Chapter 2 Chapter 2

Amelia

I parked in front of the house, my heart beating fast but steady with anger. The address from the anonymous message matched the number on the wall. I walked up to the door, knocked once, then pushed it open when it swung lightly.

I froze when I got inside, Declan was inside, sitting comfortably on a couch with a woman straddling his lap. Her lipstick was smeared on his neck, her shirt halfway unbuttoned. They both jerked in surprise when they saw me.

Declan didn’t even bother moving, He just looked at me with the same bored face he used ever since I decided to keep my pregnancy.

“Oh, you are here,” he said flatly, as if I were a delivery person who arrived too early.

Monica smirked and stood up from his lap, “I am not sorry it took you this long to find out, Declan was mine first, he only married you to boost his fashion career. He is the father of my seven year old son, just so you know we have been together long before he met you.”

I blinked surprised at her confession, “Monica, I even confided in you about Declan’s infidelity, those nights when he wasn’t home, I would call you and cry and you would listen and comfort me.” I said my voice was breaking.

She shrugs, “those nights, he was in my arms, listening to you pour your heart out, and we both laughed at you once you hung up, Oh, poor, foolish and desperate Amelia. So blind to the truth.”

I turned towards Declan, confused, hurt and a crying mess, “is this true, you used me and came here to hide after everything that happened?”

He scoffed, leaning back comfortably. “Hiding? Please, Amelia. I have been living comfortably and happily.” He said as he smacked Monica's ass hard and they both chuckled.

I looked at him, my voice barely above a whisper. "You left me at the hospital, you dumped us." My eyes welled up with tears as I asked, "Did you know our daughter died?" My vision blurred, and a sob caught in my throat.

He rolled his eyes. “Here we go again. Blackmailing, I know she died, so what? Didn’t I tell you I didn’t want a child in the first place?”

I stared at him in disbelief. No empathy, no guilt, nothing. How did I end up with such a vile man?I had been so blinded then.

After everything I have done for you,this is how you repay me?” My voice came out in a whisper, barely holding itself together.

“Exactly.” Declan rose from his seat and walked toward me, stopping so close I could feel the coldness radiating off him. His eyes were empty. “I used you,” he said plainly. “I never loved you. I only put up with you all these years. And the worst part of being married to you?” He scoffed. “Having sex with you. You disgust me. I only forced myself because I needed you to keep sponsoring my career.”

My throat tightened. “You used me,” I said, shaking. “Everything I did, I did out of love. My family warned me about you, but I didn’t listen because I loved you.”

“You should have listened to them,” he snapped. “And don’t even get me started on your family, acting like you are some saint when you are no better than me. Should have told them how wild you really are, the weed, getting high just to get fucked, the aphrodisiacs, you can’t survive without any of it.” He smirked. “Imagine a child with a woman like you.”

The same things he threw at me were the very things he once claimed he adored, the things he said made us perfect for each other.

“You used to love those things about me,” I said softly, though the words didn’t matter anymore. Tears burned behind my eyes. “But you could have saved our daughter, Declan. If not for me, then at least for humanity’s sake. You left her there to die, how cruel can you be?”

He laughed in my face.

“Save that wench and have something tying us together for life? Absolutely not. Better she dies so our chapter ends forever.”

He shrugged, amusement twisting his features.

“Annoying little brat, no self-love, just like her mother. I only tolerated her because I hadn’t achieved my goal yet. Now I am finally free from both of you.”

His laughter echoed, and Monica joined him.

Something snapped inside me, I didn’t plan it, My hand moved before my mind did.

I grabbed the flower vase on the table beside me and swung it with all the strength I had left.

It crashed against the side of his head. Declan’s eyes went wide for a second before his body collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud. The woman in the room screamed and backed away, but all I could do was stand there, breathing hard, my hand still shaking around the broken vase. Declan wasn’t moving.

✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿

I sat across from Adele in the tiny visitation room, my face so swollen I could barely see properly. Two weeks here felt like two years. My whole body throbbed with bruises.

Adele’s eyes widened the moment she saw me. She covered her mouth like she might scream.

