Chapter 2

Elisa POV:

Bernard' s surprise quickly morphed into a stiff nod. He left without another word, his footsteps echoing down the hall. I imagined him relaying my refusal to Joette, and a grim satisfaction settled over me. The old ways were over. The rules they had imposed, the chains they had forged around me, were about to snap.

It wasn't long before Joette's presence was announced not by Bernard, but by the heavy thud of her designer heels outside my door. She didn't bother to knock. The door swung open, revealing her formidable figure, framed by the slight, pale form of my daughter, Luna. Luna, barely four years old, clung to Joette' s hand, her wide, innocent eyes mirroring the same cold disinterest I saw in her grandmother's.

"What is this insolence, Elisa?" Joette' s voice cut through the silence, sharp as broken glass. She didn't raise it, but the chilling undertone carried far more menace. "Refusing my summons? Have you forgotten your place? Have you forgotten who you are, and who brought you into this family?" She stepped further into the room, Luna still beside her, a miniature executioner in training.

Her words were a familiar whip, meant to sting, to remind me of my humble origins, my 'debt' to them. She wanted me to cower, to apologize, to beg for forgiveness. But the wellspring of fear had dried up, replaced by a hollow ache that was far more potent.

Just as Joette seemed poised for her next lacerating remark, the shrill ring of my phone cut her off. I looked at the caller ID, my heart sinking. Kiyoshi. Even from a hospital bed, even after everything, he still found a way to torment me. I picked up, my voice tight. "Yes, Kiyoshi?"

"Elisa, darling," he drawled, his voice thick with a lazy sensuality that used to send shivers down my spine, but now only disgusted me. "I need you to whip up some of my famous onigiri for Heidi. She has a craving for authentic Japanese food, and you know how particular she is." He chuckled lightly, a sound that made my stomach churn. "Make sure it's the salmon and avocado. She hates tuna."

My eyes flickered to Joette, whose lips were pressed into a thin, furious line. A muffled giggle, distinctly female and unmistakably Heidi' s, drifted through the phone. It was followed by a soft moan, a sound meant to twist the knife, to make sure I understood exactly where he was and what he was doing.

"Oh, and Elisa," Kiyoshi continued, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, "could you also send over that sapphire necklace? The one I gave you for our first anniversary. Heidi thinks it would look divine with her new red dress."

Before I could even formulate a response, the sting of an open palm across my cheek exploded across my face. My head snapped to the side, a white-hot pain blooming. Joette stood over me, her eyes blazing.

"You shameless hussy!" she spat, her voice no longer controlled, but a raw, furious scream. "How dare you answer that call in front of me? How dare you allow him to humiliate you like this? You are a Donovan wife, Elisa! A Donovan wife does not beg for her husband's attention, nor does she permit such public disrespect!"

My cheek throbbed, the metallic taste of blood filling my mouth. "You couldn't even keep your husband in line, could you?" Joette continued, her voice dripping with scorn. "What good are you, really? You failed to produce a male heir, you're an embarrassment, and now you can't even hold onto his affection! You're useless, Elisa. Utterly, completely useless!"

My fingers went to my swollen lip, the blood warm against my skin. I tasted it, the bitter tang of iron and humiliation. As Joette raised her hand for another strike, something inside me snapped entirely. My hand shot out, catching her wrist in mid-air. Her eyes, wide with shock, locked onto mine. No one had ever dared to touch her, let alone stop her.

"Enough," I said, my voice low and steady, a tremor of pure rage running beneath it. My grip tightened on her wrist. "You want to control your son, Joette? Then go control him. He is the one disgracing your family name, not me. I am no longer responsible for his antics. I will not be your shield, your punching bag, or your scapegoat any longer."

I released her wrist, the divorce papers and a small, discreet voice recorder clutched in my other hand. I pushed the documents across the pristine white sheets of my hospital bed. "We're done," I announced, my voice ringing with a newfound clarity. "I want a divorce. And I want everything that comes with it."

Joette stared at the papers, her face a mask of disbelief and dawning fury. "You think you can just walk away?" she sneered, her eyes scanning the documents.

"I know I can," I countered, my gaze unwavering. "Because as you pointed out, a woman who can no longer bear children is of no value to the Donovan family, is she? And I, Joette, am now barren. So let's be pragmatic. You want your legacy. I want my freedom. We can settle this cleanly, or we can make a very public, very ugly mess that will tarnish the Donovan name far more than Kiyoshi's latest escapades." I tapped the small device in my hand. It contained the proof of Heidi's assault and Kiyoshi's passive, damning complicity. "A man who lets his mistress push his pregnant wife overboard, resulting in a miscarriage and a hysterectomy... that' s not a good look for your 'legacy,' is it?"

My words hung in the air, weighted with unspoken threats. I knew her kind. Image was everything. And I, for the first time, held a weapon that could truly wound them. "I cannot, and will not, spend another moment of my life with a man as cold, as selfish, as utterly devoid of humanity as Kiyoshi. Let's resolve this peacefully, Joette. For both our sakes."