Sarah’s POV

I walked into the kitchen the next morning and did a takeback when I saw Richard rummaging in the freezer for something. “What are you doing?”

He jumped which caused him to hit his head on the freezer top and then glared at me while rubbing his head. “What are you doing?” he threw my question back at me and it was my time to glare at him.

“Where were you last night?” I asked, shocked at how strong my voice came out when I was a bundle of nerves on the inside. I had never said more than two words at a time to Richard before and now I didn’t even know if he’d hit me for being so gutsy. “You didn’t come home last night.”

He eyed me for a while and then hissed, turning his attention back to the freezer which seemed more attractive than me at that moment. The nerve of this man. Had it been any other day, I would have let it slide and walked away to go and cry in my room or the bathroom but not today. After last night, I was tired of being so silent and not speaking up for myself. Maybe if I had done this sooner, things would have changed.

“Since when did my not coming back home become an issue?” he retorted and I blanched. I hadn’t prepared myself for his reply, at least not that one but I stood my ground.

“Maybe I’m done keeping silent,” I whispered and he studied me silently, those beautiful blue eyes of his twinkling. Damn him for being so fine, so fine that I didn’t care that he had stood me up last night. I wasn’t sure stood up was the right word for what happened since he didn’t even know I had been waiting for him but what gives? A husband was supposed to come home to his wife at least on some nights. I could count on one finger the number of times he had made it back home in time for dinner. And even then, the times he had eaten dinner out of those times were barely equaled five. Eyeing him, I wondered if there was another way to get through to him without being fussy.

Taking two steps in front of me, I stood in front of him, close enough to smell his fragrant cologne that on another man would have been wrong but suited him, and placed one hand on his shoulder and the other on his chest. My heart was beating wildly in my chest and I wondered if he would push me away before I even got a chance to speak. But he didn’t make a move to stop me and neither did he peel my hands off his skin like they disgusted. He just stared.

I blinked back tears as I came to a realization. He wanted to hear what I had to say. “I know this marriage didn’t start as well that, a real marriage but perhaps we can make things work?” I took a deep breath as I finished speaking and stepped back, giving him space and time to process what I had just said.

It took a few minutes before I could get a reaction and it wasn’t the one, I had been expecting. Hell, I expected him to scream at me, push me away, or even walk away angrily but when he started walking towards me with a dangerous look in his eyes, I gulped and took a few steps back. I had put my foot in my mouth and now he was going to kill me. If this was how I died, could I at least say bye to my mother first? I was still expecting her call after last night to check up on how things went.

“So, you want us to be a real couple? You want me to hold you like this...” he paused as his hands came around my waist and I shivered at his closeness. Oh God, we had never been this close before. His touch sent electric shocks through my body, delicious sensations and I never wanted them to stop. “You want me to fuck you, for you to scream my name every night and then wake up in my arms the next morning?”

Usually, I would have blushed and pulled away but I don’t know why his words had the opposite effect on me. I felt myself inching closer to him, wanting to feel some more of his body heat close to me. I was so entranced by his words I didn’t realize when he took a step back or when he pulled his hand away from my face until I felt water splash on my face.

“Only in your dreams dear wife,” he said those last words like they tasted bitter on his tongue. “This is a sham of a marriage, always has been and will be.”

I opened my mouth to respond and then closed it back when nothing came out.

He smirked, the smile at the corner of his lips wicked and menacing. “Some minutes ago you had so many things to say. Cat got your tongue?”

I opened my mouth again to speak but footsteps from behind me interrupted me.

“Good morning Mr. Williams, Mrs. Williams,” Desmond greeted as he walked into the kitchen and I remained where I was, unable. I was trying to make sense of what had just happened.

“We are stopping at the donut shop two blocks from the office and then we’re heading for Martins’ office immediately. I have some urgent work for him to do for me.” Richard informed him as he walked past me after sending me one last smile.

I turned and watched them walk away, my head swimming with different thoughts. I was still trying to make sense of what had taken place here. One minute everything had been going fine and then the next minute, the rug had been pulled out from underneath my feet.

“What just happened?” I asked the empty kitchen, my voice bouncing off the walls.

Sarah’s POV

“What did you say?” I asked staring at the man sitting across from me. Too many things had happened today and I was still trying to make sense of them. This, whatever this was, I couldn’t take it and I had taken so much already. I glared at a drunk Richard, hugging another woman’s waist in our living room, and crossed my hands over my chest.

