Claimed by My Husband's Enemy

A set-up

The thumps of my own heartbeats drown out the screaming voices around me.

Vivi shrieks, Dany bellows out a loud No, but Jeff stands frozen solid, like me.

Dany runs up and slides on his knees, bending over the woman sprawled out on the floor. The sight should bring me shame, or gnaw at my heart.

But the fuse in my head is still lit. Rage, the monstrous rage to get this invader out of my home consumes me.

Fortunately, before I can commit any more crimes, the elevator slides open with a ding.

Captain Leeds and a group of four private security burst into the living room, bright eyes scanning the area, ready for trouble.

The Captain himself has his hand halfway towards his holster.

But he comes to a pause as he reads the room, eyes sweeping over each one of us.

“Ma’am?” he calls, uncertainly.

Fuck.

My first instinct was to have him call an ambulance.

The woman is still motionless on the floor as Dany calls out to her over and over.

My brain, still riding on adrenaline, feels no remorse, but I have not lost all morals.

“Captain, get Doctor Williams over here,” I say. Williams, our family doctor, knows to keep his mouth shut.

The last thing myself and my company need right now is a sliver of gossip from tonight’s event getting out. I move to shepherd my children far away from the scene.

“No,” Dany snaps, and I whip around to see a mix of fury and fear in his eyes. “I’m taking her to a hospital. I don't trust you, I don't trust your doctor,”

My brow quirks at the emphasis he places on the word, like he suddenly cannot trust Doctor Williams after doing so for the past ten years.

And then my spine hardens. Everything I have ever worked for is at stake.

“She will be attended to by Doctor Williams,” I insist, and turn to my children.

My step falters. The fear in their father's eyes is reflected in theirs. And that look… breaks something inside of me.

“Jeff… Vivi,” My throat closes. I have no words to make them understand, to reassure them, to soften the moment for their fragile minds.

I slowly turn with my bleeding heart to stare at the man who is about to rob my children of their childhood. But there's something new in his eyes… regret?

“Mel… please.” That voice brings back memories. A montage of our lives together.

Every hurdle we had to cross just to get married. The nights we went to bed shivering in each other’s arms, knowing we had only ourselves in the world. Our bond, the shared joy at every positive pregnancy test.

A molten spike pierces my heart. I still love him.

Oh, God. It will take more than one argument and a startling revelation to fall out of love.

The words escape my lips, “Captain, get an ambulance here.”

The relief in my children’s eyes is all the compensation I need. Captain Leeds looks uncertain, then with a slight bow, steps out of the room.

The next hour passes in a daze.

The ambulance arrives, and Vivi convinces me to follow Dany and his mistress to the hospital. Her pleading eyes show all I already know. Dany is still her loving father.

But I'd do anything for my little girl, so I slid into the backseat of my car, as the captain climbs in beside the chauffeur. We follow the ambulance.

The whole ride to the hospital, I stare at the city buildings flickering past in a daze, my mind blank. And at the hospital, I end up relying on Captain Leeds to guide me through corridors.

But when a figure moves towards me, ignoring the warning hand of the Captain on his shoulder, I break out of my daze.

I blink in surprise at the uniformed officer standing before me.

“Melanie Leah Queen?” The man asks, his face carefully schooled.

“Yes, that's me?”

“You are under arrest on charges of attempted murder...”

Wait a moment, is this…

“... Misconduct in an Emergency...”

You have to be f*****g kidding me! That BASTARD!

“..and Interfering with a Call to Emergency Services...”

They set me up, they f*****g set me up!

All the puzzles fall into place. Why else would Dany insist that his second wife be admitted to a hospital where questions would be asked?

Questions that could lead to the revelation of him breaking the law by taking a second wife.

“You have the right to remain silent.”

This was what he wanted. The pleas, the fear, that fake regret in his eyes. It had all been a lie.

“Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

I start to remember details I had missed in the heat of the moment. There had been no blood around her after the fall.

Nothing except her blacked out state to indicate that she wasn't fine.

“You have the right to an attorney.”

Was that faked too? Her getting knocked out?

Have I been played like a fiddle?

“If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.”

And he brought me here to get a doctor's report so he could push for my arrest.

God, I fell for his trap.

As several other officers hold Captain Leeds back and the cold metal of handcuffs wrap around my wrist, I make a solemn promise to myself.

For my children, darling Vivi and Little Jeff.

For all I am worth.

Never again.

Never will I let love blind me. Never will I let sentiments and doubts control me.

I will ruin my husband, and will take joy in doing so. I will hold his mistress by her hair and show her all the darkest corners of hell.

“Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?”

The officer's question jolts me back to the present.

I give him a single nod, and he waves over a pair of female officers who lead me out of the hospital.

The last face I see as my head is pushed down the doorway of the police van is Dany standing outside with his new wife.

The little b***h has not even a hair out of place.