On the night I went to surprise Xander with my pregnancy, I fell down the stairs, lying in a pool of my blood.
I called my step-brother once, twice, 99 times… sitting on the cold tile floor of the hotel bathroom miscarrying his child, biting my own fist so no one would hear me scream.
Dragging my battered body with our miscarried child in a towel to the 52nd floor, I raised my hands to knock at the doors of his private lounge when a bubbling laughter echoed from inside:
"Man, is your revenge on Claire not over yet?"
My entire body froze, my hand hovering an inch from the oak.
"Your stepsister must think you are the hero who gave her a new life by loving her, who could have guessed that you took her virginity and made her your mistress just to get back at her mother?!"
The words hit my head like a sledgehammer as I stumbled back in horror.
No..No…how could Xander let them say such cruel words, he would deny such horrible allegations immediately-
"Claire deserves it." Xander’s voice sliced through the air like a gunshot, his voice devoid of emotion.
“A daughter of a damn mistress only deserves to be a mistress, just good for warming the bed before being discarded.
If anything, I showed her mercy by feeding her contraceptives since the day I took her virginity, or who knows, she would have already given birth to a litter of bastards.”
Large tears rolled down my eyes as I stumbled hard, blood dripping down my legs as the cold gnawed at my bones.
What did he say……
And then the truth hit me like a truck.
The bitter tablets I used to gag on before he slipped into my bed. The ones Xander lovingly insisted I swallow. The ones he claimed would ‘keep me healthy.’
Suddenly, it all came crashing down to me, the pain and shock of betrayal from the sweet ‘husband’ who whispered sweet nothings into my ears as we made love, the one who promised forever.
Xander’s best friend laughed, almost amused. "No, seriously. We all thought it was a bit twisted. When you made a bet with us to take her virginity we thought it was a joke.
Who would have guessed that you will personally bring us the bloody sheets as proof and even after five years would not let go of your revenge…Claire’s mother seduced your dad, but isn’t that girl innocent?”
“Innocent?” Xander laughed humorlessly, making my body run cold. “Then blame it on her being born from that cursed womb!
That woman showed up on my mom’s death anniversary along with her sixteen-year-old daughter, pretending to be a heartbroken friend, and then what?
Within a month, she climbed into my father’s bed and became Mrs.Hart. Even going as far as to beg grandfather to transfer 5% of Hart family’s shares to her daughter, who didn’t even share a drop of our blood.”
Hot tears streamed down without abandon as the past spilled open like a can of worms.
Five years ago, I warned my mother, begged her not to go near Xander’s father… but she only slapped me and wished I had never been born.
I couldn’t stop her greed, so why was I the one he chose to destroy?
It was then that another voice chimed in.
“Now that you have taken Claire’s signature to transfer all shares to yourself, and have become ‘Hart Enterprises’ only heir. What will you do?..... Looking at how you cherish Claire now, it actually doesn't look like you are using her at all. Tell us,
Xander. Have you fallen for that girl?"
Silence.
I held my breath tightly, my heart trapped like a bird in my chest.
The blood between my legs was still warm weeping for our dead child when Xander’s mocking reply pierced through me like a knife.
"What rubbish. It was always business with her….pure revenge. The one I have loved has always been Victoria." I closed my eyes, bleeding tears of anguish as he continued.
“Claire was never meant to stay in my life this long, afterall a toy always has an expiration date and now I am quite bored.”
Bored?
Unable to bear any longer, I turned to leave with pain exploding inside each pore of my body when his next words froze me completely.
"I am getting married to Victoria in four days, my revenge will be fulfilled that day at last, infront of the whole world on the giant wedding screen, I will play Claire's videos trying to seduce me and completely ruin that mother-daughter pair."
My body could no longer carry its weight as I stumbled on the ground, my eyes wide open in horror.
After all these years of being together, after destroying me completely he was still unsatisfied.
Was it all a game for him when he sweetly kissed me? When we made love and thought of names for our children?
Unable to bear any longer, with our dead child clutched to my heart, I ran outside with tears streaming down my face not caring of the cold rain seeping through my bones before completely breaking down on the pavement.
Foolish, how could I have been so foolish.
Xander Hart never once loved me, didn’t protect me from my mother’s cruel taunts to safeguard me but he all along rejoiced in my sorrow.
“My dear child, because of my foolishness, you have suffered so much. Xander since it was all a farce, I will give up on you completely.”
