Left For Ruin, I Married His Uncle

In front of the giant mirror, stands an elegant lady who seemed to be in her early twenties. Her lips spread slowly and her face radiates with a smile that can brighten the world and rid it of its darkness. She is excited. Her green simple dinner dress embroidered with beads at the A neck screams she is going to a gala. A gala she's looked up to for the past three months. She barely slept, working day and night to get her proposal accepted and now the deal has been sealed. She finished the contract for her husband. A major contract every employee at LANCHESTER GROUP OF COMPANIES wants to get their hands on. Tonight, at the gala, she will be handing the papers to her husband in front of the people who have looked down on them. On their efforts. She can't wait to see the shame on their faces knowing that Clark's Cooperation didn’t only get the multi-million dollar contract, her husband has now been promoted to the position of Managing Director of the new subdivision of Lanchester’s. She slowly tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and grabs her pulse. In few minutes, she arrives downstairs and looks around, her eyes searching for someone. A servant hurries over and bows his head slightly before saying in a respectful tone. “ I will be driving you to the gala, ma'am,” He says and her brows furrows, confusion creeping onto her face slowly. “ Where is my husband?” She demands, still not moving an inch from where she stands. She is supposed to attend the gala with him. In the same car. “ He left for the gala a while ago. He specifically asked me to bring you to the gala when you are ready.” She gulps as the servant's words fall into her ears. She imagines her husband uttering those words and somehow, it cuts her heart but she waves it away, smiling at her assigned driver and nodding at him. ‘ Perhaps, something urgent came up,’ She says to herself silently to comfort herself. All week, she has imagined herself walking the red carpet with Simon Walter - her husband and the new MD of Clark's corporation. After what seems like an eternity, she arrives at the gala. Still, inside the car, she looks outside the window nervously. It is the first time she is attending such a high-profile gala and she can't hide her nervousness. Even her driver can see how nervous she is from the rear mirror. She reaches for her phone and tries to reach her number but he isn't answering. She sent a text, her fingers trembling slightly as she clench the phone in her hand but five minutes passed, and no response from Simon. She let out a long sigh and after saying words of affirmation to herself, she steps out of the car and the cameras fly in her direction. She is not popular and barely shows her face in public. She doesn't even have a social media page. She is the unknown woman behind Simon Walter’s success, his wife - Priscilla Herman. She puts a smile on her face as she walks up the red carpet. The lights of the cameras almost blinding but she try her best to keep her killer smile on her face and not stumble on the heels that are already hurting her ankles. Priscilla let out a huge sigh of relief after she was away from the cameras and endless questions. She goes backstage, looking for her husband, and her eyes light up when she finally sees him, a sense of relief washing over her. “ Honey, there you are,” She says, relief evident in her tone and Simon turns to face her. His face is indifferent and Priscilla resists the urge to frown at him. ‘ He must be nervous about his speech,’ she think to herself, while Simon looks her up and down from head to toe, a hint of disgust In his eyes. “ Go take your seat. I'll be there shortly.” He says, his voice sounding dismissive and Priscilla nods her head, the smile on her face fading slowly. It’s their happy day. She shouldn’t be thinking too much about his attitude. She turns and walks away, leaving him there. The ceremony goes on for a long time and Priscilla can't help but admit that it is boring than she’d imagined. The excitement she felt for weeks is no longer there and the only reason she is still at the gala is because of Simon’s Speech. She looks at the empty seat beside her and gulps. Simon has come to keep her company a few times except that he doesn't stay more than two minutes. She wonders where he is. What he is doing and if he needs her help. A minute later, Simon returns and it is time for his speech. “ Where is the contract?” He asks her, his voice is stern and she quickly reaches for the bag under her chair and hands the contract to him. “Congratulations,” She mouths at him, not able to hide her excitement. Only she knows how much this contract means to their family and Simon’s growth. It is a prayer answered and she is glad that all Simon’s dreams are slowly becoming reality with her help behind the scenes. The applause and eruption of cheers bring Priscilla out of her thoughts. She has missed almost half of Simon’s speech but it is nothing to worry about. She wrote the speech for him and she knows her name will be mentioned