Ex Husband, You'll Never Hurt Me Again

It was finally here.

My first wedding anniversary with the love of my life.

The butterflies swirled in my stomach and doubled with every thought of him. When I moistered hand hair, they crawled with soft reddish.

I rushed through my hair stylization and dressing, but not without care.

I have always made sure I look the best, and today it was no exception. I chose the best dress in my wardrobe .. dark green dress. Bruce's favorite color.

I quickly looked out the window and my eyes scanned an empty driveway.

Bruce wasn't here yet. My heart sank for a moment, but the expectations were taken quickly. He would be here soon, I thought.

I turned inside and headed to the living room to check the gifts I have prepared.

Everything was exactly how I planned it. The cake perfectly wrapped on a coffee table, wrapped gifts arranged neatly beside him and a hand -written letter sits upstairs.

When I modified the ribbon on one of the boxes, my thoughts were driving to the text that Bruce sent me last night.

I pulled out the phone and opened it again and read his words again for what felt like a thousandth:

'Happy anniversary in advance, my love. I still can't believe it has been a year. It's like yesterday that I saw you walking on the aisle, the most beautiful look I've ever seen. This year you made the best of my life. Thank you for you. Tomorrow I have a surprise for you, something I think you will like. I will go out of the office soon so I will see the first thing in the morning. I love you more than words can ever say. '

I grabbed myself, the faces with the heart with the idea of him.

What almost dies of excitement was a surprise he said he had for me. Bruce was so thought out, he was always looking for ways to feel special. I couldn't wait to see what he was planning.

I gripped the phone to the chest, the dizzying laughter slipped before I could stop him. It was not impossible to limit how I felt happy.

Today it will be perfect .. I felt it.

At that moment I heard it. The well -known Honk Bruce's car. My heart skipped the rhythm when I quickly wiped my clothes, the green fabric embraced my body to the right. I rushed to the window and eager to see him.

The gate opened and his car slowly threw himself.

He stepped out, but instead of heading to the door as usual, he paused. He turned and walked to the other side of the car.

When I tried to figure out what he was doing, my breath was caught in my throat.

Then I saw her. Selena. My best friend.

I blinked, half in disbelief. What was going on here? My mind raced.

Bruce mentioned surprises, but I didn't expect that.

Selena, three months pregnant, climbed out of the car with a wide smile. My heart was shaking.

Wait. Both planned it? The surprise was not just from Bruce. It was from both.

I couldn't stop the smile that was spreading on my face. My hands were practically trembling when I quickly adjusted my hair and threw myself back into the living room.

I had to prepare. I couldn't let them see them shocking there.

Bruce, who was a thoughtful, dear man he was, even involved Selena in the plan. I bubbled with excitement, and all I could do was blush, how much effort he made to today's forgetfulness.

I was lucky to have him .. and lucky that I had Selena too ..

The door flew open and Bruce entered first and his nice face shining. He didn't look tired at all .. not like someone who worked overnight. He looked as if he had just woken up from the best night sleep.

I couldn't help. I greeted him with a big smile.

"Hi, honey," I said, and my voice was filled with excitement.

In return he gave me a smile, but there was something.

Something ... strange.

His eyes did not steal as usual. Selena came behind him.

I expected the usual enthusiasm from her. Especially because it was three weeks since we saw each other. What I got was cold shoulders.

My heart dropped into my stomach. I tried to clean it, but I couldn't ignore the sick feeling that turned in my chest.

I forced my laughter and tried to keep things light.

"What's the matter with you?" I said, hoping the tension would break.

I turned back to Bruce and tried to keep my peace.

"Hey, Bruce ... Is that a surprise?" I asked, my voice now a little softer, the excitement was just a fraction.

He did not respond, simply opened the briefcase slowly, and I looked, confused, when he pulled out a sheet of paper that looked as if he was directly from the file and pulled him to me, his lips turned into a firm smile.

"Happy anniversary, Sophie," he said, but his voice was colder than usual.

When I took the paper from him, my eyebrows fooled. What was that?

Maybe a check? Something to mark our celebration?

I quickly opened it, my heart raced with expectations. But when my eyes scanned words on the page, my body stiffened.

Divorce papers?

I could hardly breathe.

Was it a sick joke? Was it real?

"Sign it," Bruce said, and his voice was almost mechanical. "It's my anniversary gift for you."

It seemed like a dagger stabbing my chest. That couldn't be real.

We planned this day together .. this day .. So how ..?

I picked up the sight and my eyes were looking for answers. Selena?

I didn't have to ask .. Bruce seemed to know what I think.

"Oh and allow me to re -introduce Selena," he said, and his voice cool. "The mother of my unborn child."

Laughter, sharp and bitter, my lips escaped before I could stop it. "Stop it Bruce. You, guys, okay? Okay, I understand it. That's an expensive joke, isn't it? Surprise ... it's a joke. Stop it! "

But neither of them responded. I felt the world leaning under me.

