Chapter 3
Miguel said, "Bethany, Colette almost lost the baby.
"To make up for it, you have to clear things up in public.
"Last time, you were the one who maliciously smeared her. Admit it."
I laughed, like I'd just heard the funniest joke of the century.
"And if I don't?" I asked.
"Wiping out a small company is child's play for me," Miguel said.
It was the first time he'd ever threatened me so bluntly.
But memories kept flashing through my mind.
There was Miguel, defending me in front of everyone.
He lifted me out of the mess when I was at my lowest.
By the sea, he knelt down and asked me to marry him.
But he had changed his mind.
The love was real, and so was the pain right now.
A small company?
He still thought I was the Bethany Fraser who once had nothing.
I said coldly, "Miguel, I suggest you agree to the divorce.
"Otherwise, I can't promise Colette will walk away unharmed if she tries to cross me again."
He stared at me, his brows furrowed.
After a long pause, he finally gritted out, "I'll never agree."
With that, he walked out, his face grim.
A sharp pain exploded in my head.
Fragments of forgotten memories flashed through my mind.
The scorching heat of flames, a woman's desperate screams, and a pair of hands shoving me out of the blaze.
It was like everything before I was eight just got erased from my mind.
Only the headaches kept coming back.
I clutched my head, almost collapsing.
I had to go back to the villa to retrieve something.
It was the only keepsake I had left. The one thing I still carried when a kind stranger brought me to the orphanage.
It was a lock-shaped pendant, engraved with the barely visible name "Fraser."
Once the pain eased a little, I dragged myself back to the villa, barely holding it together.
By the entrance, a pair of high heels lay abandoned.
I headed upstairs.
The master bedroom door was slightly ajar.
Inside, I could hear a woman stifling her sobs, and a man's voice, full of concern, trying to soothe her.
Colette pleaded, "Miguel, she destroyed me! Please, help me!
"I want her ruined and disgraced. I want her to pay for everything!"
I stood at the doorway, seeing it all, clear as day through the crack.
Miguel gently kissed away her tears, then pulled her close, pressing her beneath him.
Her sobs slowly shifted into broken moans.
The room was thick with their breathless, tangled gasps.
Underneath them was a pale blue blanket.
Back when I first learned to knit, I'd pulled all-nighters making it for Miguel.
The stitches were crooked, and he'd always complain about it.
But he'd keep pulling it out just to look at it, cherishing it so much he couldn't bear to actually use it.
But now, it was under someone else, stained by their betrayal.
I turned and walked downstairs and sat in silence on the living room couch.
I had no idea how much time had passed when I finally heard the sound of a door opening upstairs.
Colette descended the stairs, draped in Miguel's shirt, looking utterly satisfied.
When she saw me, she was startled for a moment, then flashed a smug, victorious smile.
She paused at the top of the stairs, her voice dripping with provocation as she spoke.
"Bethany, did you like what you saw?" Colette taunted, her voice dripping with mockery.
I ignored her.
Colette smirked, "Miguel's skills in bed put his courtroom tricks to shame.
"If I'd come back earlier, you wouldn't have even had a chance to worm your way in."
I looked up at her, my gaze icy.
Suddenly, she smirked, that smug little grin she always wore.
Then she screamed, faking a tumble as if someone had shoved her down the stairs.
Classic Colette. She always pulled this stunt.
Too bad for her, I wasn't about to play her game today.
Without hesitation, I marched up the stairs and slammed my foot into her lower back.
This time, she actually went tumbling down for real.
Her scream shattered the villa's silence.
Almost instantly, Miguel came rushing down the stairs, just in time to see Colette tumbling down the stairs,
I just stood off to the side.
"Colette!" Miguel yelled, panic blazing in his eyes.
He rushed to the stairs, desperate to catch her.
In that frantic moment, he finally snapped and got physical with me for the first time.
He shoved me so hard I went sprawling.
The force sent me crashing down the stairs before I could even react.
The world spun in a dizzy blur around me.
Through the chaos, I saw Miguel clutching Colette, panic and heartbreak written all over his face.
A few seconds later, Miguel started to move toward me, as if to help.
But Colette, still sobbing in his arms, clung to his sleeve, refusing to let go.
When he finally looked at me again, it was like I was something filthy he'd just scraped off his shoe. I'd never seen that kind of disgust in his eyes before.
"Bethany," he spat. "Since you want a divorce so badly, I'll make it happen.
"Since you want a divorce so badly, I'll make it happen."
"Take your crap and get out of my sight."
He finally agreed to the divorce, but only for Colette.
How ironic.
I could taste blood in my mouth, and suddenly, I just started laughing.
Clinging to the wall, I forced myself up, legs shaky and weak.
Not once did I look back at them. Step by step, I made my way out of the villa.
The pain in my head was so fierce that everything started to blur.
The moment I stepped out the front door, my legs finally gave out.
my legs finally gave out. I crashed to the ground.