บุพเพสันนิวาสแห่งนครพิงค์

'A divorce letter lies within this document. Do well to sign it.'

Grace read the sentence over and over with shaky hands, and even if she wanted to welcome the presumption that this was some prank and this letter was not really sent to her by her husband, she knew she would be lying to herself. Throughout her 23 years of living, she had not met a man who was more formal in every single thing, than her husband—Vincent Powers.

So, she continued to read the letter, whilst also trying to control the rapid beating of her heart.

'You will be settled handsomely for the years wasted. Fifty million dollars and a villa in any American state you choose. Your cars belong to you, as well. All three of them. Remit the letter back to James as soon as you are done with the signing. In conclusion, you have seven days to vacate this premises.'

Grace's jaw dropped as soon as she read the last line.

"What?" She whispered to herself, still drenched in disbelief. She lifted herself off the bed eventually and made her way to the door, stopping in her tracks as soon as her hand touched the door handle.

Sighing, Grace ran back to the bed and flung herself onto it. Damn it! She always had to build up courage to confront the man. Could she really be blamed though? Many have called him one of the most intimidating men in the city.

He was as clean as they came, not into drugs or any funny business, but he had the command of a Don.

After the night that he had come into her room to finally get a taste of her… she thought she finally meant something to him. She realized now that she was utterly wrong.

Soon enough, she grew some balls and finally walked past her door. Even the slamming of the door behind her made her jump. She took a deep breath and began to head straight to Vincent's chambers.

She knocked on his door. Once, twice. Before she knew it, she'd knocked a total of six times. On the sixth knock, the door pulled open with a force that caused her to fall inside the room, shrieking at the sudden action.

Grace caught herself quickly though and moved back, swallowing when she saw the pissed look on Vincent's usually non-expressive face.

"I…" She raised the letter in his line of vision, with her lips bent in a awkward smile, "I got your letter…"

"Is it that you did not read the content, then? Or did you just choose to act dumb?" Vincent questioned, his jaw flexing as he spoke. The woman drove him mad, in his defense.

"The latter… I guess? You said you want a divorce. The contract… your dad said it would last forever, remember?" Grace explained. He scoffed.

"My father is dead. I own his lawyers now and I can wield the contract however I want it. Do you understand?" He spoke calmly—he always spoke calmly.

"I don't want it. I want to stay here, it's the only home I know, and you know it. Simon is here, mother is here—"

"Unfortunately you are not married to my brother, Simon, and he does not have a say whether or not you leave my house. My mother does not give two fucks about you, but I assume you already know it, you just love to fool yourself. Seven days, Grace. After seven days, you will be thrown out." He moved closer to her and made sure she heard the last word loud and clear, "Empty-handed."

After that, he moved back and slammed the door in Grace's face. The sound of the lock told her that the discussion was indeed over, so she swallowed back her tears and swirled around, taking dejected steps back to her room.

Grace was taken out of the streets at a young age and promised a family for the rest of her life. It was all she wanted; a family and children to call her own—so she could give them a better life than she had endured.

Mr Trent Powers, Vincent's father, wanted her innocence, poise and intelligence in return. She was the perfect trophy wife for Vincent. He had a thing against already made women or trust fund women, after what his ex-wife had did to him, almost ripping him of all he owned.

He needed someone he could trust to be on Vincent's side, someone he nurtured, which was were Grace came into play.

Now that he was gone, her fantasy was now over. She was about to all alone over again.

"Hey Gee!" She heard Simon's familiar voice as she turned the door knob to her room. She thought of confiding in him about this, but she knew it would go little to nothing.

Vincent was a man of his words, and from his encounter, his mind was already made up.

She turned the knob and pushed the door open, ready to go inside.

"Grace?" Simon called out again, now standing beside her.

She finally turned to face him, "Two questions."

He watched her intently, then nodded. "Shoot."

"Would you miss me?"

He chuckled, it sounded awkward at most. "Where are you going to?"

