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1545 Words
After satisfying his animal urges, Jared shoved me away while zipping up his pants. "Pack your things tonight, or I'll burn them all," he barked.
"Go ahead and burn them. I'm not going back to that house," I said, wiping away my tears.
"Then where will you go?" he asked mockingly.
"To die." I tried to stand, but somehow I had no strength left. My entire soul felt torn and shattered until I could no longer hold myself up.
"Go ahead and die then. Just don't drag me into it. Die quietly and disappear. Goodbye." With that, Jared shut the door behind him.
He had left me crumpled on the floor with scattered documents around me like discarded trash.
With shaking hands, I reached for the papers closest to me. My eyes were still blurry with tears, making it nearly impossible to read. I blinked hard, trying to clear my vision, but the tears wouldn't stop falling. They dripped onto the pages, smudging the ink.
"I'm sorry, Dad," I whispered to the empty room, my voice breaking. "I'm so sorry, Kylie. I failed you both."
My baby girl. I couldn't even protect her memory from being desecrated in this place where we'd said our final goodbye.
The papers in my trembling hands were divorce documents. The words swam before my eyes: "Dissolution of Marriage" and "Irreconcilable Differences."
Jared had already signed them. His signature was bold and confident at the bottom of the page, dated from three days ago. Three days. Before Kylie died.
I opened the documents and found an attached property settlement agreement declaring that I would receive nothing from the divorce.
Nothing. Every asset, every account, every property now belonged solely to Jared Sterling.
Even the summer house my father had given me for my twenty-fifth birthday—the house where Kylie took her first steps, where we'd spent every summer making sandcastles and collecting seashells. I'd transferred it into Jared's name years ago when he said it would be better for tax purposes.
Of course I believed him then. Jared had played his role so perfectly, blinding me completely, making me believe in his illusions of love and a happy family.
And now, he had taken everything. The company my father built from nothing. The houses. The money. The investments. Everything my father had worked his entire life to create, everything he'd entrusted to Jared because he thought his son-in-law would take care of his daughter.
I was left with nothing. Completely stripped bare.
But worse than all of that—worse than being penniless and homeless—was the realization that crashed over me like a wave of ice water:
After twelve years of marriage, the truth finally became clear.
Jared had never loved me. Not for a single day. Not for a single moment.
He had married me for revenge. Because my father—my kind, generous father—had once been business rivals with Jared's father. Because my father had won when Jared's father had lost everything.
And Jared had spent twelve years playing the long game. All so he could destroy me the way he believed my father had destroyed his family.
I had been so in love—so desperately, foolishly in love—that I'd been blind to it all. I couldn't see what everyone else must have seen from the beginning.
Even my father, on his deathbed, had looked at me with such sadness in his eyes, as if he knew what was coming but couldn't bear to tell me.
I pressed Kylie's ashes to my chest. I would give my daughter's ashes to Guzel. I'd already sent her a message to pick them up from the crematorium.
As for me? I was walking toward my own death.
The crematorium was deserted when I stepped outside, except for a single black car parked at the entrance. With weak, stumbling steps, I walked away, as I planned to end my life at the bridge not far from the crematorium.
A place quite famous as a spot to end one's life.
"Miss, should I call you a taxi?" One of the crematorium attendants stopped me.
I turned and shook my head. "No, I can walk. My destination is close by."
"Be strong, Miss. I know the pain of losing a child can never be erased by anything, but I believe you're strong enough to get through this. And I'm sure that's what your daughter would want to see too. A mother who stays strong even without her."
Hearing the elderly woman's words, I only smiled and nodded. She was right—the pain of losing my daughter couldn't be erased by anything. But to be strong? I didn't think I had it in me anymore.
I continued walking toward the crematorium gate when a voice called out to me. Loudly. Calling my full name. The name my parents gave me before I married Jared.
"Regina Christie Beaumont!"
I froze. Then turned toward a man standing in front of the black car that had been parked there.
I didn't recognize him at all. I'd never met him before.
"Where are you going?"
I turned to that stranger man, smile, then continued toward my destination—the bridge.
I thought he would stop, but he didn't. He strolled to me and caught my hand.
"Answer me. Where the f**k are you going, Regina Beaumount?"
I glared at him, trying to pull away from this stranger.
"Let go. Leave. I have no business with you."
"I'm here because I have business with you," he said harshly.
"And I'm not leaving until you explain to me why you left your daughter's ashes back there." He pointed toward the crematorium.
I laughed bitterly, exactly like a madwoman who'd lost her mind.
"Have you gone insane?!" he shouted.
"Yes, I have gone insane. And if you're asking where I'm going, then I'll tell you."
"I'm going to die. Do you want to come along?" I yanked my hand away from him.
I saw his eyes widen in shock.
"You stupid woman!" he cursed.
"Let me go. I am stupid, and that—"
"Regina, wake up! Death isn't what you need right now!" The man yelled, full of rage, until my body trembled from the force of his anger.
"Leave!" I pushed him, only to be pulled back until I crashed into his chest.
"You can't die," he said softly, his hand stroking my hair gently.
"You have to live and take back everything that belongs to you."
"I have nothing left."
"You still have me."
I lifted my head.
"Who are you?"
"Have you forgotten me already?"
I furrowed my brow. I didn't recognize him at all. A man with a scar on his face.
"Let's destroy Jared Sterling together. Isn't that what you want?"
***
He didn't introduce himself. He just told me to get in his car and gave me a choice: take his offer and live for revenge, or if I wasn't interested, he'd let me go ahead with my own plan—death.
We pulled up to a house in the middle of the woods. A big wooden cabin that looked well-kept, and I could tell whoever owned this place had money. The proof was right there in the open garage—several luxury cars parked in a neat row.
"Come on. I want to show you something," he said, leading me into the house.
"My study," he said as we walked. I didn't say much, just followed him down the hallway. When we got to a door, he pulled a key from his jacket and unlocked it.
"My study," he said again, those emerald eyes fixed on me.
"Have a seat. Want something to drink?"
"Skip the small talk. Just tell me what you're offering."
"You're in a real hurry, Miss Beaumont."
"That's what I go by now, right? Since you brought that with you." I held up the divorce papers I'd been gripping since I left the crematorium.
He glanced at the documents, something dark crossing his face.
"Just get to it," I said. I was done with bullshit.
"Let me introduce myself first."
He handed me a photo. Three kids stared back at me—Jared, Jayden, and Jennifer. But there was a fourth kid, a boy who looked older than the others.
"That's me." He pointed to the oldest one.
"Justice Ben Sterling."
My hand flew to my mouth.
"You're..."
"Yeah. I'm the oldest grandson of the Sterling family."
His jaw clenched, and when he spoke again, his voice went cold.
"I was supposed to be dead. But I chose to live and get justice—like my name."
"Here's the deal. You have to become my wife, but you won't be Regina Beaumont anymore."
"You'll get a new identity, a new look—and trust me, way more stunning. You'll help me get all the information you have to take down Jared."
I stood up, not interested in his offer.
"Just do it yourself. Why do you need me? You're just going to use me, same as Jared."
"You'll get everything back. Everything you lost, including your daughter..."
I froze mid-step.
"What do you mean?" My eyes widened, already filling with tears.
- Writer