“What did you even do to deserve this cruel treatment?” she asked, her voice trembling.

I shook my head slowly. “I don’t know. It feels like they purposely pick on me or someone told them to. They beat me anytime they want, for anything.”

I tried to smile, but it cracked into something painful instead. Maybe this was the punishment I deserved for murdering my husband. Just two weeks inside these walls and I had already wished a thousand times that I could wind back the clock.

My life was wrecked by the single mistake of marrying that beast. Losing him wasn’t even the beginning of my problems. First, I was kicked out of my own company. Then investigators discovered a massive loan taken out in my name, but I never signed anything. Declan had forged the documents, taken the money, and spent it. He didn’t stop there, he cleared out our joint account, leaving me with nothing but debt and now a murder charge hanging over my head.

“What do we do now?” Adele asked, panic rising. “Your account is empty, your jewelry is gone, your land deeds gone. That man drained you. How all those things vanished after his death is a mystery.”

“My housekeeper would never take them,” I said. “Could someone have broken in? But even then, why take documents? And who cleared my accounts?” My stomach twisted. “Something is very wrong.”

“You know what, sell the house. The documents are with my parents. Please, Adele do anything to save me. If I stay here longer, I will die.”

Adele’s eyes filled. She held my bruised hand gently.

“I promise. I’ll do everything I can. You are not dying here.”

✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿

The guard called my name, and my heart leaped. Adele must have news about the house. Maybe, finally something was going right.

But when I stepped into the visitation room, it wasn’t Adele waiting for me.It was my mother.

One look at her face and my knees almost buckled, when she saw me her eyes went wide, I could barely see with an eye.

“Mum? Where’s Adele?”

She swallowed hard. “Baby, Adele is dead.”

The room spun, “What do you mean gone?” My voice cracked. “Gone where?”

“She caught her husband cheating,” my mother whispered. “They argued, he pushed her. She hit her head and died before the ambulance arrived.”

I stared at her, unable to breathe, stared at her, feeling the ground tilt under me. Adele, my only friend, the one person desperate to save me.

“What about the house?” I asked finally, “She was supposed to sell the house. Please tell me she gave you the documents.”

“And the house…” My mother’s voice cracked. “The bank took it. They claimed it against the loan in your name. There’s nothing left to sell.”

The world around me blurred, realising that every lifeline I had was gone.

✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿

That night, I couldn’t close my eyes, Adele’s death replayed in my mind over and over until my chest ached with every breath. I curled on the thin mattress, trembling, wishing for morning. It feels like this darkness is eating me up.

The cell door clicked, I froze cause it wasn’t time for rounds.

Three inmates slipped in, the same women who had been tormenting me since the day I arrived.

My heart sank, I quickly sat up, “ Please not tonight,” I whispered.

Something in me felt like they were here for their usual beating, I looked at one of their hands and she was holding a knife.

“You should have just learnt to let go, take your L in peace,” one of them muttered.

“I didn’t do anything,” I said, scrambling back until my spine hit the wall.

“That’s the problem,” another said. “Someone wants you gone.”

Before I could scream, the first blow landed hard, crushing my breath. I tasted blood instantly. They dragged me off the mattress and onto the cold floor, fists raining down on both sides of my face, my ribs, my stomach.

Then something sharp pressed against my skin, I jerked, but two of them held me down.

The third leaned close, her voice a whisper. “This is from outside.”

The blade slid in cold fire tearing through my side.

I gasped, eyes wide, then another stab, they kept stabbing me. Hot blood pooled beneath me, spreading fast. I tried to speak, to beg, to scream, but only choking sounds came out.

My vision dimmed as their footsteps retreated, the cell door closing quietly behind them like nothing had happened.

The ceiling above me blurred. My fingers twitched weakly against the floor. All I could think was that I never got to say goodbye.

The only thing that kept replaying in my

mind was, I curse the day I met Declan, I wish I could get my revenge even in death.

Then everything went blank.

Author's note: 😭😭, And I say, trust men or paint your house with nail polish, I want to see your comment😂