Chapter 4:
POV : Arrabella
My hand tightened around the handle of the fabric suitcase resting on the marble floor.
Its wheels creaked softly as I dragged it past the shredded pieces of the divorce papers still scattered near the sofa.
I no longer cared about Michael’s arrogance.
If he refused to sign them now, I would ask the orphanage’s lawyer to handle the matter through legal means.
I had to leave today.
Just as my foot reached the first step leading toward the front door, a rough grip closed around my wrist.
“Let go, Michael!” I shouted, trying to shake his hand off.
Michael said nothing.
Instead of releasing me, he slipped one arm beneath my knees and the other behind my back.
In one swift movement, my body was lifted into the air.
He carried me by force.
“Michael, what are you doing?! Put me down!” I yelled, pounding my fists against his broad chest.
My struggle did nothing to slow his steady strides as he carried me back upstairs toward the master bedroom.
Bang!
The bedroom door was kicked open and then slammed shut just as roughly.
Michael strode toward the king-sized bed and tossed me onto it without the slightest hint of gentleness.
The mattress bounced beneath me, making my head spin slightly.
“Where are you going, Ara?” Michael asked.
His voice was low, hoarse, and filled with menace.
He immediately caged me in, bracing both hands beside my head, leaving me no room to escape.
“Away from your life! Away from this hell!” I shouted.
My breath caught in my throat as I saw the furious redness in his eyes.
I truly could not understand his behavior.
Why had he become so rough and possessive?
The way he acted today was completely different from that night two years ago—the first night after a year of our dull marriage when he had finally touched me as a husband should.
That night, Michael had been incredibly gentle and patient, as though he were afraid of hurting me, even though he returned to acting normal the next day.
But now?
The man standing before me looked like a stranger possessed by vengeance.
“I already told you,” Michael hissed. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Before I could reply, he lowered his face abruptly.
His lips silenced mine in a rough, demanding kiss filled with explosive emotion.
The scent of mint mixed with his strong cologne overwhelmed my senses.
I tried to resist and turn away, but his hand quickly gripped my jaw, forcing me to endure his relentless assault.
“Mmhh... Mi... chael...” I gasped between the forced kisses.
Every touch Michael gave me seemed to burn my skin.
Tears streamed from the corners of my eyes, dampening the pillow, yet my body betrayed my own mind.
Every time his warm fingers brushed against me, I lost the strength to resist.
The invisible bond forged over three years made my body respond to his touch as though I had been created solely to belong to him.
My coat fell to the floor.
The cold room suddenly transformed into a suffocating sea of fire.
For the first time in our three years of marriage, Michael crossed every boundary he had previously maintained between us.
There were no barriers left.
His actions carried a demanding intensity, ignoring every small sob that escaped my lips, as though he were trying to carve an undeniable mark of possession upon me so that I could never step beyond the line he had drawn.
Two hours passed in exhausting silence.
The room now smelled of sweat and despair.
Michael lay beside me, sleeping deeply from exhaustion.
His breathing was steady, rising and falling peacefully against the tangled sheets.
Slowly, I sat up and pulled the blanket around myself.
My eyes stared blankly at the ceiling as I mourned my own foolishness for surrendering once again to the same man.
Bzzzt... Bzzzt... Bzzzt...
The vibration of a phone on the nightstand beside Michael shattered the silence.
I glanced toward the illuminated screen.
The name “Sophia” flashed repeatedly.
I turned to look at Michael, who remained completely undisturbed in his deep sleep.
Moving carefully so as not to wake the sleeping lion, I reached out and picked up my husband’s phone.
My fingers trembled briefly before sliding the green button to answer.
I pressed the phone to my ear without saying a word.
“Michael? Have you finished dealing with that woman?”
Sophia’s voice immediately came through the line.
Her tone was no longer sweet and affectionate like it had been in the living room.
It sounded sharp and certain.
I remained silent, holding my breath.
“Michael, listen to me,” Sophia continued, believing she was speaking to him. “I know why you refused to divorce Ara right now. You did it on purpose, didn’t you? You want revenge on her for what she did three years ago.”
Thump.
My heart seemed to stop beating.
Every joint in my body suddenly turned weak.
“You’re deliberately keeping her in that house just to hurt her little by little, aren’t you?”
Sophia chuckled softly, a laugh that sounded horrifying to my ears.
“I know how your mind works, Michael. And I agree with your method. I’ll patiently wait here until you’re satisfied with destroying her. Ara is evil. She used the orphanage to separate us back then. She deserves every bit of that pain.”
Beep.
I immediately ended the call with trembling fingers.
The phone slipped from my grasp and landed softly on the bed.
My world collapsed.
It shattered into countless pieces that could never be put back together.
Oh.
So now I knew.
I finally understood the reason behind his furious outburst and absolute refusal in the living room earlier.
Tears flowed again without restraint, streaming down my pale cheeks.
I clutched my chest, which felt unbearably tight, as though all the oxygen in the room had vanished.
Silent sobs escaped my constricted throat.
Fool.
I truly was the most foolish woman in the world.
A few hours ago, when he tore up the divorce papers and looked at me with that flash of anger in his eyes, a ridiculous thought had crossed my mind.
For a moment, I had believed...
Maybe, just maybe, there was a little love or attachment that made Michael unwilling to let me go.
I had thought my husband might feel the same way.
It turned out I was completely wrong.
His refusal had nothing to do with love.
It was driven by the vengeance burning inside him.
He was keeping me here only to make me a target for his resentment because he believed I had driven Sophia away three years ago.
He wanted to destroy my heart and mind as revenge.
I turned and looked at Michael’s sleeping face beside me.
The face I had once adored now looked like a deadly chain ready to strangle me at any moment.
Everything that had happened earlier... all of it felt like part of his cruel plan to keep me trapped within a circle of suffering.
I wiped away my tears harshly, transforming them into a determination as cold as ice.
The pain in my body was nothing compared to the devastation inside my chest.
“Fine, Michael,” I whispered into the darkness of the room.
My voice was hoarse, yet sharp.
“If this is the game you want to play, I refuse to be your toy.”
Slowly, I lowered my feet to the floor, ignoring the ache spreading through my body.
I put my scattered clothes back on one by one.
It was time for me to leave.
This time, nothing would stop me.
Not Michael.
Not even the entire world.
I would never allow anyone to keep me trapped in this hell again.
