Why are you doing this?" 

My voice was barely a whisper. 

"What did I ever do to you?"

"You existed." 

I held back a fresh batch of tears, my fingers clenching into fists at my side.

"You were always there Lydia. The diamond, always shining just a little too bright for comfort.”

She took a step closer. 

"But don't worry. I will make sure you never have anything good again. You only deserve the crumbs from my table."

Something inside me snapped and I started to reach for her with pure rage.

“Fuck you Nes…”

Her heels snagged on the rug and I watched in horror as her eyes nearly popped out of her head as she instantly stumbled backwards.

I hadn't meant to push so hard. 

I just wanted her away from me. 

I stood frozen as her body hit each of the steps with a sickening sound.

And it wasn't until she landed at the bottom in a crumpled heap that a scream escaped my throat.