Rise Of The Wasted Shadow Wife

Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

Alessia sat on the bus stop bench with her hands clutching the folder containing Axel's unilateral divorce declaration. She didn't know where to go. The world she stood in seemed to have vanished into the darkness. Now, she had to do everything on her own.

One year ago, her life changed drastically when Axel came to propose to her. A successful man with a handsome face and a big name in the property business. Alessia's simple world was like a fairy tale come to life. She thought she was the only woman who could conquer Axel's heart. But now she knew she was just a shadow.

After Axel kicked her out, Alessia tried to contact her family in the village. But she was too ashamed to go back. She had boasted to them, introducing herself as the wife of a successful businessman. How could she go home now, pregnant, with the news that she had been divorced under the pretext of an invalid marriage?

Her tears fell again. This time not from pain, but from a deep sense of loss of self-worth.

She finally decided to rent a small room in the corner of the city with what was left of her personal savings. A cramped boarding room, with thin plywood walls, just enough for one bed and one table. There was no air-conditioning. No big windows with fancy curtains like Axel's house. There were only dim lights and the sound of neighbors chatting behind the walls.

She spent her days pensive. Often crying herself to sleep. She did not eat regularly. She even thought about aborting the pregnancy. But every time she heard her baby's heartbeat during a visit to the midwife, her heart softened again.

"I will protect you," she said as she caressed her growing belly.

But the wound in her heart had not stopped bleeding.

A few weeks after her departure from Axel's house, Alessia tried to find answers to everything that had been covered up. She felt crazy to continue living in question.

Alessia returned to the small café where she used to meet her old friend, Noura. There, she opened her old cell phone and started searching for the name "Nadine." The name she had seen on the bride and groom photo Adrian kept in his drawer.

With a little luck and a lot of effort, Alessia found a social media account called Nadine Aster. Her profile picture was just like the woman in the wedding photo. Beautiful, graceful, and exuding an aura of calm. The account's bio reads

"Wife. Psychologist. Cat lover. Happy with my little universe."

Alessia searched deeper.

There were photos of Nadine with Axel. Some from 2019, 2020... even one uploaded from 2024. The photo showed Nadine sitting with Axel in a fancy restaurant, with the caption "Enjoying quiet time with my beloved husband."

Alessia felt sick to his stomach. Not because he was pregnant. It was disgust.

So it's true. The marriage had never been cancelled. Axel didn't just have an affair. He faked his status, marrying Alessia while still being Nadine's legal husband.

Even worse, he built a fake world for Alessia, complete with hired priests and fake marriage documents that only looked legitimate.

All of which leaves one big question: "Why?"

"You're just trying to play me," Alessia said softly, her lips trembling. Her hands were clenched into tight fists.

The luxurious world he once enjoyed was just a stage. And he? Just an extra in someone else's domestic drama.

In the days that followed, Alessia began to change. She no longer cried at night. She started waking up earlier, learning to cook for herself, and reading. She read about marriage law, women's rights, and protection for victims of fraud.

She saved all the screenshots of Nadine's whereabouts and collected the marriage documents she had, even though Axel claimed they were invalid.

She even contacted Noura secretly and told her a small part of the story. Noura, who was incredulous, eventually broke down in tears at the depth of Alessia's lies.

"You must reply. Don't let her rest easy after playing with your life," Noura said one night on the phone.

Alessia didn't answer. She stared at her reflection in the small mirror hanging on the wall of her room. Her face looked thinner. But her eyes radiated a determination she had never seen before, a determination to rise up and avenge everything Axel had done to her.

"I won't come back as Alessia," she told her reflection. "I'll come back... as someone Axel won't even recognize."

And when her baby was born a few months later, in the pouring rain, she named him Galen.

Galen means 'healer.'

Because Alessia knew that the only thing that could heal the wounds of the past was victory in the future.

And that she would fight for. With a new name. A new identity and a determination sharper than any wound.

Seven years have passed since Alessia last looked into the face of Axel, the face that once made her feel most loved, then dropped her into the darkest abyss she had ever known. Since the day when the divorce papers were coldly handed over, stating that their marriage was invalid because Axel had a legal wife to hide behind. The gentle, innocent, and hopeful Alessia was buried deep that day.

Now, living and breathing is Laura Smith, the brightest young lawyer at the elite law firm. Her jet-black hair is tightly bound, her makeup is stern but graceful, and her pair of piercing eyes no longer hold wounds, only strategies. Every breath she takes brings a new breath to a force molded from hurt, vengeance, and time.