“We are going to bed and you are going to get out of the way.” He made a move to push me out of the way and staggered, falling sideways. I stretched my hand out to help him but he pushed my hand away. “Don’t touch me,” he glared at me and I took a step back feeling like I had been slapped.

I stepped to the side and watched as he led the woman whom he had brought home, whose name I still didn’t know up the stairs. I blinked back tears and stood there for a few minutes trying to get rid of the huge lump in my throat. Never in my life had I felt so hurt and insulted. I had never loved anyone else in my entire life and Joshua Jones in the fifth grade didn’t count. Richard was my first love and ever since I set my eyes on him on my first day as a new student at Crosland Middle School, I couldn’t look at anyone else the same way.

Was it so hard to love me back? Every day he seemed to find new ways to make fun of my love for him and drag my feelings tor him through the mud. I deserved better than such a life of constant humiliation from the one person that should treat me with absolute respect.

The sound of their laughter pulled me out of my thoughts and I decided to follow them. Perhaps if I talked him out of it, he’d ask the woman to leave. I paused at the door of the room and gaped at the picture the two of them made, sprawled in our bed, moaning as their mouths moved together. Tears rolled them eyes and I didn’t stop them because this time I don’t think I would have been able to even if I tried. I stood for a few more minutes and bolted when one by one their clothes began to hit the floor. I don’t know why I didn’t leave that environment entirely or why I felt it was good idea to hang around but I just couldn’t move. I sat on the floor instead and rested my back against the wall. The sounds of their moans reached me and I whimpered feeling like knives were being driven through my heart.

Even if he didn’t feel the same way I felt, he had no right to play with my emotions like this. Was she the reason he didn’t see me the way a husband saw his wife? Was she the reason he never came home and instead worked till dawn? Who was she and why was she so different from me?

I don’t remember how it happened or when but I must have fallen asleep because I was suddenly rudely awoken when I felt chilly. Why was it so chilly? I blinked and forced my eyes to make sense of my environment.

“Oh good, you’re awake. How can you be sleeping in so late? Don’t you get paid to do a job?”

I frowned and managed to get up, my body aching from spending the night on the cold hard tiles. “Who are you?” I asked rubbing my eyes.

“Who am I?” she repeated as if one of us had a hearing problem and chuckled as if she had cracked a joke. “That’s none of your concern. You should just focus on getting your job done. Now, go fix me some soup, I have a nasty hangover. Don’t forget Richard too.” She called and then before I had a chance to react, skipped off into the room and slammed the door behind her.

“Am I still dreaming?” I asked myself, trying to make sense of what just happened.

***

Turns out everything had been real and she hadn’t been kidding about me making her and Richard soup to cure their hangovers. She had suddenly barged into my room a few minutes ago, approximately an hour after she had ordered me to make her soup as if I was a maid she had hired on a payroll.

“You must really not understand the specifications of your job in this house,”

I ignored her and chose to scroll through my mails instead. After the marriage, I had been made to leave my job and be a stay-home wife because that was the kind of wife Richard needed. Of course, at the time, I had no choice but to go along with it. Now, here I was two years later suffering the consequences of foolishness and stupidity. “Why are you in my room?”

She closed the distance between us and pointed her – in my opinion, way too long – press on nails in my face. “Do not try to be disrespectful to me, the consequences will be too much for you to handle.”

“It’s funny but if I remember clearly, this is my house. You should watch it,” I told her and she took a step back obviously shocked I had talked back to her.

“Susan, where are you?” We both turned at the sound of Richard’s voice and my heart rate picked at the sight of his bare chest. I had never seen him like this, not even in high school.

I looked away before he caught me staring and crossed my hands over my chest. “Take your whore and get out of my room, Richard.”

Susan turned at the insult, her eyes burning with anger. “How dare you?” she shrieked and stretched out her hand to hit me but I caught it just in time. “How dare you?!”

“You should leave my room before I do something I might regret. “ I gritted my teeth, shooting daggers at the two of them with my eyes.

