Chapter 1 Three Years of Contempt

The night was cold, as cold as the ice that had settled in Olivia's heart for a long time. The dim lights of the living room barely illuminated the tension in the air as she moved gracefully through the room, carrying with her the invisible weight of her tough marriage.

He, Harrison, the man Olivia had sacrificed so much for, watched her from a distance. However, it was not admiration that shone in his eyes, but subtle contempt that lurked in the shadows. Every word he uttered was a sharp cut, every gesture a cruel reminder of his indifference.

"Olivia, can't you do anything right?" His voice cut through the air like a whip, as she tried to hold the tray with trembling hands.

Olivia was silent, her eyes downcast, hiding the pain that pierced her soul. In her heart, she knew something was broken, but she still held on to the hope that he would love her one day. However, that hope faded with each snub.

Harrison, on the other hand, couldn't take his eyes off the dapper lady gliding across the dance floor. Olivia's eyes noticed his averted attention, and her heart sank at the sight of the glint of desire in his gaze, a desire that didn't belong to her.

"Olivia, you're just a nuisance. You should learn some elegance from women like her," Harrison muttered with veiled contempt, pointing to the woman who captivated his attention.

"But my love, I can be elegant like her, be as resplendent as those women, only if you—" Olivia hesitated, her words faltering like a candle in a storm.

"What about me, Olivia?" Harrison smiled mockingly, his eyes showing no trace of empathy.

"If you were a little more compassionate with me, you delegated all the functions of the mansion to me, I'm the one who cooks, I wash, I don't look like your wife, I look like your maid," Olivia blurted out the words with the strength of someone who had been keeping a secret for a long time.

Olivia's confession hung in the air, and Harrison looked at it with a coldness that chilled even the tears that threatened to wells up in Olivia's eyes.

Harrison's contemptuous laugh cut through the air like a sharp knife. "Compassionate?" Do you expect me to feel compassion for a woman as insignificant as you?

Olivia felt her last hopes fade. The elegance he longed so much to achieve, the brilliance he wanted to possess seemed distant and unattainable.

The moment slipped into tragedy as Harrison, with a defiant look, left Olivia in the middle of the room and headed toward the enigmatic woman who had captured his attention. The dance began, and Olivia's heart was torn apart with every twist and every laugh shared.

Three years had passed since Olivia had joined her life with Harrison's, three long years in which he did nothing but wound her heart with abuse and insults. To Harrison, Olivia was nothing more than a bland presence, a woman who came out of nowhere and was only attractive for the first few months. Over time, she became, in his eyes, a nuisance.

The next day...

"Olivia! Where's my breakfast? Harrison shouted, the brusqueness echoing throughout the house

"As always, Harrison. Olivia doesn't understand that you have to leave for work early. I don't know at what point you decided to marry that woman, who doesn't even have a last name. She's a peasant," grumbled Harrison's mother, Emma

"Mom, I know it was a big mistake, but our family name will no longer be tainted with this woman's dishonorable name. Soon, everything will be ready for him to leave our house," Harrison declared coldly.

Emma smiled contentedly and stared at her son.

"But you have to get a maid to help us with the housework." If she leaves, I'm not going to put my hands in the kitchen.

"Mom, now we can't afford a maid. Our business is in recession," Harrison explained dismissively.

The atmosphere in the mansion was dense, charged with the toxicity of broken relationships. Olivia, meanwhile, continued to bear the burden of a crumbling marriage.

However, at that moment, the only thing occupying Olivia's mind was her husband's closeness. She was so deeply in love with this man that she had given up everything that ever belonged to her. Despite being labeled a simple peasant, Olivia jealously guarded a secret of considerable proportions, one she never revealed. Her constant search had been true love, longing for someone to love her for her essence and not for her possessions.

That's how he decided to give himself completely to Harrison Martens, a successful agricultural entrepreneur recognized throughout the country. However, at the time, both he and his family were going through the worst of bankruptcies. Despite financial difficulties, they persisted in keeping up appearances to society, displaying luxuries and eccentricities they no longer possessed, but, above all, clinging to the renown they had built over the years.

 Amid the glittering façade, Olivia hid her identity and her sacrifices, confident that one day she would find true reciprocity in the love she so craved.

Remembering the heartbreaking words her husband had spoken to her on the night of the corporate dance, Olivia decided to prepare a surprise for him. That afternoon, she completely transformed her appearance: she let go of her hair and put on makeup on her face, an art she was not an expert in due to her simple life. She donned an elegant dress, though not too modern or flashy, making sure that her reflection in the mirror exuded beauty. Her hope burned with winning back her husband's heart.

She arranged a few dollars she had saved, intending to invite him to dinner at a fancy restaurant, and headed straight to Harrison's company. He entered unannounced. However, all eyes were on her, not precisely because of her beauty, but because of the murmurings and mocking laughter, everyone laughed at her appearance.

Although an emptiness ran through her body as she felt the criticism, Olivia moved determinedly toward her husband's office. She was about to knock on the door when noises from inside caught her attention. Intrigued, she stopped, her hand suspended in the air, indecisive between the door and the mysterious sound emanating from the office.

And at that very moment, Olivia's heart broke into a thousand pieces when she discovered that the noises were moans, the harsh reality of her husband's betrayal. Without a second thought and laden with grief, she slammed the door open, only to find the most heartbreaking scene she could have ever imagined: her husband was cheating on her in his own office with another woman.

When the woman noticed Olivia's presence, Harrison covered her and confronted his wife disdainfully, scanning her in a gesture of reproach and mockery.

"What are you doing here?" And dressed that way? The woman next to Harrison openly mocked Olivia.

"What's going on here?" Olivia asked, her voice breaking. When he recognized the woman, she was the same one he had met at the dance.

"What you're seeing, my dear. There's another woman in my life who looks nothing like you, so please get out of my office," Harrison replied coldly.

"But, Harrison! How are you doing this to me? What did I do to deserve it?

"To be a simple woman, who has nothing that catches my attention. Look at you, how you're dressed and made up, you look like you've come out of a circus," the man snapped in rage.

Humiliation and betrayal were intertwined in Olivia's broken heart as she struggled to hold back tears. The promised surprise had turned into a nightmare she couldn't wake up from, and the reality of her marriage was crumbling before her eyes.

Olivia ran out of the company, while the tears kept running down her flushed cheeks, the pain was immense, the helplessness was even more so, she loved him, she loved him with such intensity that it was an understatement.

She arrived at the mansion waiting for an explanation from her husband, she kept hoping that he would react to her discovery, and decide to continue with her, it was what she longed for most.

Harrison decided to resolve that situation sooner than expected, that night he arrived with a white envelope, inside which were some daring divorce papers.

"Harrison, you've come home early," Olivia said, hoping he was sorry.

The man threw the white envelope at her chest, straight to her chest, she barely managed to catch it with her hands.

"What's this, honey?"

"Are you blind?" Harrison replied wryly, "Sign it and get out of my house!"

"What?" No Harrison, please, my love, don't do this to me, I'll do what you ask, but please don't leave me

"To stay with you, you'd have to be born again, now go Olivia, I don't want you another minute in my mansion."

Harrison began to take all her things out of the closets and throw them on the floor, Olivia with tears torn, picked up one by one, inconsolably she wanted to beg him more, but her husband dragged her on the floor, before the mocking gaze of her family, everyone humiliated poor Olivia at that moment, who felt how her soul was torn apart mercilessly,  and without a shred of compassion.

"No, Harrison! Please! Olivia begged on her knees in front of the door of the mansion that was slammed in her face.

But no one opened the door, they turned off the lights and left her out there, completely heartbroken.