Chapter 2 DIVORCE

"Sign it. It's a divorce agreement," he spat out.

"Divorce agreement?" Ashley's voice cracked, her voice louder than intended, her heart pounding as she scanned the pages in shock and disbelief.

"Yes," he said in a final note. Before Ashley could respond, his phone started ringing. The caller ID flashing Isabella with an obnoxious trail of love emojis. Ashley stomach twisted. He had saved Isabella's name with love and affection, yet he had saved hers as a simply woman-no emoji, nothing.

He answered the phone with so much enthusiasm, "Hello, darling," his voice soft, dripping with warmth and sweetness clearly different from how he spoke to her a few minutes ago. The contrast between his tenderness for Isabella and his disdain for her was sharp and painful.

"Yes, don't worry, darling. Everything will be settled soon," Ashley watched, her heart tightening as he stepped outside to continue the conversation.

What did I do wrong? What did Isabella do so right? These questions ran through her mind as she paced around the room, fingers constantly running through her hair, her body trembling with anxiety. She couldn't sit still. She couldn't stop the different thoughts crashing down on her, one after the other.

When the silence grew unbearable, she was about to go outside, intending to confront him, just as she took a step, the door swung open.

Charles walked in, hand in hand with Isabella. He was carrying her suitcase. Ashley couldn't believe her eyes.

"Would Isabella be staying here now? In her matrimonial home?" She thought as a deep fear etched on her face as she took her gaze away from them, forcing herself to be calm.

"Hey, Ashley," Isabella's voice was cutting, dripping with mockery as she sat on the couch with her legs crossed, and her expression was dominating, as if she owned the place.

"What are you doing here, Isabella?" Ashley asked, shooting her a murderous glare, anger boiling in her. "You seem to forget this is my matrimonial home."

"Matrimonial home?" She laughed, a cruel sound that echoed through the room. "With whose man? A man that doesn't love you nor want anything to do with you," she added, and Ashley's sad gaze shifted to Charles, who stood by, silent and unbothered, with his hands shoved deep in his pockets.

Ashley's throat tightened. Not because she couldn't say anything but because Isabella was right. The so-called man that she was fighting for didn't care about her.

"You know what? You should give yourself some dignity and sign those divorce papers," she sneered in a condescending and authorative tone.

"Charles! Charles!!" Ashley called, rushing towards him. "Please, don't do this," she said in an apologetic tone, despite the fact that she did nothing wrong.

He looked down at her with disgust. "I'm tired of you. I want you out of my life," he said, his voice cold and filled with hatred that it sent a chill down her spine.

"Please, Charles, please," she pleaded desperately without shame, kneeling down with tears dripping down her cheeks and cleaving tightly to his legs. But he just kicked her off, stepping back as though her touch repulsed him.

"You aren't worthy of me," he hissed. "If not for Isabella, who accompanied me to business meetings and dinners, I'd have been stranded. You are too clumsy and foolish," he cursed, every one of his words getting to her.

Ashley thought she had grown used to the endless comparisons, but it still stings anytime she hears it. Ashley knows too well that Isabella was better than her in every sense, so there was no need to compare.

Isabella's family belonged to the same social class as Charles family, whereas she was just a poor girl who grew up in the slumps.

"If not for that old sly man, what would I be doing with you? I have my inheritance now. I don't need you anymore," he blurted out sharply.

Ashley froze, then she remembered. The pregnancy. Maybe that could change things.

"I'm pregnant," she mumbled, her voice barely audible through her sobs.

Isabella's eyes widened with shock, her expression twisting with disbelief. "You've been sleeping with her?" Isabella demanded, uncrossing her legs, a rare moment of vulnerability breaking through her cold exterior.

Charles's face darkened. He turned to Ashley, glaring at her as though the news disgusted him. "What do you mean you're pregnant? His voice was harsh and accusatory. He stepped closer to Isabella and tried to touch her, but she shoved his hands away.

"I'm sorry," he turned to Isabella, trying to soothe her. "Every time I was with her, I was thinking of you." His words were desperate, trying to appease the woman he truly loved. "I could never....It's not my child."

"I'm certain that baby isn't mine," Charles barked, storming towards her, his finger pointed accusingly. "So you've been cheating on me, right."

"I didn't!" she defended in a trembling tone. "I would never-"

Isabella wasn't convinced by his defence. She stood up abruptly, sighing loudly as she stormed out of the house, her heels hitting the floor sharply.

"Isabella! Isabella!! Wait," Charles called after her, trailing her from behind, then turned back midway, facing Ashley. "Make sure you sign the divorce papers before I get back," he said, his look venomous.

And with that, he was gone.

Ashley stood there as realisation dawn on her that her husband was no longer interested in her nor their child.

Touching her tummy, she sighed with frustration. This baby was supposed to be the undeniable and unbreakable connection that bonds both of them together, was now nothing more than a burden to him.

She couldn't even imagine where to start from or how to tell people that the husband who cheated on her was also the one who served her divorce papers.

She wished she never agreed to his grandfather's request to marry him, three years ago before he passed on. They had been friends since childhood, and she had secretly been in love with him for over a decade that she never imagined marrying him could be this tough.

She has endured a whole lot in the three years of marriage, just to make it work.

Three years have passed in the blink of an eye, like it was yesterday. She has endured three years of pain.

Three years of slavery, Charles had made it known that she was his slave and made her do all the house chores without a single maid.

Three years of constant abuse from Charles and his family.

They said love conquers everything, but Ashley Love has failed to conquer the disgust and hatred her husband harboured for her.

As she sat down, ransacking her mind for what she might have acquired from this marriage, she found out that she had acquired nothing.

Not even a pin to her name. She owns no good wears or properties to her name, yet he has constantly tagged her a gold digger, whereas she owns no single gold.

Confidence surged through her, and with a final glance at the divorce papers lying on the floor, she picked it up and signed under her name.

With the tears blurring her vision, she made her way upstairs to pack the few belongings that she owned.

While packing, as she opened the drawer, her eyes fell on the small key that Charles grandfather had entrusted to her, meant to be given to Charles on their fifth-year wedding anniversary. With anger surging through her, she toss the key away, it was of no use anymore.

After packing, she walked out of the mansion, gazing at it one last time. The house, once a symbol of grandeur, now felt cold and empty. It had never been a home.

Outside, She hailed a taxi, heading back to her father's house. But when she arrived, her mother's face twisted in anger.

"Get lost. There's no place for you here anymore," Emily Wells, Ashley's mother, spat, her voice cold and sharp.

"Go back to your husband's," Emily added as she locked the gate.

"Mother, please," Ashley sobbed, pounding on the gate desperately, but no one cared to listen. Absolutely no one.

Ashley couldn't believe her ears. The gate remained closed, her mother's rejection cutting deeper than she thought possible.

She collapsed weakly on the floor, still crying like a lost puppy, with her back resting on the gate.

The night was falling. She couldn't afford to spend the night in the brutal street, so she headed to Hailey's residence.

Exhausted, she drifted into sleep in the backseat of the taxi when a trailer hit the taxi from behind, causing the car to flip over.

Broken mirror piercing into her body, her body flung violently against the seat. Blood was involuntarily pumping out of her mouth. She couldn't see clearly anymore as the blood shot through her eyes.

"My baby, my baby," she muttered weakly till she closed her eyes as she fade into the darkness.

Her hands were growing limp, this was obviously the end for her. Her last thoughts were of Charles, her promise echoing in her mind. I would never forgive you, Charles. Even if I'm reborn a million times, I will get revenge. Then life slowly seeped through her.