"Please, just answer the question, Simon." Grace prodded and after another long look, he answered,

"If you go off somewhere for a while, of course, I'll miss you. Does my bro approve, though?"

"Question two. Do you think it was foolish of me to fall in love with him?" She finally let the words roll down her tongue and the panicky look on Simon's face was enough to tell her all she needed to know.

Before she could react though, Vincent's rich alto resounded from behind them, "It was more than foolish to fall in love with me. I feel insulted that you would think a man of my status would settle for a woman like you. Grace, do yourself a favor and end the drama. Seven days, and I never want to see your face again."

"Vincent!" Simon exclaimed, but it was too late for that.

Grace's heart shattered in a thousand pieces as she watched Vincent stalk off, leaving her alone with Simon again. This was too much, she decided.

Moisture had already began to gather in her eyes which caused her to abruptly turn around again and start to rush back inside. Simon reached out and grabbed her arm, spinning her around so she was facing him, his hands clutching her both arms firmly.

The tears started rolling down her cheeks now, "I was stupid to think that he loves me now. That after all these years, he finally learned to love me, just like I learned to love him. I should have never. I should have focused on being the trophy wife I was contracted to be. I should have… I should have…" The tears rolled even more freely now and Simon kept rubbing her arms up and down as she poured out her mind, then ended up hugging her.

"He wants a divorce?" He asked after a while of letting her cry on his shoulder as he rubbed her back and sniffing, she nodded.

After a good pause, he finally sighed and assured her, "It's going to be fine. I promise."

But it was not going to be. Grace could somehow sense that from this point was where her life would begin to make a turn for the worst.

_____________________

"You need to vacate the room you are staying in, preferably today." Da'ana announced out of the blue, when she met Grace in the kitchen, getting herself a snack. She could have just rang for a maid, but she needed to leave my room sometimes for her sanity.

"What?"

"Huh?"

Simon and Grace exclaimed at once, and Da'ana just rolled her eyes at her younger son, before turning to face Grace.

"I believe my son has handed the divorce paper to you days ago. In case you did not know, he has someone which he genuinely intends to marry. She would be here today or tomorrow, I forgot to let you know of it earlier. Anyway, hurry up. If you're not done by the time she is here, your remaining belongings would be thrown out of the room for you to arrange into your new room. Clear enough?" She did not wait for a response before leaving the kitchen.

Grace was stunned, not expecting Vincent to have a replacement for her so soon. Had he been planning this all along? This mystery woman was definitely the reason why he had not touched her until recently, when he took her virginity on one drunk night. She thought of so many things, and it all came down to the fact that Vincent did not love her.

He never did, never would.

Simon chuckled, trying to lighten up the mood, "I'm sure Vincent has not even met this woman before. You know how my mother can be. She sets him up with different women, hoping that he would ditch you for—"

Grace looked up at Simon with a defeated look which caused him to stop mid sentence, "You do not need to defend him from me, Simon. I'm a big girl, I can handle a little rejection." Forcing a smile, she left the kitchen with her snack and moved to the hallway so she could go up to her room.

She met the butler talking to one of the most elegant women she had met in her life, with fiery red hair and a tall, well-structured physique. She had a smile on her face, which brightened when she saw Grace.

Giving her a quick once over, she quickly ran to throw her arms around her, "Hey girl! You must be Grace! I'm Whitney."

Grace pulled away from her, saying nothing, because she had no idea how to handle this.

Whitney laughed, "I know, Vincent can be a little picky. Heard your time is up, and it's my turn to shine now. Have you packed your stuff? When would you be leaving?"

Grace finally opened her mouth to answer, but before a word could get past her lips, a strange feeling of nausea overwhelmed her, and it seemed like the content of her stomach was rising up to her throat again. Her pie dropped out of her hands without warning.

Clutching her mouth with both hands, she spun around and lunged towards the nearest restroom, very much aware of the loud laughter that followed her as she ran.