It wasn't a joke. It wasn't a joke.

The realization hit hard, as well as the main door reopened.

Three police officers stepped inside. One of them, a tall man with a stern face, approached me.

He paused for a moment before speaking, his eyes never leaving mine. "Sophie Hendricks?"

I found my voice, though it felt like a whisper. "Yes..."

"You're under arrest."

My breath grabbed my throat. I felt the room turning around me, the edges of my vision began to blur.

I was a second away from fainting, but I forced myself to concentrate on the face of the officer and desperately looking for any sign that it was a mistake.

Maybe some kind of misunderstanding?

"And ... arrest?" I stammered, my voice barely whisper. "What are you talking about?"

But he was unwavering, his eyes cold and serious. There was no doubt in his voice.

"Sophie Hendricks, you are arrested for trading drugs and human exploitation. You have the right to be silent. Everything you say or do can and will be used against you in court ... "

Before I could find the words that would react, my wrist was pulled behind my back, the cold bite of the handcuffs was locked in place.

My stomach spewed when I was led from the house ...

**********

The scene moved and I stood in the courtroom before I knew it.

The judge spoke in silence. "Will witnesses be revealed?"

And then, just like the unfolding nightmare, they were there. Bruce, my husband and Selena, my best girlfriend.

I could hardly stick together when a hot tear slid down my face.

What was that? I dreamed? I couldn't understand any of this.

Selena was the first to approach the stage. She climbed up, her voice stable, but fake, practiced.

"Sophie was my best friend from college," she began, and her words dripped with false sincerity. "I know her too well." I have always told her to stop engaging in drug trafficking, but never listened. She was still pushing me to get involved, and when I refused, she started pushing me ... I didn't want to have anything to do with it, but she didn't leave me alone. I tried to help her. There was always a lost cause... "

My chest tightened. I couldn't breathe. That was crazy. Lies. All lies.

She continued, every word twisted into my heart with a knife.

And then Bruce was up and stepped forward with a look at the sadness that didn't belong to his face. His voice cracked as he began his own version of our story.

"I loved Sophie." I really did, "he said, and his voice filled with false, trembling emotions. "But she changed." I tried to warn her to help her, but she was too far away. I never imagined that it would be involved in something like that. Drugs ... trading in trading ... I no longer knew what to do. I even found that he was planning to bring Selena. It destroyed me. "

The only tear slid down his face.

I felt my heart break. He cried. Crocodile tears. It was all part of his game.

More people testified one by one, each of which offered their own piece of this terrible puzzle, all singing the same twisted melody.

Every lie was stacked on the other until their weight was canceled.

The judge spoke again, his voice cold and finite.

"The court heard enough." The defendant, Sophie Hendricks, has been sentenced to twelve years of imprisonment. "

She rang the words in my ears, such as the death sentence, a permanent mark on my soul.

And that was when everything turned black.

My body was giving away and I collapsed in the courtroom, the head spins, the world around me disappeared to .. Total Darkness.

**********

I woke up with a sharp capping and my head pounded as my eyes were slowly opening.

At first I was hit by the sterile scent of the hospital room, followed by a look at the blurred figure that hovering over me.

"Thank God you are awake," the sister and relief of her voice said. "You fainted for exhaustion, but now you're fine."

I tried to sit down, all the memories flooded back, but my body felt hard, as if I were sleeping for days.

"What ... what happened?" I whispered, my voice hoarse.

The nurse smiled gently. "You fainted in court." You were under great stress. We had to perform several tests. "

I flicked and kept trying to understand everything. "Tests?" I repeated, my mind raced.

She nodded.

"We wanted to be thoroughly." And ... Well, we have some news. You are pregnant. "

Pregnant?

I felt as if the Earth had fallen from under me.

"Pregnant?" I said, my heart lay in my chest. "I ... I'm pregnant?"

The nurse looked uncomfortable, but nodded. "Yes, you are."

My world leaned again and the shock plunged.

How could that be real? I wore my child ... a man who just destroyed my life.

**********

Five years later...

The door to my cell opened and Ward's voice came down the corridor. "Sophie Hendricks."

I straightened myself, the name rolled out of her language, as if it were my own. Yes, it used to be mine.

It has been five long years since I was Sophie Hendricks, but now I was Elena Maxwell.

I watched her around the hallway and the air felt different. Lighter. Brighter. It was as if the weight of my past was raised, replaced by something new, something inviolable.

After completing the necessary formalities, the chains of my earlier life were finally removed. I was handed over to the world outside.

There was an elegant black SUV at the gates, immaculate and strong. She was behind her back straight and her behavior, was a woman who organized my rise. It was the one that ensured that I would never survive ... but it benefits. A sophisticated figure, spotless in an adapted suit that shouted wealth and strength.

