Helene Richard POV:
The memory of that public humiliation was a blur, a sickening kaleidoscope of flashing lights, venomous whispers, and the searing pain of my own hand against my cheek. My mind, in a desperate act of self-preservation, had blurred the edges, leaving only the raw, burning shame. Garrett had made good on his promise. He hadn't just fired me; he had annihilated my professional existence, leaving me a public pariah.
He really thought he could break me. He'd tried so many times before. I remembered a particularly brutal argument years ago, after my mother's first major surgery. He'd dismissed her illness as "an inconvenience," then bought me a ridiculously expensive necklace the next day, expecting it to erase his cruelty. I had worn it, a silent protest against the gilded cage he'd built around me. He thought money could fix everything, that grand gestures could mask the rot beneath. He saw me as a problem to be managed, a reputation to be protected, never a person to be loved.
A bitter, hollow laugh escaped me now. He had succeeded in stripping me bare, but he hadn't broken me in the way he intended. Instead, he had set me free. Free from the illusion, free from the burden of his name. Free, but utterly broken.
The sound of small footsteps interrupted my morbid thoughts. Kellen. Again. My heart, a withered thing, gave a faint flutter. He stood in the doorway of my study, a small, brightly colored toy car clutched in his hand.
"Mama," he said, his voice unusually soft, almost hesitant. He hadn't called me that in weeks. Always "that woman" or "Helene."
A tiny spark of hope, foolish and fragile, ignited within me. Had he seen my public disgrace? Had it finally pierced through the layers of Celsa's poison? Had he come to comfort me?
"Kellen?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper, afraid to shatter the moment. I reached out a trembling hand, yearning for some connection, some warmth from my own child.
He took a step closer, his eyes wide. Then, without warning, he wound his arm back and hurled the toy car directly at my head. It struck me hard above the eyebrow, a sharp, stinging impact. I cried out, recoiling, my hand flying to my face.
"Don't touch me, you bad mommy!" he shrieked, his face contorted in a mask of pure malice. "Daphne said you're a liar! You hurt Daddy!" He stomped his foot, a miniature tyrant. "I hate you!"
The impact of the car was nothing compared to the impact of his words. The tiny spark of hope extinguished, leaving behind a cold, desolate void. He wasn't comforting me. He was delivering the final blow. My own son, a weapon in their arsenal. My head throbbed, a fresh bruise forming above my eye. The stinging sensation mirrored the deeper wound in my heart.
My mother's passing. Kellen's words. The public shaming. It was a perfect storm, designed to obliterate me. And it had almost succeeded.
Just then, Garrett walked in, his expression a carefully constructed mask of concern. He saw Kellen, then me, then the toy car on the floor. He rushed over, his movements swift and practiced.
"Kellen, what did you do?" he chided, his voice surprisingly gentle, not truly angry. He knelt, scooping up Kellen and holding him close. Then he turned to me, his eyes now filled with a performative sympathy. "Helene, darling, are you alright? He's just a child, he doesn't understand." He even reached out to touch my face, his fingers tracing the red mark.
I flinched away. His touch was repugnant. The hypocrisy was a bitter taste in my mouth. "Don't touch me," I said, my voice flat.
He sighed, a long, suffering sound. "Still so dramatic. Look, I know you're upset. But we need to think about Kellen. And we need to talk about Daphne." He paused, a strange glint in his eye. "She's pregnant, Helene. With my child."
The words hit me like a physical blow. Pregnant. Daphne. Of course. The ultimate move. The final, undeniable claim on his life, on our life. My world tilted. I felt a sudden, dizzying wave of nausea, sharper and more intense than any I'd felt before.
Garrett continued, oblivious to my internal turmoil. "We can still make this work, Helene. For Kellen. For the family. Daphne understands her place. You'll still be my wife. We can just... manage this. I'll make sure you're compensated. Financially. You'll never have to work again. You can live in luxury. Just... compromise." He reached for my hand, his grip warm and insistent. "I promise, I'll make it up to you. We can go back to how things were."
Go back? To what? To being his public relations shield? To watching him parade his mistresses while I pretended to be the devoted wife? To living in a gilded cage, suffocating under the weight of his family's expectations? Never. Not again.
