Lisa's POV
"Congratulations! You're one month pregnant!" The words echoed in my ears like thunderbolts.
My heart was thudding wildly in my chest as I stared at the pregnancy report on the table, refusing to believe that this was real.
"Doctor, are you really sure that these are my results?" I had to confirm.
He nodded, still smiling. "Mrs. Sinclair, you really are pregnant!"
A wave of relief washed over me. Finally! Maybe I could make my marriage work after all. With trembling hands, I dialed my husband's number, Damian.
He didn't pick up until the fifth ring.
"Is there a problem?" came his gruff voice from the other end.
Gulping down the emotions that were gnawing at me, I opened my mouth to speak. "We need to talk," I said in a slight mutter, while trying to hide the blush I felt crawling up my cheeks.
He murmured something incoherent under his breath. "Let's meet at home. I also have something to tell you," were his words before he ended the call.
Damian's words kept ringing in my head even as I alighted from a cab in front of the huge gate of our house—his house, to be precise. What could he have to tell me? I couldn't help but be pessimistic.
Clutching the bodice of my dress as panic settled in my guts, I walked slowly inside. I was about to climb up the stairs when I heard Damian's voice coming from his study. He was on a phone call.
"She means nothing to me, grandpa; you don't have to worry." As I heard those words, my mind emptied, and I felt my heart race faster.
His grandfather never called Damian unless it was really critical. I wanted to stick around to hear what he had to say before I made my presence known to him.
"I will divorce her without even thinking twice," he finished.
My heart skipped a beat. For a moment, everything came to a halt. My feet shook in trepidation as I felt my heart blaze with flames of disappointment.
Was this what he had wanted to tell me?
"Yes, sir, Samantha is back. I know I would be paying her a visit. Yes, I will do that as fast as possible. Granddad, you don't have to worry; it's fine. She will be out in no time, okay?"
The rest of what he had said was muted by my mind as memories of what had happened in the past filtered in.
News flash, I have had a crush on Damian for five years while he dated other people. We met as seniors at college, but he never noticed me, as I wasn't part of his league; I was on scholarship, and even though the state had permitted me to go to school with him, I wasn't part of his rich circle.
Now fast forward to my internship. As one of the best students with immaculate grades, I was accepted to work for a huge company that happened to be owned by Damian's grandfather.
He threw a welcome party for us on the first day and slipped and fell while giving a speech. I jumped and helped him out. Ever since then, I was promoted to being a personal assistant to him, and years later, Damian, who had traveled abroad, came back to town.
We were introduced, with hopes of being in a relationship, by the same man who desperately wanted me out of his house now because he couldn't remember who I was. He thinks I snuck my way into the family for wealth. I didn't. I loved Damian.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Damian's voice sounded in front of me the moment he realized I was standing at the door.
When I met his gaze, I could discern the flicker of raw disgust in his eyes as they regarded me as though I were a piece of filth. My voice stuck in my throat as every rational thought was dispelled from my head.
"I'm sorry," I said, the only reasonable thing that crossed my mind.
He dismissed it with a wave of his hand, revealing the brown manila envelope he was holding. My breath hitched in my lungs as I fervently prayed that it wasn't what I thought it was.
"Damian, I wanted to tell you that---"
"That can wait" He cut me off sharply and threw the envelope at me. He didn't care if I had heard what he said over the phone.
"Those are the divorce papers. Sign them; it's urgent; it needs to be taken back to court tomorrow."
The silence that followed his words was almost deafening. I blinked my eyes in confusion, biting hard into my lips to check whether all these were real. I pushed down the lumps that were beginning to form in my throat and raised my chin.
Damian had talked of divorce several times due to family pressure, but I never thought he would really go through with it.
"W-what--what are you talking about?" My words were coming too fast to be steady.
He scoffed. "Stop being dramatic, Lisa. Everyone knows you agreed to this marriage because of my money, not because of my grandpa, and you lied your way into my house. Don't act like we are happily married; you knew this was coming anyway."
"Damian" I took the envelope in my hands. I didn't have the audacity to tear it open; I just dropped it down.
"Two years, we have been married for two years."
"Because grandpa said we should!" He retorted harshly.
I fought the tears that welled in my eyes. "In those two years you have known me, do you mean to say you were not happy?" I fired back. "It might not be a classic marriage! But we took our vows! We were married! Damn it, your grandfather can't have a say in this."
He let out a derisive snicker. "Really? Can't you even hear yourself? You wouldn't be here if he hadn't arranged our marriage! You know , stop nagging. How much do you want? We all know it's for the money; you are just too cunning to admit it."
I could not believe we were having this conversation. I just couldn't; I felt as though I could explode, like I was a volcano ready to erupt. I wanted to yank him, to make him feel what I felt, but I stood still. I took in a lung full of air, then felt my nerves calm before I said another word.
The moment I opened my eyes, my vision was blurry with restrained tears, so I looked away. I wiped it with my hands, but I made sure he didn't see a strand. All these years, I had made sure he only saw my attempt to make this relationship work, rather than the times I was too broken to hold a conversation, but this time, I could not keep it in; he was pushing me to the wall.
The moment I could grasp an ounce of courage, I stared at him dead in the eye, my fist clenched before me as I stared at the man I had shared a bed with.
"Is that how you feel? that I had only been here because of money."
"If it isn't the money, then you are stupid; why else will you stay in an arranged marriage?"
I wanted to say, 'Because I was madly in love with you, I loved you for the both of us,' but I didn't. He was unremorseful for the words he said, and I knew he wouldn't feel an ounce of guilt if he said more hurtful words. so I kept quiet.
"We were married for two years" My voice came out in a low tone.
"I never asked you to marry me; you could have said no when my grandfather set us up, but why didn't you? Because you knew the truth all along. You knew you were not the one he wanted, but because of his mental health, you chose to stay so no one would know. Accept it; you are cunning and selfish."
A muscle twitches on his forehead as he berates even further.
"You were only a substitute for Samantha. You stole her place!" He fired at me. "Why are you acting like you're so important!?"
"Stole? "
He laughed dryly. "I've always known you caused her accident. Anyway, bad news for you, Samantha is back to take her rightful place as Mrs. Sinclair!"
His harsh words sent a pang of pain stabbing at my heart, and my body shuddered involuntarily as a short gasp escaped my throat. Samantha was back, and now he didn't even hesitate to toss me away just to marry her.
"If two years with me didn't matter to you, then our child together wouldn't."
As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew I had made a grave mistake.
"What did you just say?" He bellowed.