Snakes Terrified Me, I Left My Husband

Chapter 3

Hazel looked up at Beatriz with tears streaming down her face, her expression the absolute picture of sincerity.

"Bea, I am so, so sorry. I know I've always been way too spoiled and selfish.

"Losing my parents when I was a kid changed me. Lucas is the most important person in the world to me, and I was just so terrified you were going to take him away from me. That's why I always threw tantrums and acted out.

"But I get it now. Lucas has only ever loved you. I completely crossed the line this time. I swear I'll never try to compete with you again."

Beatriz stared at her, completely numb. This wasn't her first rodeo. After sabotaging her and Lucas's marriage registration for the seventeenth time, Hazel had put on this exact same innocent, well-behaved act, swearing up and down that it would never happen again.

Lucas had been thrilled back then.

But the very next day, the moment Lucas left for a business trip, Hazel tricked Beatriz into a walk-in cold storage unit and locked her inside for twelve grueling hours. If Lucas hadn't changed his flight schedule and rushed home early, she would have frozen to death.

Remembering that, Beatriz watched her warily, not buying a single word.

Seeing the cold distrust in her eyes, Hazel cried even harder.

"I know I've screwed up way too many times for you to just believe me now. But to prove I'm serious about changing, I've already made up my mind. I'm checking myself into a psychiatric facility today.

"I won't come back home until my mental health is completely sorted out."

Lucas looked at his sister with deep concern, a wave of profound relief washing over his face. "Hazel, you're going to get better."

He turned around and squeezed Beatriz's hand. "Bea, Hazel is genuinely trying to turn over a new leaf. Can you give us one more chance?"

'Hell no.'

That was the answer screaming inside her head. But seeing the stubborn, unyielding look in his eyes, Beatriz remembered the last time they had fought over Hazel. She had been so completely devastated that she demanded a divorce.

Terrified that she would walk out on him, Lucas locked her in her room for three days and three nights. He had to leave for an urgent business trip, so he ordered the servants to watch her. Hazel took that opportunity to forbid the staff from bringing her any food. Beatriz starved for three whole days before he finally returned and let her out.

She didn't dare let him see what she was actually thinking anymore. Resisting the urge to rip her hand away from his grip, her face remained completely expressionless as she gave him a stiff nod.

Lucas let out a massive sigh of relief. He turned back to Hazel. "Let's go. I'll drive you to the clinic."

As she watched the two of them walk out of the hospital room side by side, Beatriz's blank expression hardened. She grabbed her phone and shot a text straight to her lawyer.

Beatriz: Prepare a divorce agreement for me immediately. I am leaving Lucas.

Lucas wanted a wife to come home to, but he couldn't bring himself to let go of his precious sister, Hazel. But life doesn't work that way. You don't get to have your cake and eat it too. He was always asking her to compromise, to make sacrifices, but this time, she was done.

She was going to step aside and let him have Hazel all to himself. Once a line is crossed, it gets crossed a million times. She was done believing in one last time.

A moment later, her phone buzzed.

It was her lawyer.

Lwayer: Miss Cadler, I just ran a background check. You and President Mercer aren't actually married.

Beatriz stared at the text in absolute shock, her mind rejecting the words instantly.

She typed back frantically.

Beatriz: What are you talking about? There must be a mistake. We registered our marriage two years ago!

She quickly took a screenshot of the digital marriage certificate saved on her phone and sent it over.

A long, agonizing silence followed before the lawyer finally replied.

Lwayer: This certificate is a fake.

Beatriz stared blankly at the screen, tears blurring her vision before spilling over.

The year she and Lucas supposedly tied the knot, they had gone to the courthouse over a dozen times, and every single time, Hazel had staged a crisis to ruin it.

Seeing how depressed and heartbroken Beatriz was over the constant delays, Lucas had come home one day and surprised her with two marriage certificates. He told her he had pulled some strings behind the scenes to get the paperwork processed secretly.

But it was all a lie. It was just a counterfeit piece of paper meant to keep her quiet.

How pathetic. She was so incredibly pathetic.

Beatriz clutched her phone, laughing through her tears as a bitter sob tore from her throat.

When her parents died in that horrific car accident, Lucas had been her rock through her darkest, most agonizing days.

He knew better than anyone else in the world how desperate she was for a real home, a real family.

Yet, he chose to look her in the eye and deceive her with fake documents, all because he was terrified of upsetting Hazel.

Her tears eventually dried up, replaced by a cold, venomous smile. Her heart was totally dead.

Since she was a child, her parents had kept her true identity fiercely guarded to protect her. Lucas had always assumed she came from a completely ordinary, middle-class background. He had absolutely no idea that after her parents passed away, an inheritance worth hundreds of billions of dollars had fallen directly into her hands.

During their years together, she had been so worried about hurting his fragile male pride that she had secretly used her own family's wealth to bankroll and prop up his company, the Mercer Group.

But since she and Lucas weren't legally husband and wife, the massive fortune her parents left her had absolutely nothing to do with him.

Beatriz dialed her asset manager.

When she spoke, her voice was like ice.

"Pull every single investment out of the Mercer Group. Effective immediately. Do not leave them a single cent."

The moment she hung up, she logged onto the government portal and submitted an application for overseas residency.

Within minutes, a notification popped up on her screen. The system informed her that the processing time would take exactly one week.

Clutching her phone tightly, Beatriz let out one final, shaky breath. In seven days, she would leave the country permanently. And Lucas would never see her again.