any time soon and it makes her heart race in anticipation. One she never thought she would feel. She looks at Simon, their eyes meeting briefly and he continues to the part that makes her heart race. She slowly closes her eyes in nervousness. She wish he didn't insist on putting her name but as much she would like to be behind the scenes, she still wants to be known. As a woman who supports her husband intellectually. “ I want to especially thank my beloved friend, Emma Jones. The daughter of one of this industry's wealthiest men, Mr. Jones.” Priscilla's eyes fly open, her heart stops beating for some seconds. “ Without her help, I wouldn't have been able to bag this contract. Her intellectual skills and social communication prowess are something I've never seen before. I hereby dedicate this multi-million contract to her.” Priscilla's face turns pale. She watch in disbelief but as much as she try to act like her husband didn't just give her hard work and sleepless nights to a random woman, he invited her on stage with him and now Emma Jones will be known as the woman whose intellectual skills helped the Clark's Cooperation bag a multi-million dollar contract. Her eyes burn and her throat suddenly feels dry. She watches as her husband hugs the woman warmly, locking eyes with her as if she is the only woman in the world while she, his wife, sits here amongst the audience with a bile in her throat. The camera rolled in her direction and she force a smile on her face. She cannot be broadcasted on national TV as an unhappy wife. The gala finally comes to an end and Priscilla gets up from her seat. She sees Emma clinging to her husband. After a long thought, she decides to approach them. She is the legal wife and Emma is just the random annoying woman who likes clinging to other husbands. “ Cheers, honey,” She raised her glass up but she could swear she saw the smile on his face disappear when he saw her. He reluctantly clicks his glass with hers before pulling her to the side, away from the camera and everyone. “ What are you doing?” She asks, her voice breaking and his grip on her arm loosened. “ Go home, woman, and stop interrupting me and Emma.” He says, his voice is stern and she swallows hard. She cannot believe her ears. She is his wife and the woman is an outsider. The way he addressed her cut through her heart. “ Woman”? Her voice trembles as she says to him,“ I am your wife Simon.” She protested but instead, Simon laugh at her face, his laugh mocking and creeping the hell out of her. “ I am divorcing you, Priscilla.” Priscilla feel like cold water has been poured on her, drenching her and taking her soul out of her body for a minute. She laughs and shakes her head at him in disbelief. “ You are Joking. Are you not?” She asks him, her eyes covered with fear. When he gives her silence as an answer, she realizes he isn’t joking. “ Go home and sign the papers.” He tells her off and She looks over his shoulder to see Emma looking in their direction it all kind of makes sense to her but not completely. She clenches her fist by her side. How silly of her to have exhausted her body to help him with his work while at the same time, he has already found his own shortcut. Her two years of marriage and devotion to Simon crumble when she sees the divorce paper sitting on the dining table. He was her first love. They married when they were both eighteen and twenty-two. She'd sacrificed two years of her life and dreams just to see him rise to the top. Just to see his dream come true and this is how he pays her back? The door of the living room creaks open and Priscilla turns to see Simon and Emma together. Her eyes grow dark at the way his mistress snuggles to him and her heart clenches in her chest. His betrayal cut her heart into slices. They approach her where she stands, and Simon grabs the paper from the table, holding it high for her to see but she already saw it. He signed the papers weeks ago. She finally summoned the courage to ask. Her voice cracked, “ Why?” She asks and Emma smirks at her. “ You were never enough, Priscilla,” Simon answers and she closes her eyes to endure the pain of his words. “ I have loved Emma for a long time. Our wedding is in a week.” Simon says, looking at Emma affectionately and kissing her lips loudly it makes Priscilla disgusted and hurt. “ You were cheating!?” Pricilla grits her teeth, her eyes blazing with anger and she resists the urge to punch the cunt face for rolling her damn eyes at her. “ Does it matter?” Emma rolls her eyes for the tenth time. “ I have everything he needs. Power. Influence. Beauty and every other thing your little head can think of. I am something you will never be Priscilla. I am his woman. What he needs to rise to the top.” Priscilla clench her fist by her side, fury raging inside of her. She bites the inner skin of her mouth and swallows hard but why does it hurt? Why does swallowing hurt as if she was swallowing a stone? “ Sign the papers immediately, Priscilla,” Simon demands, and Priscilla's eyes travel to the papers he has laid on the table.