Chapter Two
1016 Words
OPHELIA’S POV
As I stood in the living room, the reality of the situation began to sink in. Oldman Blackwood was gone, and Jodie was spinning a web of lies that was suffocating me. I watched as she continued her performance, tears streaming down her face, her nails leaving red streaks across her cheeks from where she had scratched herself.
"Jodie, please," I desperately requested in tears. "Tell the truth. You know I didn't push him. You know I didn't hurt you."
Jodie's sobs intensified, she glanced at Maverick with a pleading look "I swear, Ophelia," she whined, "if you hadn't tried to stop me, none of this would have happened. I never wanted it to go this far."
"Stop lying!" I shouted, desperately trying to make her see the gravity of the situation so she stop pinning on me lies.
I turned to hold my husband pleading, "Maverick, believe me! Jolie was already on the stairs that day when I arrived. I witnessed her pushing him down the stairs! She's the one lying. I loved Mr. Blackwood and there’s no way I would have done something like this to harm him!”
But before he could respond, Alice, my mother-in-law, and Maverick’s step mother stormed into the room. Her face was pale with rage, her eyes blazing as she pointed a trembling finger at me.
"You wicked girl," she spat. "How could you? How could you do this to Blackwood, the very person that brought your miserable self into our family. He fed and clothed you when you had nowhere to go and you killed him ? I’ll report you to the police."
Panic surged through me. "Alice, no, you don't understand. Jodie's lying. She's trying to take over the company. Mr.Blackwood overheard her plotting, they got into an argument and she pushed him down the stairs!"
Alice's expression hardened, and she pulled out her phone, her fingers already dialing. "I've heard enough. You're going to pay for what you've done."
"Mom, wait!" Maverick's voice cut through the tension. He stepped forward, placing a hand on Alice's arm to stop her. "Let’s think this through."
Alice looked at her step-son, confusion and anger mingling on her face. "Maverick, she killed your grandfather for Christ sake. We can't just let her get away with it!"
"Just give me a moment," Maverick shot back, his eyes dark and unreadable as he turned to me.
"Maverick," I pleaded, tears streaming down my cheeks. "I swear on everything, I didn’t do this. Jodie is lying to you. Please, you have to believe me."
Jodie let out a sob, clutching her head. "Maverick, I can't stand this. She’s trying to twist everything. She did this, and now she's trying to make me look like the villain."
Maverick looked confused as he looked between us. Finally, he took a deep breath, his expression hardening. "Ophelia, I don't know what to believe anymore. But I do know one thing—you can't stay here."
“What do you mean by—"
"No," he interrupted.
"You have two choices: go to jail for causing the death of my grandfather, or sign these divorce papers and leave the city. Either ways, I want you out of here! I can’t stand living under the same roof with a murderer ."
His words hit me like a death sentence. Hot tears trickled down my cheeks as I realised the depth of the betrayal. If for nothing at all, I’m his wife. He's supposedto stand by me as I cleared my name. I looked at him once more hoping to find the tiniest sympathy in his eyes, but I only met a cold disgusting look.
Alice walked up to me, with a disgusted look, and thrust the divorce papers into my hands.
“Sign them,” she commanded, her voice as hard as granite.
I looked down at the papers, my vision blurring with tears. This couldn’t be happening. Maverick, my husband, the man I loved, was standing by while his mother handed me my walking papers. I glanced over at him, hoping for some sign of hesitation, some flicker of the man I thought I knew. But his face was a mask, unreadable and distant.
“Maverick, please,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “You have to believe me. I didn’t do this. Jolie is lying. She pushed Blackwood. I tried to stop her.”
He looked away, unable to meet my eyes. “Just sign them, Ophelia. It’s over.”
A wave of betrayal washed over me, so intense it nearly took my breath away. The man I had loved, the man I had shared my life with, was abandoning me in the darkest moment of my life. My protector, Oldman Blackwood, was dead, and with him went the only semblance of security I had left.
With trembling hands, I picked up the pen. As I signed against my name on the dotted line, tears ran down my eyes staining the white paper, I felt a piece of my heart break away. This wasn’t just the end of my marriage; it was the end of a life I had once cherished.
Alice snatched the papers from my hands the moment I was done, her lips curling into a satisfied smirk. “Now, get out of our lives,” she said. “And don’t ever come back.”
I looked at Maverick one last time, hoping against hope that he would stop me, that he would say something to show he still cared. But he remained silent, his gaze fixed firmly on the floor.
Swallowing my grief, I turned away. There was no point in telling him about the pregnancy now. What would it change?
I gathered what few belongings I could carry and walked out the door, the life I had known slipping further away with each step. The city that had once felt like home now seemed foreign and hostile.
“This isn't the end. I would find a way to clear my name, to bring justice to Oldman Blackwood’s memory”
- Writer
