Chapter 2

[ LIANA'S POV ]

I held my breath as I said. “I’ll give you what you want but only if you do something for me first.”

His low, amused laugh rumbled through the line. “That’s fine by me, baby. I'm glad you've come back to me. Just say the word, love. Anything you need.”

I clenched my hand in a tight fist, trying to slow down my heavy breathing and the warning in my head that I was about to get into something I might never be able to get out of.

“Zane Maddox. Make him lose everything, including his company. I want you to make him go back to the wretched state he was in before I married him. And then…you can have me like you want.”

“Mmm, you know I live for that. I've already got the keys. Should I come get you now?”

“Not now. In a week… There are still some things I really need to do. I will call you then.” I said and ended the call.

A week. That was all the time I was giving myself to tidy up things here and walk out forever. Then they will each taste the wrath of what they did to me.

It was almost 5 am but Zane still wasn't back after he left to go be with Selena and his son.

I lay on the cold tiled floor, shaking, bleeding inside and out. My womb was gone, and the image of my baby being cut apart kept playing on repeat in my head.

How could I live with this? Since I was home alone anyway, I could just jump off the balcony and free myself from this pain right this instant… but I couldn't.

I had to push through. How else would I get the justice my son and I deserve?

The next morning, I had cried so much that I couldn't even feel my face anymore.

Soon, the family doctor arrived with two nurses to attend to me while Zane was still nowhere to be found. He hadn't even called.

“When are you going to stop coming here?” I asked the doctor before he could say a word. I kept my eyes away. That man had taken my womb.

“Mr. Maddox asked to tend to you until you are well.” He replied.

I sat up. “I'm well now. You can leave.”

The doctor looked flustered. He left with his two nurses a few minutes later.

After they had left, I got dressed and headed straight to a lawyer's office. “I'm here to end my marriage.”

“You've taken the hardest step. Let's get the ball rolling right away. I can have everything processed within twenty-four hours.”

After I left the lawyer's office, I decided to walk back home to clear my mind. I was almost halfway when my driver pulled up beside me.

He stepped out of the car and opened the door for me. A big smile on his face. “Get in, Mrs. Maddox, your husband is home and he has a surprise for you.”

How could he smile when he had assisted Zane with his evil deeds? Now he was smiling at me trying to hide what he had done.

Maybe Zane had forced him to drive the van that kidnapped me and my son that day. Maybe he had no choice but to be loyal to his boss but I still couldn't help but feel betrayed.

I nodded heavily and got into the car without a word.

Soon, we arrived at the mansion but I stayed still in the car for a few more minutes. I didn't want to go into the home I had been living in for three years with Zane.

Even after I got out of the car, I stood at the door for a few more minutes. I was about to push it open when it suddenly opened from the other side.

My eyes rested on a little boy holding the door open before it moved to the dining area where my Mother-In-Law was affectionately holding the hands of Selena, while looking at her so tenderly.

Selena had a luxurious flowery dress on and a smile on her face. Beside her was her one-year-old son, snug in a baby carrier, fast asleep.

That was the boy my little son's life was sacrificed for. I squeezed my eyes shut, holding back tears.

Selena glanced at me before quickly speaking up.

“I appreciate the offer, Mrs. Maddox. But Zane and I are trying to have another baby. So I don't think staying here would be good for me. Or even his wife.”

My mother-in-law’s face tightened in a flash. “That imbecile with no home training! You don't have to worry about her. She was never a part of this family. I don't even know why she is still here ruining our family's luck. My son should have kicked her into the dirty street where she belongs a long time ago!”

Her words shot several burning daggers into my chest. But compared to what I overheard the day before, they didn't hurt a bit.

With a flat expression on my face. I said nothing and turned to walk away but someone shoved me hard in the shoulder… sending me crashing to the floor.

“Ahh,” I screamed out in pain. Trying to stand back up on my feet. My whole body was aching terribly.

“You gold-digging prostitute!” My mother-in-law screamed at me and hit me so hard on my head that I instantly felt a headache.

“What was that for?” I barked at her, my hands clenched in a tight fist.

“How dare you walk out on me while I was still talking? When did you become even more disrespectful and obnoxious than you already were?! This shameless attitude of yours is the reason why you and your son were kidnapped and why you watched him being chopped to death!” She hissed venomously.

I stared at her with tightly pressed lips as her words dug deep into my heart, wounding it.

“Instead of making baseless rumours. Direct your questions to your son, not me. He probably remembers it better than I do!” I fired back.

“You imbecile—” She tried to hit me in the head again but Zane appeared, catching her hand in the air.

“Stop this, Mom! Why are you laying your hands on my wife?” He questioned.

“Liana, are you okay?” He asked, brushing his fingers against my cheek.

I shoved his hand away and stepped back. The contact made my skin crawl. Back then, his touch was everything that I needed to feel alive but now it was the very thing I dreaded the most.

His mother had always been this way. Back then, she was equally disgusted as she is with me now. Just because I didn't grow up in a luxurious mansion like the other ladies she thought were more fitting for her son.

The only reason she eventually let her son marry me was because he told her that I was very fertile and she was greedy for a grandson. But now, even that was unachievable. And I would still be the one to be thrown back under the bus.

“Laina, don't be so stubborn. You shouldn't have walked out on my mother and Selena in the first place. You were wrong. So apologize to them right this instant!” Zane growled.

I chuckled dryly. “Why are they even here in the first place? Why should I apologize for walking out of a conversation I wasn't interested in?”

“You let her raise her voice at you like this?” His mother roared.

“Maybe I should just leave. Clearly, I'm not wanted here and I don't want to make things worse between you both.” Selena said. Her eyes were wide in false innocence.

“Daddy, why is the housemaid being so loud?” A tiny voice rang out from the living room.

My eyes rested on him. He was the one who opened the door for me earlier. And only now did I realize just how much he resembled Zane. He had his eyes and even the color of his hair.

He should be about three years old, around the same time I got married to Zane.