But the nausea persisted, a relentless churning in my stomach. A cold, horrifying realization dawned on me. The missed period. The strange cravings. The sudden fatigue. No. It couldn't be. Not now. Not after everything.
I stood abruptly, pushing past him. "I want you out," I stated, my voice shaking with a new kind of resolve, one born of sheer desperation. "Get out of my house. And take your… heir… with you."
The following days were a blur of Celsa's furious phone calls and my own quiet, grim determination. I was confined to the penthouse, branded as unstable, undergoing "grief counseling" sessions mandated by the Wise family. But in secret, I acted. I confirmed my suspicion. I was pregnant. With Garrett's child. A cruel twist of fate, a final, unasked-for tether to the man I now despised.
One afternoon, I presented Celsa with the signed divorce papers, already notarized by my lawyer. I had agreed to their terms: a significant financial settlement, but no public battle. My reputation was already gone. All I wanted was out. To my surprise, Celsa, after scrutinizing the documents, signed them. She wanted this messy affair tidied away.
"Good," she said, her voice sharp. "Now, stay out of sight, Helene. We'll handle the public announcement. You're a liability."
I nodded, my mind racing. The papers were signed. I was free. Almost.
That evening, Garrett stormed into the penthouse, his face a mask of incandescent rage. "You bitch!" he roared, slamming the door. "You actually did it! You signed the papers! You took our money!"
He lunged at me, his eyes wild. "You're a greedy, calculating whore! After everything I did for you, for your family, you stab me in the back like this?" He grabbed my shoulders, shaking me violently. "You think you can just take what's ours and walk away?"
"It was your idea, Garrett!" I screamed, struggling against his grip. "Your mother signed off on it! You wanted me gone!"
"Not like this!" he snarled, pushing me against the wall. His hands clamped around my throat, not hard enough to choke me, but enough to convey the threat, the raw, uncontrolled fury. "You took too much! You think you're so clever, don't you? You think you've won?"
His face was inches from mine, contorted with hatred. "I'll make you regret this. I'll make sure you never know a moment of peace. I'll make sure you suffer for every penny you took from me."
Just then, Daphne's voice, sickly sweet, drifted from the hallway. "Garrett, darling? What's going on? Are you hurting her again?" She appeared in the doorway, clutching her stomach, her face pale. "My head feels so dizzy... the baby..."
Garrett' s grip on me loosened. He turned, his gaze softening as he saw Daphne' s feigned distress. He rushed to her side, wrapping an arm around her protectively. "Are you alright, my love? Is the baby okay?"
Daphne leaned into him, her eyes flashing triumphantly at me over his shoulder. "I'm just so worried, Garrett. She's so unstable. She's been threatening me... threatening our baby." She looked at him, her voice filled with feigned fear. "I'm scared, Garrett. What if she does something to us?"
His eyes hardened, turning back to me. The rage returned, colder, more menacing. "She wouldn't dare," he growled. He turned to his security detail, who stood by passively. "Get her out of my sight. And if she resists, make sure she understands the consequences."
His security guards, burly men with impassive faces, moved towards me. I saw the glint of malice in their eyes. This wasn't just about removing me. This was about making an example.
My mind raced. This was it. The final, desperate act. I had to sever all ties, irrevocably. I had to make sure he would never come near me again. Not with Kellen, not with his threats, not with his family's power. And I had the perfect, terrible weapon.
As the guards closed in, I made my decision. A chilling calm settled over me. My hand, steady now, reached for the silver letter opener I had dropped earlier. It lay glinting on the floor by the fireplace, a silent witness to his abuse. I snatched it up.
"Stay away from me!" I screamed, my voice raw but clear. I pressed the sharp point of the letter opener against my lower abdomen. "Garrett," I called out, my voice trembling but firm, "you said you would make me suffer. You said I would regret this. You said I'd lose everything." My eyes locked with his. "You were right."
With a silent, agonizing gasp, I pushed. A sharp, searing pain exploded through me. The letter opener clattered to the floor, leaving a dark, blossoming stain on my white dress. The world went silent, then exploded into a symphony of screams and shouts.
"You did this, Garrett," I whispered, my voice barely audible, as my vision tunneled. "This is on you."
