Her Serendipity

Three years. Yvaine had been married to Maxwell for three years, and she was at her breaking point. Three years and he refused to touch her in the slightest of ways. They never did anything more than a peck before he was off to work for the whole day and would return at night. Yvaine had been so blind that she allowed his mother to mistreat her constantly, let his father steal her ideas for his own gain, and let Maxwell walk all over her. Yvaine Deveroux met Maxwell Princeton in college. He had been that annoying leech that always asked her for help, but with time that annoyance turned into a type of fondness that had Yvaine believing that maybe she could give him a chance. She knew that he didn’t love her, that when he asked her out it was simply out of pity because of her own confession, but she was over the moon. She had been so happy, and Maxwell knew that he had her wrapped around his finger, that she would probably do anything he asked of her, and she did. She was useful to him, and he needed her skills because he lacked them terribly. Had it not been for her, then Maxwell would’ve probably never graduated from college. So, one year later, he proposed and, at 19-years-old, Yvaine said yes without hesitation as she believed he was slowly learning how to love her. She was so blinded by her love for him that she couldn’t see that he was using her. Three years was more than enough for Yvaine to want out, but she knew that Maxwell would never let her go. He would never release the chain from around her neck that she had allowed him to put there. It was her own fault for allowing herself to be so blind. “Yvaine!” The sound of her mother-in-law calling her had her fighting back a groan. “Yvaine, come here now!” Grumbling under her breath, Yvaine went into the living room and frowned at the sight of her mother with a stranger. Now Yvaine had never been one to be self-conscious of other women. She was confident in her looks thanks to her twin brother who helped build it over the years. Yvaine had waist-length dark brown hair, hazel-colored eyes, and tan skin that put most to shame. She worked out to maintain her figure, not that she needed to due to her fast metabolism, but it was something to pass the time. Though her figure remained hidden under comfortable T-shirts that didn’t cling to her, since she was never one to flaunt. This woman was beautiful. She had a pale complexion, but it worked with her dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. She was dressed in luxury clothing that Yvaine found to be tacky because it was a waste of money, in her opinion, but to each their own. “Yvaine, this is Adaline,” her mother-in-law, Aurora, said. “She’ll be staying here with you and Maxwell for a couple of days.” “Why?” Yvaine asked with a frown. “I mean judging from her designer bag and clothes; she can afford a hotel easily or even her own place.” Aurora gritted her teeth, holding back from lashing at the girl. “Maxwell said she could stay here.” “The guest bedroom isn’t set up, so if you want to set that up for her, then go for it,” Yvaine told her flatly, deciding she had no reason to be nice to them. “I’ll be back later.” Yvaine grabbed her keys from the bowl before heading for the door. She didn’t wait for a response before she left to go grab the things she needed for dinner. She knew that when she got home, she would get an earful from Aurora or maybe even Maxwell, but she was tired of being so complacent with them. “I’m so sorry about her.” Aurora apologized to Adaline. “She’s never like that usually.” Adaline smiled warmly at the woman and took her hands into her own, “Don’t worry. I thought Maxwell was joking when he said that she was out of control, but it looked like he was right.” She sighed and shook her head. “I can’t believe Max has been with her for so long.” “I know,” Aurora said in agreement with a nod. “But now that you’re back, maybe you two can get together again.” She said hopefully, not noticing how Adaline had grinned. “But he’s married now,” Adaline said with a fake gasp. “Surely he can't still be in love with me.” Aurora shook her head and squeezed Adaline’s hands, “He does. He didn’t love that woman, he only kept her around because her ideas had helped him and his father with building their business.” “We’ll just have to see how things go,” Adaline told her softly before letting Aurora led her to the guest bedroom where she had to set it up for her. Adaline grinned to herself as she planted the seeds of suggestion and knew that Aurora would bring it up to Maxwell about divorcing Yvaine. She didn’t love Maxwell, no, she was just using his feelings for her to climb to where, no, to who she really wanted to be with. If stringing Maxwell along just a little bit was what she needed to do, then so be it. ༻❁༺ When Yvaine arrived home about two hours later, it was silent in the house once more to her relief. She immediately went into the kitchen and