小姑は私に胎児を入れ替える呪いをかけた

Fiona's pov

I had rehearsed in my head how I was going to surprise Phillip, when I walked in smiling to tell him that I had secured the deal and the finance company had agreed to invest millions into his company. 

 With my handbag clutched in one hand and my laptop tucked under my arm, my heart was so full that it almost hurt. I thought that afternoon would be one of the happiest days of our marriage.

Instead, I saw my husband’s bare back and Amanda’s hair spread across my pillow. He held her in place while his sweaty back humped forward and backwards against her outspread legs. 

For a second my brain refused to process it. I just stood there, staring, as if I blinked they would disappear.

The sheets were twisted around their legs on the bed that I had chosen in the store, the same one I had paid for when Phillip said cash flow was tight and he needed to reinvest. 

My chest tightened so violently I thought I might faint. I couldn’t scream, I just felt something inside me collapse. Phillip turned around first. 

When his eyes met mine, they widened with irritation, as I had walked into a meeting he was busy with. Amanda followed his gaze, and when she saw me, her face drained of color. She grabbed the sheet quickly to cover herself, but it was too late; the image was burned into my mind forever.

"Why didn't you knock before you entered?" Phillip’s gaze was harsh as he stared at me. 

I could still feel the thrill of the deal humming in my veins. Five million dollars. I had fought for that money like it was my own company. The men in that boardroom had doubted Phillip’s projections, they questioned his leadership, they asked what collateral he had to offer and I offered my reputation, my network, and my credibility.

I told them Phillip was brilliant, that was a blunt lie. I told them that he only needed backing, that I stood by him completely. I remember smiling and shaking hands with them before I signed the papers, already imagining his face when I told him we were saved.

“And why are you home this early,” he said, as if that was the real problem. The utter nerve he had. 

Those words sliced deeper than if he had insulted me. I felt my throat close up and I swallowed hard because I refused to cry in front of them. I stepped fully into the room, placed my bag carefully on the dresser like I needed something solid to hold onto, and I looked at them both. Amanda couldn’t even meet my eyes. Phillip didn’t look ashamed of what he had done, instead, he looked...cornered, and defensive, like he was already preparing an argument.

“How long?” I asked, my voice sounding fragile in my ears, that voice didn’t sound like the woman who had just commanded a room full of executives.

“It’s not what you think,” Amanda whispered, but her voice trembled and I almost laughed because what else could it possibly be?

I felt heat rise in my neck, humiliation flooding me so fast it made my fingers tingle. I thought about every warning I ignored. My mother said Phillip liked comfort too much. My friends say he never looked at me the way I looked at him. I defended him every time. I told them love was patient, love was sacrifice, love was choosing someone even when they were flawed. I chose him over and over again. I chose him when he forgot my birthday. I chose him when he missed dinners with my family. I chose him when he said I worked too much but he still happily spent the money I earned.

“I just secured the investment,” I heard myself say, and I don’t know why that was what came out first. Maybe because I wanted him to understand what he had just thrown away. “Five million, Phillip. They’re wiring the first tranche next week.”

His eyes sharpened at that, but I knew it was not a reaction to my pain, it was at the money.

In that moment something inside me finally woke up. A cold clarity spread through me, cutting through the shock. I saw him clearly for the first time, the man standing naked in front of me without remorse.

“I want a divorce,” I said, and this time my voice didn’t shake. “And I’m taking everything back. I'm taking back all the shares, all the assets, and every connection I brought you.”

Amanda gasped softly but Phillip’s expression darkened. He stepped toward me and for a second I thought he might apologize, that maybe he would fall to his knees and beg, but instead his face hardened into something I didn’t recognize.

“You wouldn’t dare,” he said quietly.

I looked at him and realized he truly believed I wouldn’t. That he thought my love was a leash he could yank forever.

“I will,” I replied to him. 

His face twisted into a wicked smile. Before I knew what was happening, he pushed me backward onto the bed. 

I struggled to get up, that was when I saw him holding up a pillow in my face. My confusion turned to terror. 

"Wha...what do you think you're doing?!" My heart drained into my stomach as his smile grew wider. 

"What does it look like?"

The pillow came down over my face and at first I thought this can’t be real, this is my husband, he loves me, he won’t hurt me. 

"Phillip!!" The pillow drowned out my voice but I kept on screaming as though I could wake him up from whatever madness had suddenly possessed him. I could hear Amanda crying, begging him to stop. 

He didn’t. Instead, he put in more pressure. My lungs burned, and I thrashed beneath him, clawing at his arms, feeling his weight pinning me down.

My brain was screaming for air, my body was slowly giving in. 

The last thing I felt was betrayal before everything went quiet.

There was no pain after that. Just a white, endless light stretching in every direction. I felt weightless, like I was floating in warm water. For a moment there was peace, a strange detachment from everything that had just happened. I wondered if this was death, if this was all there was. 

Then I heard a sound. A familiar vibration, it was from my phone.

The light fractured and I gasped, sucking in air like someone breaking the surface after drowning. My heart was pounding violently in my chest. I grabbed at my face, my throat, my body, expecting bruises, or pain, but there was nothing.

My phone buzzed again.

A message from the finance company’s assistant: “The meeting starts in five minutes. Boardroom B.”

I stared at the screen, my mind scrambling to catch up. The meeting was already over and the deal had been secured. 

"What is happening?" I asked no one in particular. That was when my eyes caught the time and date on my phone. It was the second day in October, the same day that had been scheduled by me to meet with the finance company on behalf of Philip. 

The time read a few minutes past twelve. A slow, trembling breath left my lips as realization settled over me like a cloak. I wasn’t dead. Or maybe I had been. But somehow, impossibly, I was back. Back to the moment before I handed Phillip everything.

I stood up slowly and walked to the mirror. My reflection stared back at me. 

"If this is what I think has happened, then..."

"Get ready, Phillip. You don’t know what's going to hit you next. And what's coming is going to hit you hard." I smiled to myself as I got ready to attend the meeting.