Her smile was sharp, but her eyes retained the heat I knew was right.

"It's good to have you back," she said, and her voice stable, but welcome.

I breathed deep, the fresh air of the real world filled my lungs after five years of darkness. Everything about this moment felt different. That was freedom.

I looked around, the reality of my new life dropped. I wasn't just another face in the crowd. I was rich. Very rich. A mighty woman in herself.

"Are you ready to pull it out?" She asked with a smile.

I turned face -to -face, my lips curled into a confident smile. "More than ever."

Ryan DeMarco's POV

In the living room I passed back and forth, nerves close when I looked at the phone.

The call dropped again.

I tried to address my informant in New York, but the connection was constantly cut.

We spoke earlier, but I didn't understand half of what he was trying to say. Something about my mother's hostility. It was all skilled.

Frustration glued me to me, every unanswered ring contributes to the growing tension in my chest. What the hell is going on?

Just as I was about to fit the phone on the couch of inconvenience, the screen lit up. Call.

I immediately jumped. "Ryane," he said, barely for a second after the line joined.

"Talk to me," I murmured, passing my hair and still stimulating.

"These are your mother's enemies, Ryan," the voice continued, and every word is urgently clear. "You have to act quickly. MasterMind is in New York as we speak."

My heart skipped the rhythm. "Are you sure?" I asked a low voice and tried to calm down.

"He confirmed," he confirmed.

Without getting lost for a second, I killed my fist against the counter and I was already planning my next step.

I book the earliest flight from there, my mind raced.

Before I knew it, I was on the plane heading straight to New York with my PA, James ..

**********

Ryan's POV

I checked in my hotel, my mind was still racing from flight.

The urgency of my mission hardly weighed on me, but I needed to clean my head for a while.

I got into the sharp New York air and decided to walk around the block quickly.

The city was alive by movement .. so many people, so much noise .. but I was lost in my own thoughts.

As I walked past a nearby park, I noticed that a mother and a child played near the pitch.

The little boy was running around, laughing, full of energy, while the woman was watching an easy, protective smile.

I didn't think much about it until suddenly, a boy, maybe five or six, threw a snack on me.

A handful of mashed food hit my chest and I stopped dead in my footsteps, surprised by a sudden attack.

"What the hell?" I murmured, more confused than anything else.

The boy did not seem to be silent and just ran, laughing. I looked at him and frowned when I wiped my shirt, still amazed by an unexpected attack.

"Hey, boy, it's not funny."

I was about to say more, but then I heard my voice.

"Let him go," she said, sharp and protective.

My head came out. And the sight of the woman who owned her voice caught my breath in my throat. She was there.

It was her .. the same woman from that night. The one who chased my thoughts ..

But she seemed not to remember me. She was too focused on her son and I was nothing but a stranger.

When she got between me and the boy, she stepped forward, her attitude was defensive, her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"Do you have a problem with my son?"

I was still stunned, my mind raced when I was size. Her eyes .. those same eyes .. didn't hold recognition. When she looked at me, she didn't suffer.

"No problem," I said, trying to keep his voice calm. "I just didn't expect to be hit by a sandwich."

She gave me a hard look, her tone colder than I expected.

"Well, maybe you should have watched where you went."

Her words were sharp. I felt my pulse speeding up, but I didn't answer right away. Instead, I looked down at a boy who was still giggling, not knowing about the strange energy between his mother and me.

Sophie's gaze threw back to me, her eyes still careful, her protective instinct is clear.

"Just stay away from my son, okay?"

She didn't say another word, she just turned away, her hand grabbed a little boy as she started to leave ...

**********

When I walked into the hotel room, James welcomed me, my righthand man.

His face was opaque, as always, but in his eyes I saw tension. "It's time," said his voice low, commercial.

"We have a place."

I nodded and pushed the thoughts of the woman on the back of the mind. That wasn't the time to distract.

We left the hotel and got into the black SUV, the engine was screaming to live when James drove through the streets of the city.

The route was a quiet, kind of terrible silence that has always meant a business. I knew we were heading to a place where my mother's enemies should hide.

The word on the street was that it was a place to go down, and I couldn't afford to waste time.

In the industrial part of the city, we pulled ourselves to the tapered building tucked.

The air was thick when we were James and I exchanged.

"It looks like the right place," I murmured, scanning the area.

But something didn't feel good.

We got out of the SUV and carefully went to the entrance. Every step felt harder, as if we were trapped. And the hair on the back of my neck rose.

I turned to James. "I feel," I said, and the hand was instinctively moving to the housing weapon on my side.

Before he could react, the silence was breaking the sound of the tracks that was approaching, and then by an unmistakable click on the weapon that is stretched.

I stiffened.

Several men appeared from the corner, all armed, all looked at us with the intention.

It was a set up.

I didn't have time to think. Just as I reached for my weapon, the shot rang .. loud, deafening.