began putting the groceries away. The silence was nothing but familiar to her as she was left alone all the time. Aurora never invited her out and when she did, it was because Yvaine used to beg to join her, which only resulted in Yvaine being ridiculed by all Aurora’s friends. The sound of the front door opening had Aurora frowning, especially when it slammed, making some furniture shake. She didn’t move as the sound of footsteps got closer before revealing Maxwell himself. She glanced at the clock to see that it was far too early to be home. Maxwell had always been a looker. She wasn’t blind to the sight of women throwing themselves at him, but she always took pride in how he pushed them aside without any interest. She wanted to believe it was because he had her and that was all he would need. How foolish she was. She didn’t get to question him being home early when a loud smack filled the silence, and her head was now turned to the right. There was a throbbing pain in her cheek as her eyes stung with unshed tears threatening to fall, but she wouldn’t dare. “Don’t you ever disrespect my mother again,” Maxwell snarled at her. Now, Yvaine was no stranger to his anger, but this was the first time that he had dared to ever put hands on her. She lifted her hand and held back a wince when she touched her cheek gently. She was sure that it would swell due to the force. Yvaine couldn’t help but laugh before she lifted her own hand and punched him square in the face. Maxwell was taken aback, quite literally, as he stumbled backwards and held his nose in his hands with a cry of pain. Yvaine grinned when she noticed the blood falling from his nose onto his hands before dripping onto the floor. “Touch me again, and I’ll do more than punch you.” Yvaine snapped while glaring at him. “I want a divorce!” Maxwell shouted, and Yvaine felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. Yes, she had wanted to get away from him, but for him to just spring it on her didn’t lessen the pain she felt. She wouldn’t show it though, she wouldn’t dare give him that satisfaction. Instead, she held her head high as he pulled out an envelope from his inner suit pocket and threw it at her. She opened it and mentally cursed herself for having shaky hands. She took out the stack of papers and read over it. They had signed a prenup when they got married, which didn’t really matter to Yvaine, since she was still well off since leaving home three years ago, not that he would know that. Maxwell had no idea who she was. To him, she was just Yvaine Lancaster, not Yvaine Deveroux, heiress to a multi-billionaire company. The papers stated how she would get nothing, how he would get nothing of hers, and anything bought together would be sold before they each got an equal payment of sorts. She scoffed before grabbing a pen from the little magnet cupholder on the fridge before signing it and throwing it back at him, the papers scattered in the process. “For three years I wasted my life on you,” Yvaine snarled as she watched him collect the papers with bloody hands. “I hope you remember that without me, you would be nothing but a failure.” This had Maxwell’s head snapping up in her direction with a dark look in his eyes. “What did you say?” Yvaine scoffed as she grabbed her bag from the counter and moved to leave. “f**k you, Maxwell.” He didn’t get a chance to say anything as Yvaine was already halfway to the door before she looked over her shoulder and called out to him. “Oh, and you can burn or keep my s**t, it’s all worthless just like you.” With that, she opened the door and slammed it shut behind her. “Oh, leaving again?” She lifted her head to see Adaline with a small smug smile on her face. “Did Maxwell talk to you already?” Yvaine couldn’t help but realize that this was planned and that Adaline had planned this. Yvaine didn’t know when this had been planned, or how long this had been going on, but one thing she knew was that she wasn’t going to let anyone see how affected she was. “He did.” Yvaine nodded and decided to have some fun before leaving. “He told me about his lover abroad,” Adaline’s jaw clenched, “How she’s pregnant with his child, and he’s bringing her here.” Adaline’s complexion went pale, something Yvaine noticed. Adaline hadn’t heard of Maxwell ever going abroad, let alone sleeping with someone. She needed Maxwell to still be in love with her or this would all be for naut. “Honestly, I should’ve been more aware.” Yvaine feigned shock as she sighed. “But it’s fine, I broke his nose.” Adaline’s eyes widened, “What!?” “I mean there was so much blood, hopefully he won’t bleed to death.” Yvaine grinned before walking forward, but stopping beside Adaline, she leaned close to her, thankful that Adaline was a bit shorter than her. “You’ll do well to remember that you made an enemy out of me today.” Adaline turned to look at her, but Yvaine was already walking away and getting into her car before driving away.