I SIDED WITH YOUR ENEMY

Chapter 02: My Decision

Chapter 02: My Decision

“Ma’am, is something wrong? Would you like me to help you?” a young maid asks me. She suddenly surprises me from afar, only a few feet away from the room where I heard everything.

I think so... or maybe not, if that is what she is actually saying...

My heart is beating hard. I feel like I am going in circles. My chest is burning, I hold my hand tightly, stopping my mouth from exploding. I am suffocating.

I see the maid. I hear the words she is saying to me, but I am unable to understand the exact words coming out of her mouth.

My eyes remain fixed on that door.

Do I break everything?

What do I do?

I take one step forward, and then, the next second, I feel like I am being held back by a thread.

“Ma’am!”

I feel her hand take mine.

I hear them laughing as if nothing happened...

Make a scene here, and then what?

I am the one being cheated on.

I am the one who should feel ashamed...

So ashamed that I let him treat me like an i***t.

“He doesn’t... he doesn’t deserve it,” I whisper, holding myself back from exploding...

I feel the tears coming to the corners of my eyes.

“Ma’am, ma’am...”

“No, let go of me.”

I push her away.

And I step backward. I walk quickly without looking behind me.

Like an explosion, my tears come out, and I allow myself to breathe again.

Little by little, I regain a normal breathing rhythm, but my throat remains just as tight.

I cannot believe it.

“Since when?” I whisper, my eyes wide open.

“Elisa?! Since when has she been cheating on me, and Marlon... since when have the two of them been together?”

I slam my hands against the steering wheel with all the rage and anger I have been holding inside.

“Am I really that stupid? Was it really that easy for them to fool me and pretend?”

Elisa, my own sister, was the source of my greatest pain because she did not hesitate to stab me violently in the back.

And our three years together...

Those years where we built everything side by side?

Those three years where I stood by his side through everything, even when Dad passed away?

Those three years I wanted to celebrate with this dinner arranged only for us, for him, damn it!

All of this was nothing but an illusion.

In one short moment, Marlon reminded me that love is only an abstract, temporary feeling, something that can disappear at any moment with nothing more than the breath of a breeze.

“I had absolutely no idea!” I scream while slapping myself.

“I’m just an i***t! I deserve this! I deserve this!”

I slap myself again and again, my eyes overflowing with tears and my chest burning with a fierce fire ready to consume me from the inside and outside.

“It hurts!!! It hurts, Dad!” I scream louder.

My eyes close, and I see him telling me:

“No, no, Liliane, no...

No, not him, Liliane...

No, not this man.”

“Dad...” I press my hands against my burning chest.

Under this cold evening, I return home, my entire body drowning in the lava of sadness, anger, disappointment, and a hatred that would forgive nothing.

I honk as loudly as I need to so I can be heard.

The gate opens, and I drive inside as quickly as possible without needing to wait.

“Pierre! PIERRE!!!!!!”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I stop at the sound of his voice and take a breath.

“Remove the table, and tomorrow morning at dawn, everything must return to how it was before. No more dinner. As for the food, pack it, give some to people passing by, to orphans, anyone. And if you want, give some to the dogs too,” I order in a calm voice, a voice controlled enough.

And I walk forward, my eyes dark, every step carrying my rage.

“The dogs are worth much more than that i***t!”

I return to the bedroom, and the only thought that comes to my mind is:

PACK MY BAGS AND END EVERYTHING IMMEDIATELY!

I go upstairs, my stomach tied in knots and my chest tight. I take the first suitcase, tears running down my cheeks.

I open my closet and take out my clothes, throwing them one after another in a completely uncontrolled rhythm, some falling onto the floor, others farther away. Whatever little can fit inside the suitcase ends up there.

Completely exhausted, I collapse under the weight of a pain that is too great.

“I have to leave this place,” I repeat to myself, my heart heavy.

Right in front of me, there is a folder.

I pick it up.

The marriage certificate, and the mention of shared property.

Then the signature agreement for the investment of my financial assets into the creation of his company.

“What have I done?” I sigh, realizing everything I had given him.

I stand back up, my hands trembling.

“Calm down. I can’t do something like this... The certificate is fake, and therefore my assets belong to me...”

I start walking back and forth.

“And the agreement I signed? I invested more than 80% of my fortune... it is not connected to the marriage. What should I do? Will he really get away with everything so easily?”

My heart is racing, my thoughts twisting into each other.

It is far too easy.

“You got everything you wanted, Marlon. You have the fame, the empire, the fortune, and the daughter of the man who challenged you. And now I am not enough anymore. There is no way I will let you use me one more time.”

I turn around and face my mirror.

My eyes are filled with determination. The documents are being crushed under the pressure of my palm.

A flame is burning.

And this time, I will not be the only one to be consumed.