CHAPTER ONE: SACRIFICE

Heaven’s POV.

        “Did you see how ugly and thin she looked?”

        “She was always such a bitch. I always knew Damien would get bored of the poor slut.”

        The two young women laughed and gossiped, their voices echoing off the tiled walls, while I sat quietly on the toilet cubicle trying to fight off tears. While I knew the socialites never liked me, I’d never heard the mean things they said about me. They were too fake to say it to my face.

        I’m not a bitch. Or a slut.

        But I am stupid.

 If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have let my blind love for Damien turn me into a joke.

        This was my first public appearance after my marriage, and it wasn’t hard to guess what everyone was thinking or apparently…saying.

        “Damien didn’t even bother to come with her.”

        “Even after three years, she couldn’t manage to get pregnant.”

        “I knew Damien would toss that poor bitch out once he got tired of her.”

        Three years ago, Damien and I were forced to honor an arranged marriage signed by our grandfathers.

        I was an nothing but an average poor girl. I barely made ends meet and could hardly afford to pay my school fees. Then, my life changed overnight.

        Damien was the most handsome man I’d ever met. He was so loving and attentive. I’d fallen head over heels for him, so I’d given him…everything.

        My heart, my body, even a part of my soul completely belonged to him.

        I thought he’d felt the same. I thought he loved me. But he’d only used me.

        He knew if he didn’t marry me, his grandmother would refuse to hand over their family company. So, he fooled everyone— even me, that he loved me. What a lie.

        The moment the company was signed over to him, Damien never touched me again. Never smiled at me. Everything he promised and said, meant nothing to him. But because he meant everything to me, I stayed.

        In our three years of marriage, Damien hardly came home and even when he did, he acted like I didn’t even exist. For three years, all I could do was cry alone as my marriage shattered to pieces.

 That was until two months ago when Damien came home wrecked. I’d never seen him so drunk.

        I should have fought him off but that was the first time he’d tried any intimacy since we got married. I knew he’d been with other women, I knew he didn’t really care about me, but I let him use me.

        Because I loved him.

He didn’t read my messages or answer my calls. He didn’t even allow me into his office when I visited him at work.

        But I had to come out tonight. I had to tell him because it would soon start to become obvious that I was pregnant. And I desperately wanted it to be special.

I wanted this baby to mean something to him.

        A part of me still hoped no— prayed that this would make him see me. That we could actually build a family together.

        I couldn’t be any more pathetic.

       I stood up and left the restroom, making sure not to make eye contact with the mirror or accidently glance at my ugly pale face. I knew I looked horrible.

      My morning sickness was getting worse. I couldn’t eat anything without throwing up so I’d lost a lot of weight. So much that I look like I’ve been starved.

      The sneers and disgusted glances from people as I walked to my table proved that they were also repelled by my looks. Or maybe it was my presence that irked them.

        I took my seat on the table I was placed on. At the very far end of the event. I grabbed my phone out of my purse and just stared at it, hoping I wouldn’t seem more pathetic than I already looked.

        A moment later, a familiar voice reached my ears, and I turned to see my husband mount the podium, arms interlocked with a beautiful blonde lady.

         I could feel my heart tremble at the sight. I knew who she was. How could I not?

        I’d only discovered my husband’s relationship with Lilian Croft after our marriage. It was the first time I realized how worthless I really was to him. Apparently, Damien and Lilian were childhood lovers.

        They’d fallen inlove and were expected to get married. However, Sebastian Croft, Lilian’s father, had betrayed Damien’s father which led to their engagement being dissolved and Damien eventually being forced to marry me.

        Lilian had moved to France shortly after to further her studies, so I thought I didn’t have to worry about her.

Until a year ago when I discovered through the tabloids that she’d returned, and that my husband had gone to personally pick her up from the airport.

I couldn’t say anything. Damien wouldn’t listen to me, anyway. I just hoped he’d one day see me waiting for him.

But looking now at the warmth in his smile as he looked at Lilian. I knew that I was only kidding myself.

