BETRAYED BY DESIRE

Abandoned

The cab ride was quiet, almost suffocating, as my thoughts swirled uncontrollably. I stared out the window, watching the world blur by, and my mind drifted back to how it all began.

This marriage hadn’t been my choice—not really. My father had been drowning in debt, his business circling the drain, and Ethan had been the lifeline he desperately needed. At first, I resisted, but… Ethan. I had fallen for him long before the proposal, even before my father’s deal. He was charming, successful, and—back then—I had believed he had a good heart.

In the beginning, there was hope. Ethan wasn’t cruel, not at first. He tried. We both did. There were moments when I thought we could actually make it work—dinners, shared laughs, soft whispers in the night that made me think maybe, just maybe, we were building something real. But then things changed. He grew distant, cold. His warmth turned to indifference, and I was left standing alone in a marriage that was crumbling, no matter how much I tried to hold it together.

And now… now he had Sofia.

I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms as the memories soured. How could everything have fallen apart so completely?

“Ma’am, we’re here.”

The driver’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I blinked, my surroundings coming into sharp focus. We were in front of the house—the place that was supposed to be home but never felt like it. Dread settled in my chest like a heavy stone as I slowly got out of the cab. I hadn’t even knocked on the door when it swung open.

My stepmother’s face was the first thing I saw—twisted in fury, eyes alight with pure hatred.

Before I could even register what was happening, her hand flew across my face with a vicious slap. The sting spread instantly, my cheek burning as I stumbled back, wide-eyed and shocked.

“You useless b***h!” she screamed, her voice shrill and sharp, her spit nearly hitting my face as she raged. “How could you let this happen? Do you know what you’ve done to us?”

I touched my cheek, still reeling from the impact, but she wasn’t finished. “Do you want us to end up on the streets? You couldn’t even keep Ethan interested long enough to secure our future! What kind of pathetic excuse for a wife are you?”

The words cut deep, sharper than the slap, and I felt my throat tighten with the effort of holding back tears. “I didn’t—”

“You didn’t *what*?” my father’s voice boomed from behind her. He stormed into view, his face twisted in a mask of fury. His eyes burned into me with such anger that it felt like a physical assault. “You’ve made a spectacle out of this family! People are calling me, *mocking* me! All because you couldn’t hold onto Ethan. You’re a failure, Maya! A failure!”

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but no words came. What could I say? How could I explain what had happened? They wouldn’t care. They never cared.

“You have one job,” he continued, his face growing redder with each word. “One job—to keep Ethan happy. To keep him in this family. And you couldn’t even do that! Do you want to ruin us? Do you want to destroy everything I’ve built?”

I shook my head, tears welling in my eyes, but I couldn’t let them fall. Not here. Not in front of them. “Dad, I—”

“Shut up!” His voice was like a thunderclap, stopping me in my tracks. “Do you think you can just walk away from this? From him? You better fix this, Maya, or so help me, you’ll wish you were never born.”

A chuckle came from the corner of the room. I turned and saw Emma, my half-sister, standing there with a twisted grin on her face. We never really got along. She’s always finding ways to get me into trouble like I owed her in my past life.

“Pathetic,” she muttered, her voice low and venomous. “You always thought you were better than me. Look at you now.”

I wanted to scream. To yell. To tell them all how wrong they were. To tell them I was the real victim here. But I couldn’t. I was trapped, suffocating under the weight of their blame.

“You need to get him back,” my father said, his voice now cold and hard. “Whatever it takes, you get Ethan back, or you’re done. Don’t bother coming back here if you can’t fix this. You’re nothing to me if you can’t do that. You’ll be a stranger.”

His words hit me like a sledgehammer, leaving me breathless. How could he say that? How could they all be so cruel?

Before I could respond, my stepmother turned to the security guard at the door. “Throw her out,” she snapped, her voice full of disgust.

The guard hesitated as he moved toward me, not really wanting to “throw me out.” I had always gotten along well with the maids and security staff since I was a kid, so we shared a certain camaraderie. But that had changed since my stepmother had come into the picture, determined to make my life a living hell.

His hands held my arms firmly but gently as he started to drag me toward the door, casting an apologetic look my way. I didn’t fight. What was the point? There was nothing left for me here. I was utterly, completely alone.

**************

I stood outside the front of my father’s house, my body trembling from the cold and from the humiliation of being thrown out. The guard's hands had firmly gripped my arms as he dragged me to the front door, casting me a look filled with pity. I didn’t resist. Why would I? There was nothing left for me here, no home, no family. The slap from my stepmother still burned across my cheek, and the vicious words from my father and Emma echoed in my mind.

I wrapped my arms around myself, staring at the closed door in disbelief. How had everything in my life crumbled so quickly? It felt like just yesterday I was happy, loved… secure. And now? Everything was gone. Everything except one tiny sliver of hope—the baby inside me. I had to keep going, if not for me, then for my child. But how?

Sofia. My best friend—no, my former best friend—had stolen Ethan from me, the man I had fought so hard to make a life with. What drove her to such cruelty? Jealousy? Spite? I had always been there for her, always treated her like a sister. And yet, she was the one who had twisted the knife in my back. The thought of Sofia made my stomach turn with a mixture of anger and deep sadness.

But no matter what Sofia had done, Ethan was still my husband. Maybe if he knew about the baby, it could change everything. Maybe… he’d reconsider. I wasn’t ready to give up, not yet. I had to try. I had to make him understand, even if he was under Sofia’s manipulative grasp. Maybe once he knew about the baby, he would see reason.

I forced myself up, wiped away the tears that threatened to fall, and made a decision. I would go to Ethan’s office. I would face him. He deserved to know about the child, and I owed it to myself to fight for what was mine. Even if it meant walking into the lion’s den.

The ride was quick, but each second felt like an eternity. My thoughts spiraled as I stared out the window, the city blurring around me. When we finally arrived at Ethan’s towering office building, my heart skipped a beat. No matter how many times I had seen it, the sheer size of the building always amazed me. The glass panels gleamed under the sunlight, reflecting the skyline of the city. But today, it didn’t feel welcoming. It felt cold, distant, like the people inside had already turned their backs on me.

I approached the entrance, my steps hesitant. Two bodyguards stood at the door, and the moment they saw me, their faces hardened. A chill ran down my spine as I realized that getting inside today would not be easy.