CHAPTER 1
Hannah’s POV
“Is your husband coming to pick you up?” My step-uncle asked as he cleared the table.
“My husband divorced me twenty-four hours ago,” I blurted out.
I watched as the plates crackled down from his hands, shattering into pieces.
“You divorced your husband?” He screamed as he ignored the messy floor and walked up to me.
“He divorced me” I repeated as I stared at him.
“And…Are…Are…you okay?” His voice softened.
I stared at him for a long time before breaking into the tears I had been suppressing.
My uncle pulled me closer into a warm embrace.
“Poor little angel, you don’t deserve this pain”, he whispered to my ear as he held me in his embrace.
The phrase kept ringing in my ear as I remembered the times he had said those words to me.
The first time he said those words was the very first time I met him in my life, which was at the orphanage. And afterwards, I heard those words again the time he came to visit me at my in-law's place.
My husband and I both lived with his parents and siblings. The idea seemed interesting at first until it became a horror to me.
My uncle had come to pay me a visit when he saw what I had been going through at the hands of my in-laws.
“The meat is too tender,” Kate, my husband’s sister, said as she threw the minced beef dish at my face.
Wiping off the stains from my face, I cast a glance at my uncle, who sat at the edge of the table and shook my head, preventing him from reacting.
“I’ll make you another one” I smiled at her.
I went about serving my husband’s other four brothers and his parents while they kept ordering different kinds of food.
“Hannah, I said I wanted pasta for dinner, what’s this?” Chris, one of the brothers, whined.
“You told me you wanted mashed potatoes. I had to go to the mart out of town to get the potatoes because….” I tried to explain.
“So, I am lying?” He retorted.
“No, I just…you clearly sent me a message that you wanted potatoes” I replied, reaching for my phone in the apron’s pocket and swiping to remind him of his request.
“Hannah, stop complaining and go make him his pasta” " my mother-in-law replied.
“Just eat what’s been prepared”, my father-in-law interjected.
Everyone turned to look at him and ignored him like they always do.
“And me too, I would love Lasagna with green salad”, April, my husband's cousin added and smiled at me.
I paused to look at her. She is not even one of the intermediate family, and yet she is always here.
“What of you, Liam” she asked, reaching for his hand.
Liam smiled at her and caressed her hand before replying “I’ll have whatever you want”
“You heard them right,”, My mother-in-law said, shooing me to the kitchen to make another batch of food.
“If you can make waffles and chicken for me, too,” Adam, the other brother, interjected as I made my way to the kitchen.
I looked at the batch of food I had spent my whole afternoon making on their request, only for it to be discarded and making me go back to the kitchen to start another preparation.
As I made to go, Liam spoke again “I hope you don’t mind us. It’s because you are a great cook”
I smiled at him, then thought he had said it because he actually meant it.
My uncle came to join me in the kitchen, “What’s going on?” he asked.
“Nothing”
“There is something. It doesn’t make sense that they have loads of maids and tons of servants, and yet they make you do this”
“You heard my husband. It’s cause they love my cooking”
“And what’s with that bat-eyed woman requesting for food like you work for her.”
“Oh… April? She is Liam’s cousin. Apparently, she used to be close with them as a child; that's why they are super close, and she is always here,” I told him.
“Is that why I saw both of them coming from the restroom earlier?” My uncle scoffed.
“Maybe she needed help with something”
Just then, boiling water splashed on my palm, and I let out a loud yell. My uncle came to my aid.
“Make haste; we are starving”, I heard them yell from the living room.
No one even came to check up on me. Not even my husband. I should have known then. I wondered what blinded my eye.
“Poor little angel, you don’t deserve this pain,” my uncle said as he tendered to me that night.
“So what happened? My uncle looked at me as he broke the embrace.
I looked at my palm, which had scarred from the hot water then, and covered it with a handkerchief, which I held in my other hand.
“I….I…I” my voice quivered in tears as I remembered when Liam had thrown the divorce paper at my face.
It was our wedding anniversary, and it seemed like he had forgotten. He had never remembered our anniversary but this time, I decided to surprise him at his office.
Maybe I shouldn’t have gone, or maybe it was time to finally be the end of the torturous life my husband and in-laws had created for me.
Everyone had gone to work, and I was alone at home on our anniversary. I wanted to work, too, but Liam had kicked against it. His mother also said it would be too burdensome for me to work and fulfil my wifey duties.
I had called him several times to remind him of our anniversary, but he wasn’t picking up his phone, so I decided to go to the office.
I strutted into the company wearing the yellow gown he had bought for me on my birthday, holding a lunch box in my hand. I had prepared his favourite dish, hoping to surprise him and to remind him of our anniversary.
I remembered the lunch box I held coming down to the floor with a bang and how everything went blurry.
“I am here to see my husband,” I said shyly, smiling at the bodyguards in front of his office.
“Come again?”
“I am Liam Smith’s wife,” I said, still smiling.
“No, you are not. The planning director is his wife”
I narrowed my eyes at the secretary.
“Planning director?” I asked.
That was the position Liam promised me before we got married, and he changed his mind about me working.
“Hannah Wayne?” I heard my name from behind.
I turned around to look at a familiar face peering into mine.
This might be the wrong time for this kind of thought, but he was gorgeous.
“It’s me, Atlas”
“Atlas?”
The man chuckled, and his voice seemed to take away my confusion.
“Atlas Windsor” He smiled.
“What? Oh..my God…you look…” I paused.
“You work here? Is anyone occupying the planning director’s office?” I asked.
Liam had told me it was vacant and reserved the position for me until the right time.
“ Liam Smith’s wife”
“What? I am…..” I was startled and almost fell.
“Can I see her picture?”
Atlas swiped his phone and showed me a wedding picture of both Liam and April looking at each other with love.
“Wait? Is this a prank? That’s his cousin.” I said before I saw myself colliding with the marble on the floor.
