The Broken Heart

Confronting Reality

Chapter 4

It was finally over, the day of my confronting Simmon and Julie for the last time, but the repercussions of what had passed would not stop echoing in my head. I must find and take revenge, it said to all questions of why they did such a ruthless thing to me. I had to know absolutely everything that went on the warped motives, the secrets that were held, the real reason for their treachery. Only then it would be possible for me to close that chapter of my life once and for all.

I met with Samuel by the next morning no other one but he, my most trusted confidant and the head of my private security team. He had been there for years, loyal and discreet; he was the one who could find all the hidden truths left to discover.

"Samuel," I started, "I want you to go to the very roots of Simmon and Julie's past. I want to know everything. Every lie they've ever told. Every secret they've hidden. I won't be able to move on until I have a full picture of it."

Samuel nodded, his face serious. "I understand, Bella. I'll start right away. But are you sure you want to know everything? Sometimes the truth can be more painful than the lie."

"I'm sure," I said in a firm voice. "I need to know what I was really dealing with, to understand how they could do this to me."

With that, Samuel went off to start his investigation, and I was left to my thoughts. The house, so abuzz with warmth and love, now felt so cold and empty. Each room retained its memories, some joyful, others tainted with the knowledge of what had been going on under my nose. Oh, how every step taken in those halls seemed to question everything I had once held to be true.

How could I have been so blind? How could I trust Simmon and Julie so willingly, without seeing the signs of betrayal? These questions nagged at me as I awaited the results from Samuel.

A few days later, Samuel returned with a thick file in his hands; whatever the expression on his face was, it was far from pleasing. I had the feeling that what I was about to hear now was going to be ice on a very cold day. Yet, I was ready to face whatever truth it held, dark or evil.

"Bella," Samuel began as he passed me the file, "what I have here is quite disturbing. Simmon and Julie have a long history together one that started way before your marriage. They were involved long before you came into the picture."

That sort of knotted my chest as I opened the file and began to read through it. There was no way to deny the evidence: bank statements, e-mails, phone records, and photographs; all of them portrayed a scheme so deeply rooted.

For years, Simmon and Julie had been lovers. They hatched a scheme to gain wealth and power out of the misfortune they decided to impose on me, a likely unsuspecting victim. They had used my deafness against me, thinking that I could be manipulated and finally defeated easily.

It was through the reading that the betrayal was complete. Simmon never loved me: I was just a tool. He had married me for the money and meant to drain me to the marrow. Julie had acted her role perfectly, pretending to be my best friend all the while, feeding Simmon information and helping him plot my downfall. It was the revelation that hit me the hardest. "Bella," Samuel's soft voice interrupted me from reading further, "you need to know one more thing. I found evidence confirming that Julie was the one who poisoned you."I looked up at Samuel then, and my breath caught in my throat. "Julie? But how? Why? "To Julie, it was a pregnancy seen as a threat," venom seeped into Samuel's voice. "She knew that if you had a child with Simmon, his focus would be on you. She was jealous, afraid that she would lose her hold over him. So, she took it in her hands."

Samuel's words were crushing me. Julie had not only betrayed our friendship but murdered my unborn child with the objective of revenge, jealousy, and malice at heart. The woman to whom I had once thought I could trust my deepest secrets and whom I had valued as a sister had killed my baby in cold blood.

Tears filled my eyes, yet I fought them strongly. I could not break down; I really could not afford to break down. I desperately needed to keep it together, take in this newest truth, and decide what to do next.

"Thank you, Samuel," I whispered, closing the file. "Thank you for telling the truth."

"Bella, I'm so sorry," Samuel said with a genuinely pitiful voice. "I wished I was able to rid you of this pain." I shook my head. "No, Samuel. This pain is mine to bear. However, now I know the truth, now I can begin with healing.".

In the following days, I found myself withdrawing further and further from the world, needing the time to find acceptance of all that I had learned. I was sitting for hours in my grandmother's study, surrounded by the memories of this woman who had built an empire out of nothing. I found solace in her strength and inspiration in the legacy she'd left behind.

My eyes filled with tears as I read the truths Samuel had realized. The real victory hadn't been helping to ruin Simmon and Julie. The real victory had been surviving their treachery and refusing to let their treachery define me. They might have tried to ruin me, but I had stood ahead stronger, wiser, and more determined than ever. I was going to sue them with all the charges. Simmon and Julie had done a million misdeeds: fraud, embezzlement, the attempted murder, and many more. They were going to pay for every one of them. So in an instant, I contacted my lawyers and started to gather evidence, because I was preparing for court prosecution. Much more than a legal war, I knew that I had a life to live. I could not let my past take its hold on my future with a black shadow. I wanted to re-established, not only my business, but also wanted to reconstruct my personal life. So, I tried making contact with some of my old friends, whom I used to keep at bay all the time, but whom I let in my personal life during the years with Simmon. So I started taking care of myself again, physically and emotionally, and slowly, the light at the end of my tunnel started to emerge. Sitting one evening in my study by the fire, I made the decision: I could not change what had happened, but I would have the reins in my hands to move ahead. The truth, in all its painfulness, had let me free. I was shackled by lies and deceits no more, set upon me by harmful foes. I would live a life of purpose, love and strength to honor that memory of my unborn child. I would not let my company be rebuilt as a monument to the past but be made a beacon for the future. And I would never again allow myself to be blinded by trust alone. As I flipped that chapter about the betrayal of Simmon and Julie, I started to write my chapter where I was calling the shots and the overall author. It hurt, but it was also so empowering to know the truth. A truth with which I felt I c

ould face whatever the future held.