Sarah’s POV

It's been one week. One week since I told Susan off and three days since I set my eyes on Richard. E would stay away from home before but this was worse. Then he would pop back in after a day or two but now he had been gone for seven days and I had no doubt this was some kind of revenge for the way I spoke to his girlfriend. But what did he expect me to do? She had been very rude to me, had he been expecting me to just take it all quietly and do everything she said? I was his wife, not a slave she had hired on a payroll. Somehow, a part of me wished I could take back everything I did – and said – while another part of me wishes she could have spoken up for herself sooner.

I rolled on my side and slipped out of bed. The day had just begun but I didn’t feel like doing anything. There was nothing to do and most of the time, I spent my time playing on my phone, scrolling through Twitter, checking emails and playing music. I watched a movie or two sometimes but I didn’t like using my phone for that. I preferred going to the cinema for that or watching it on the Plasma screens Richard had installed in all the rooms in this house. I made my way into the bathroom to freshen up and decided to soak for a while in the tub. Usually, I would read a book or watch a movie but not today. Today I was alone with my thoughts, my jumbled and conflicted thoughts. I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes, the water had turned cold and I was now shivering.

Making my way out of the bathroom, I padded across the room naked in search of my towel. Just as I wrapped it around my body, the sound of the doorbell rang through the house and I frowned. Who could that be? It couldn’t be Richard ringing the doorbell because he had a key, the same thing applied to Desmond. I wasn’t expecting any visitors and apart from my mother, no one in my life knew the location of this house.

I ran out of the room, taking the stairs two at a time so I could get to the door in time before the person on the other end broke the doorbell. I unlocked the door and blocked the way, glaring at the man standing in front of me. What was he doing here?

“Richard said you’d be home.” Was the first thing he said as soon as our eyes met and I narrowed my eyes. “May I come in?”

“He isn’t here, Martins.” I reminded him as I stepped aside to let him through. Martins Stan was Richard’s best friend and the family’s lawyer. His father, Luke had been Richard’s father’s lawyer and friend before he died so it was a no-brainer that after he died, the role would be passed on to his son who was already Richard’s friend at the time. As far as I could remember, Martins and I had never conversed not because he never tried, I just never gave him the chance to and always kept my guard up around him for fear that whatever I shared with him would somehow find its way back to Richard.

He slumped on the couch noisily and nodded. “I know he isn’t here, I’m here to see you,”

For a moment, I couldn’t quite understand why Martins would want to see me seeing as we had nothing in common and nothing to talk about. That was until he brought out an envelope from his briefcase and stretched it out to me.

My heart sank to the pit of my stomach and I didn’t have to open it to guess what it contained. Richard was asking for a divorce. “He really doesn’t care about me,” I scoffed, pulling the papers out of the envelope. I was right, of course I was.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it’s one of the hazards of the job.” He continued speaking and I tuned him out, staring at the papers in my hand. “At least now you can finally be free to do whatever you want with your life.

He was right, I was going to be free to live my life on my own terms so why didn’t the thought warm my heart and give me joy?

“He has added a hefty sum of money for you once you have signed the papers.”

How convenient. I thought bitterly but said instead; “I’m not signing this,” I leaned forward and dropped the papers on the centre table. “You tell Richard that if he wants me to sign this, he’d have to come and hand them over to me himself.”

I was being difficult, maybe but I didn’t care. I deserved better than being tossed aside like a rag doll.

****

“Ugh, why is she still here? I thought Martins was supposed to serve her the papers today?” Susan hissed as she walked into the house, Richard behind her. Martins had only been gone for two hours so I guessed Richard thought I would have been gone by now. Too bad for him.

“Why haven’t you signed the papers? Aren’t you tired of this life?” Richard asked and I inhaled sharply.

“What do you mean by that?”

He rolled his eyes and I stood there waiting for an answer. Surely he hadn’t been doing everything on purpose to make me tired so I would divorce him. “I can’t love you the way you expect me to. Wouldn’t you rather be with a man that loves you?”

That was the same thing Martins said.

“Fine, I will sign it.” I sighed, blinking back tears and Susan clapped her hands excitedly. “But you’re going to come back begging me one day Richard and I won’t listen,” I yelled as a tear rolled down my cheeks. “You will regret this decision of yours but by then it will be too late.”

“I’ll go get the wine and some glasses. We should celebrate!” Susan said and excused herself.

I waited for Richard to say something, anything but instead, he just laughed and followed her out of the living room, leaving my heart shattered in a million pieces.