He loved her, he never stopped loving her. And nothing would change that. Not me and not my baby. It felt like nothing remained of my heart. It’d been shattered to pieces.

I could suddenly feel everyone’s eyes on me, full of mockery. Trying to blink away the tears that filled my eyes, I stood up sharply and turned to leave but I hadn’t seen the waiter that headed my way with a tray full of glasses of wine.

I knocked into him, and the tray came crashing all over me, spilling wine all over my dress. Everyone was staring. Including Damien and Lilian.

I tried to cover myself as best as I could, knowing my dress was relatively see-through. No one made any attempt to help me, some grinned and others snared at me in disgust.

A shadow loomed over me, and I looked up to see the man I had come here for. Damien looked down on me with the most irritated expression he’d ever worn. He looked so disgusted that I felt one tear trinkle down my cheek.

“Get up,” he hissed angrily. I gulped and slowly stood, my head bowed.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to speak to you. I didn’t mean to—”

“Shut the fuck up, Heaven,” he yelled. It was loud enough for the others to hear, and I knew that I wouldn’t leave this room until all my dignity had been stripped.

“I’m sorry,” I could only whisper as more tears flowed out.

“Stop crying. I didn’t ask you to come here. You chose to do so to embarrass me and now you’re crying?” he raged. “You know what, Heaven? This isn’t working for either of us. I’ve had the papers drafted for a while and I think it’s time we end this officially.”

Papers? He wants to divorce me?

Hearing him say that wrecked all that was left in me. Suddenly, my mind was flooded with memories of us. Me smiling at Damien at our first meeting. My joyous face on our wedding. I was always happy but he…

 He never smiled, never cared. He never even tried to love me.

‘Stop crying, Heaven.’

Quickly wiping away my tears, I looked at the man I’d given myself to. I loved Damien with every single breath in my body. I would do anything for him. And if leaving me to be with her would make him happy, I’d do that too for him.

Before I could say anything, a gunshot loudly through the room. In a second, everything became chaos. Everyone ran, trying to save themselves.

I could only watch as the masked man made his way into the room, his gun by his side. I could see Damien instantly become frantic, looking everywhere for Lilian, but it was obvious that she had run away and left him. I should leave too.

I turned to leave, but my body froze at war with my heart. I looked back at Damien who scrambled his way through the crowd, searching each and every face for the woman he loved.

Unable to stop myself, I ran to him. The crowd pushed me back so I could only cover my belly with my arm to shield my baby.

“Damien! Damien!” I yelled.

By now, I was close enough to see the masked man pull out his gun to Damien’s back while he still searched for Lilian. He would shoot him. He would kill Damien.

I didn’t think about anything. I couldn’t.

Damien was more important than anything.

I don’t know how fast I ran but the moment the man pulled the trigger, I was behind Damien arms outstretched to shield him.

I watched Damien stiffen then turn. I felt as my body collapsed on the floor. I could feel the bullet in my shoulder, so close to my heart. He could have shot me there; it was dead already.

I couldn’t feel the pain, didn’t feel my blood gush out as I died slowly. I could only see him. Damien held me so tightly. His face was a mixture of desperation and regret.

Was I smiling? Maybe I was because I’d never felt so happy.

He was speaking to me, his mouth moved as he tried to reassure me. He didn’t need to. I was happy because he was here. Because…he cared enough to hold me.

I was suddenly so tired, my vision slowly darkened. Is this the end? Will I never get to see my baby? Never get to watch my little boy grow?

I placed my palm on my belly as a tear fell from my eyes.

I hoped Damien would remember me. Even if he married Lilian, even if he gave her all the love I’d begged him for, he should simply…remember me.

I placed my palm on his cheek. I couldn’t see anything, but from memory, I traced his sculpted jaw. I caressed his eyes, his nose, his perfect mouth. It was getting so hard to breathe.

“Please, don’t…forget…me,” I whispered before allowing sleep to take me. Damien was safe and that was all it took to give me peace no matter how much I wanted to hate him.