After The Betrayal, His Uncle Claimed Me

Crash Out

ELISE

“You can't divorce me,” Damien said, while I turned to walk out. I paused and returned my gaze to him.

He had this crazed look in his eyes. I didn't expect anything less. He thought he held power above me. He never believed that I would dare divorce him.

“You must be . . . tired, angry, but you don't want to divorce me, so let's just return home and talk, okay?”

I scoffed. “Go home? You mean the same home you abandoned me in, just to come see your mistress?”

He came closer, and I took a step back. “Damien, listen, sign the divorce papers and end this,” I said, then placed a finger on his chest, then back to mine.“We are done.”

“No, stop this Elise. You are just angry. We can always sort things out.”

I wanted to walk away, but instead he reached for me and dragged me back. My heels caught my other heel, and I almost came crashing to the ground. I hissed from the pain that struck my ankle. He didn't care, instead he held me up and didn't care to check if I was injured.

“Listen to me, we would be fine, okay?”

I pushed him away, but he yanked me back and forced his lips on mine.

Disgust washed over me, my chest burning. I pulled away from him, and the next second my palm landed on his cheeks. He froze, his face red, head tilted to the side.

Ivy came closer to check on me, but I told her to stay back. I noticed a nurse pull out her phone camera. I didn't care. We could as well make the headline.

What would the headline be? Mr and Mrs Ashford fight publicly?

His face twisted, and he barked at the nurse to put the phone away, she trembled and lowered her phone. His gaze returned to me. That crazed look. That egoistic stare. And my palm print was still sitting neatly on his face.

“You … how could you slap me?”

His eyes bulged. I made a tsk sound before rolling my eyes at him.

“By lifting my hands. That's how I f*****g slapped you. Now, act like a mature man even if you aren't, and sign the goddamned papers!”

His eyes remained on me, getting colder by the minute. Totally replaced with a maniac look. “You know how much I love you,” he started and I almost laughed. “After everything we have been through together. You seem to have forgotten the night we shared together. The day we promised to always stand by each other no matter what. I am willing to keep mine, but right now, you dare serve me divorce papers just because you are angry?”

Was he threatening me? How fearless of him to do that in public!

My hands were clenched by my side. My lips opened, but when the words at the tip of my tongue didn't tumble out, I swallowed. Very hard.

He said I served the divorce papers because I was just angry. Just angry? He called cheating on me something fickle? He called lying to me something that should be brushed off?

He remembered our honeymoon night. The night I thought I knew him. But right now, staring deep into those eyes. The one that is reddened with manipulation and not pain, I only felt emptiness and this cracking feeling in my chest.

I didn't realise I was crying until the tears began to slide down my cheeks. I reached to wipe it, stared at him blankly.

“I don't remember any of that Damien Ashford. Please sign the papers.”

I turned to leave.

“Then what about your sister? You do know that I could ruin her if I wanted to.”

The words landed like a slap, like a jab to my chest.

I spun around and in that instant, I slapped him hard across the face.

“How dare you?!” I yelled, then lifted my fingers to him, eyes red. “I gave you three years of my life. Three f*****g years! And what did you do? You cheated on me, lied to me, made me feel like a burden, like an embarrassment.” I gripped his collar, staring deep into his eyes. Every control I held today came crumbling down. “If you dare do anything stupid to my sister, I swear on my life, I will kill you.”

“What? You can divorce him but he can't withdraw his funds on your sister's medical bills?” Vanessa chirped in, voice dripping with mockery. “That's a little selfish, don't you think?” She added.

I turned to her. Her arms were folded. f*****g b***h. What does she know except opening her legs for a man who found her disposable?

My hands unhooked from Damien's collar, and before I could process her words properly, my legs moved.

Slap. Slap.

A crisp slap echoed, followed by loud gasps. Vanessa’s hands rushed to cup her red cheeks. Her eyes misted.

“You …”

“Shut it!” I spat. “When I am speaking, you dare not do so!” I barked, but the next second, I was shoved away. I nearly fell on my butt, until a soft hand reached out to me. It was Ivy. I didn't stare at her for long and glanced towards Vanessa. She was sobbing and the man who had shoved me away was …. Was the same man who had been begging earlier.

Damien.

My hands clenched as I witnessed the scene before me.

Vanessa sobbed hard, while Damien consoled her. She leaned on his body, taking gasp after gasp, like she was dying.

I glanced around, everyone was whispering. Even patients who had come to be treated, found this scene more interesting than their bodies.

Whispers ensued. Obviously, everyone could see that Vanessa was pretending but Damien was too dumb to notice.

He turned to me, his face red.

“How can you be so cruel! If you want to hurt someone, you can hurt me! Why attack a pregnant woman? Are you that bitter?”

I almost laughed out loud. He was really the master of deception, except he was stupid too.

Me? Elise, bitter?

Wasn't he the one who pushed me a while ago? I just slapped her, and suddenly I was being bitter?

“You two really deserve each other,” I said, and wiped my cheeks again. “You should stay together and spare the world of your wickedness, don't you think Damien?”

Damien's lips moved but then Vanessa's sobs ceased and she began gasping for breath. Her eyes were fixed on me, then tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Damien ….I can't breathe.”

Nurses gathered and Damien tugged on her arm roughly. “Vanessa …Vanessa.” He called out to her.

I remembered when I was injured. He wasn't that scared. Instead, he told me to be strong and rushed out for a board meeting.

This was it. I'm done with him. With everything that had to do with him.

“Vanessa breath ….” He panicked. Vanessa's eyes were on me. And for a moment, I noticed the shift in her eyes. It was obvious she was acting. She was trying to tell me that I was nothing. That my husband —

No. That my ex-husband loved her more.

I turned. “Let's go, Ivy,” I said.

Every step I took was heavy. I could still hear their voices. I could hear my own heart cracking, creating hollow lines.

Three years. Three years I had wasted on a man like Damien.

I didn't know when I got to the car, or when I opened it, and entered.

“Are …you okay?”

I heard Ivy's voice. She was the only person who calmly let me handle everything. My gaze fell on her. Her eyes were moist. It was like she was the one going through the heartbreak, and not me.

“I—vy.” My voice cracked, and I burst out into tears. She reached over and embraced me.

“Sshh, it's okay. I'm here. I'm always here.”

My tears came out louder, my shoulders shook without my permission.

“Cry all you want. After it, we would make sure he gets to sign those papers,” she reassured me in a hard voice.

And I was grateful.