My Billionaire Ex-Husband is On His Knees

Someone from his past

LAUREL’S POV

As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t sleep well last night. The first thing I did as I woke up early in the morning was to call my friend, Marcy. I didn’t know who else to run to. I had nobody else. I explained what happened to her and told her I needed her help. She promised to come over right away.

When I went to Frank’s room to check if there was any chance he didn’t leave the house last night, I was greeted by an empty room. He took everything and left like he was moving to another planet. I had no idea where he could have gone. I thought of calling him but it was obvious he won’t pick.

I had one of the servants bring me an ice pack which I used to press against my right eye. When I checked in the mirror this morning, I noticed a faint black patch had formed around that area. And my eyes were still puffy and red from yesterday’s crying.

I was on the bed, pressing the ice pack on my affected eye, Frank’s stern face and harsh words replaying over and over again like a horror movie in my head when my bedroom door opened and Marcy rushed in.

“Oh Laurel…” she uttered in sympathy as she sat close to me on the bed. “I’m so sorry. How exactly did this…”

However, her words knotted in her throat and a gasp escaped her lips which fell open in shock on seeing my face clearly.

“What happened to your eye?” She asked, concerned and shocked. “Did Frank do this? Did he hit you?... Has he been hitting you all this while? You know domestic abuse is a serious crime against the law. You should report and take him to court immediately.”

“No…” I muttered as I took her hand in mine to keep her from worrying. That wasn’t the real issue at hand and even though Frank hates me now, he’ll never lay a finger on me. “It was an accident I caused. Frank will never hit me or any woman.”

“Are you sure, Laurel?” She asked, not sounding fully convinced. “There is no use covering for him after what he just did to you.”

“It’s nothing, Marcy,” I reassured her with a frustrated sigh. “The pain is already subsiding. Please drop the matter. That isn’t the issue at hand now. Frank left me…” Tears choked my voice as I cried out in despair. “After all these years of us being together, he just left like it meant nothing to him.”

“Oh Laurel,” her eyes glistened with empathy as she hugged me tightly and brought my head to rest it on her chest. “I feel your pain. But how could this have happened? You two were so in love with each other. And as far as I know, you’ve never had any issues in your marriage.”

“I don’t know,” I explained while crying in her chest. “He just came home from work last night and presented me with divorce papers that he’d already signed. He tried to make me sign my part but I didn’t. I tore the papers. He said he didn’t love me, Marcy. That all these while he’d been with me just because of my family’s wealth.”

I took in a heavy sob as Marcy stayed quiet, probably taking in the details of my explanation. She rubbed the length of my messy hair in a soothing motion to ease off some of my pain.

“I don’t know what to do Marcy. Please tell me what to do. I’m nothing without him. I have nothing without him. After we got married, I transferred ownership of everything I inherited in his name. I have nothing left,” saying that part only triggered more tears. “I thought the problem was because of my inability to conceive after our five years of marriage or perhaps he was seeing someone else but I was wrong. When he said he was just pretending to be in love with me all those years, I completely lost it, Marcy. I don’t think I’ll ever recover from this heartbreak. He’s the only man I have been with and loved my entire life…”

My heart ached. The pain I felt in my chest was so intense it was a physical pain. All my life I have clung to Frank like he was my life support. My life revolved around him. I had no money on me, no savings, no investment whatsoever. He managed all that. I let him because he promised to take care of me and our babies and didn’t want me stressing myself over work.

Now that he’d left me and my parents were late, I didn’t know how to survive on my own. I didn’t know how to move on from here. Life will be really tough for me. I know Marcy will offer to help but she can’t help me forever. She had her own family to deal with. After reviewing all that, I realized I needed Frank. I wanted him back in my life.

“It’s alright Laurel,” Marcy sighed deeply and comforted me. “Everything will be fine. I’ll talk to my husband and see what he can do about this. In the meantime, I have something to show you.”

Her last sentence quickly caught my attention. I lifted my head from her chest and looked at her expectantly.

“What is it? I asked. “Is it about Frank?”

She nodded and reached for her handbag. She unzipped it and took out her phone unlocking it and sliding her finger to make a few scrolls.

Bringing the phone closer to my face, I saw a selfie video of Marcy’s husband, Andrew – he was Frank’s business partner and close friend since high school, Frank and another woman I had never seen before.

In the video, the trio seemed to be having a great time at a fancy restaurant. I noticed the strange woman was sitting very close to Frank at the table and holding him kind of affectionately. Anyone seeing them for the first time might think they were a couple. I instantly became jealous.

“Who is she?” I quickly asked Marcy, frantically wiping my tears with the back of my hand.

Marcy switched off her phone and kept her gaze on me as if to tell me a secret. “I’m not supposed to show you this video. Andrew warned me not to so please don’t let him know about it.”

I nodded, still expecting an answer to the question I asked. The way Marcy sighed hinted at this being something urgent. She was acting like she didn’t want to tell me. It only heightened my curiosity as I pestered her to tell me everything she knew about this unknown woman.

“Fine, I’ll tell you,” she said. “Andrew told me her name is Miranda. She used to be Frank’s girlfriend back in high school. But they broke up before they entered college. Remember Frank and my husband travelled about a month ago for a business trip. Well, it happened that the company they were partnering with for the project was represented by none other than Miranda. Last week I also overheard Andrew talking to Frank over the phone to stay away from somebody. I guess it could be her,” she squeaked as if not to anger me.

I was so shocked and surprised I didn’t know what to say. Frank told me about the business trip but he never told me about having any girlfriends before me.

Despite the weight of the situation, I tried not to overthink. Their unexpected encounter was just for the sake of business and nothing more. It was safe to say that romantically, I was the only woman in Frank’s life. He’d never cheated on me with anyone or looked at another woman throughout the time we were together, and I haven’t done the same with another man. We were forever faithful to each other so there was no need for me to worry.

Marcy sensing my distress comforted me, saying. “Now isn’t the time to jump to conclusions, Laurel. Let’s just focus on fixing this situation, okay? I will call Andrew right away and see what he can do to help. Perhaps he could schedule a meeting between the two of you tomorrow so you can resol

ve this conflict once and for all.”

I nodded slowly in response, hoping the outcome tomorrow would be fruitful.