Lahat ng Kabanata ng Divorced: Ex-wife Heiress Strikes Back: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

Clarissa’s POVMy chest felt tight as my eyes lingered on the faint smear of lipstick pressed into Bruce’s pillow.“Bruce,” I whispered, struggling to breathe through the lump that had suddenly formed in my throat. “What’s that… on your pillow?”He hesitated for half a second. I saw it—the flicker in his gaze, the subtle shift in his posture. But then, he laughed. A dry, practiced sound.“That?” He rubbed at the pillow like it meant nothing. “That’s yours, babe. Didn’t you kiss me this morning before you left? You must’ve forgotten.”I blinked, trying to sift through the fog in my head. My mind, trapped in the loop of Sophia’s blue lips and tiny cold fingers, couldn’t grasp simple memories. Did I kiss him this morning? Did I? I couldn’t remember.“I… I can’t recall.”Bruce reached for me gently, wiping a tear from my cheek with his thumb. “Clarissa, you’re exhausted. Come here.”I didn’t resist when he pulled me onto the bed beside him. His heartbeat drummed steadily against my ear as

Clarissa’s POVA piercing, searing pain shot through my head as consciousness dragged me awake. I gasped, clutching my temple as the pounding behind my eyes worsened with every passing second. My throat felt dry, my tongue thick. For a moment, I wasn’t even sure where I was. Then the grief returned, crushing and suffocating. Sophia.Groaning softly, I forced my body upright. Every bone ached. My limbs felt heavier than lead, the kind of exhaustion no sleep could fix. I staggered as I stood, bracing myself against the nightstand. My ears caught distant voices from the direction of the living room.That’s when I heard it—a laugh I hadn’t heard in years.I followed the sound, dread gnawing at my stomach. My bare feet dragged across the cold floor as I moved toward the hallway.And then I saw her.Freda.Her presence alone hit me like a slap across the face. Her long black hair cascaded down her back in soft waves, falling perfectly down the shoulders of her crimson dress. Her lips curled

CLARISSA.I walked out on Bruce without looking back, feeling disgusted that he had touched me with his filthy hands, and terribly annoyed that he kept acting like he wasn't guilty. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Bruce knew that our only daughter had died because of his carelessness, and that he just kept acting so normal like the loss of a child was some everyday occurrence. He knew — I could swear on my life that he knew — that I was so upset with him for some reason, and because he expected me to stupidly believe the silly tales he told when I'd noticed the things I had, he desperately kept trying to act normal around me. It sucked!I couldn't even believe it. Freda? Of all people? Over the years I'd thought that whatever Bruce had had with Freda had ended after my marriage to him. I thought that was a done chapter, but my guess was as good as wrong. “You’ll leave. Soon. And everything you thought was yours? Bruce. The house. His name. All of it will be mine.”Her wor

CLARISSA.I felt chills go down my spine as the plane I'd boarded at Dallas touched down at the Los Angeles International Airport later that evening. I checked through the formalities and soon proceeded towards the arrival gates, where I stepped out to meet Darwin, one of my father's most trusted drivers who'd been working with and for my father for as long as I could remember. His wrinkled face creased into a smile as his eyes met mine, and he briskly walked towards me to get the boxes I was wheeling towards him, taking them to the trunk of my father's favorite Cadillac.“Hello, Ms Clarissa,” he greeted, beaming with smiles. “You didn't tell us you were coming.”I forced a dry smile. “Hello, Darwin. I wanted it to be a surprise.”“Oh, well it actually worked. I was speechless when your father summoned me to come get you from the airport,” he replied.“And with his precious Cadillac,” I joked in a weak attempt to lighten the mood and shield my feelings.“Yes, his precious Cadillac,” he

MARCUS. When Clarissa informed me of her decision to get married to Bruce a few years back, I wasn't totally in support of the idea. I'd noticed that she came home late on some days and usually had a very happy smile whenever she returned, and after a few weeks of asking, she finally gave in and informed me of her relationship with Bruce. I'd done my diligence on him, and I'd discovered that he was a young man who was struggling to find his feet in the corporate world.  I didn't seem satisfied that my daughter was willing to give up the luxurious life she was living to be with someone who literally had little or no means of taking care of her, but because Clarissa was so insistent on getting married to him, I gave her my blessings, making sure to ask her not to inform him of the kind of family she came from. Clarissa didn't care that Bruce was in no way in her league, and since she cared less, I thought it right to support my daughter a