Home?
1273 Words
Her eyes locked with mine like she was staring at a ghost.
Maybe I was.
Maybe the woman standing here wasn’t the same one who had once laughed inside this mansion. Maybe I had come back to a life that had quietly erased me.
Then it happened.
A voice drifted from inside—deep, familiar, his.
“Honey, what’s the matter?”
The world stopped spinning.
No.
That voice didn’t belong to anyone but him.
And then Lucas stepped into view.
Casual. Calm. Like nothing had cracked open and spilled blood all over the floor.
He walked toward the door and without hesitation, leaned in and kissed Veronica on the cheek.
Right in front of me.
I stood frozen, bile rising in my throat, my pulse thudding in my ears. He hadn’t even looked at me. The man who once held me like I was his whole world… now held her.
And then… he saw me.
His body stilled. His eyes widened. All the color drained from his face.
“Lu-Lucas?” My voice cracked, trembling like the rest of me. “What… what’s going on?”
He didn’t answer.
Didn’t blink.
Just shoved his hand into his pocket and stared at me like I was a problem that had come back to haunt him. A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it, warm and humiliating. I wiped it away quickly.
“Lucas!” I said again, this time sharper, louder, desperate. “Say something!”
But it wasn’t him who responded.
It was her.
Veronica stepped forward, folding her arms over her chest like she was the one who belonged here and I was the intruder.
“Watch your tone, Anne,” she said, her voice as cold as the wind outside. “You were gone too long. Did you really think he’d sit around waiting forever? You could’ve died.”
The words sliced through me.
Not because of Lucas, but because she said them. The same girl I shared bedtime secrets with. The same sister who used to sneak into my bed when thunderstorms scared her.
I looked down.
Her belly was round.
She was pregnant.
The floor beneath me felt like it was caving in. My knees buckled, but I stood my ground, trembling.
“Lucas…” I whispered, pleading now. “Please. Say something. Tell me this isn’t what it looks like.”
He looked away, jaw clenched. Then, slowly, he turned back.
“I’m engaged to Nica,” he said. No hesitation. No emotion. “And we’re expecting a baby.”
And then he kissed her.
Again.
Like I was invisible.
She laughed like she’d won some kind of prize.
And me?
I died a little.
Right there. In the doorway of what used to be my home.
My throat burned like I’d swallowed fire, and my heart—God, my heart felt like it was being carved out of my chest.
No.
This wasn’t happening.
The same man who once told me he couldn’t breathe without me… was now kissing my sister? Like I was nothing? Like I never existed?
“I won’t accept this, Lucas,” I choked, tears blurring my vision. I wiped them with the back of my trembling hand. “You can’t just erase me. You’re my husband. I’m your wife. You—”
“Why are you letting her speak?” Veronica snapped, stepping closer like a vulture. “Get out of here, you pathetic thing.”
Pathetic. That word hit like a slap even before the real one came.
Then, with venom in her eyes, she turned to him. “Or wait… do you still want her?”
Lucas didn’t even hesitate.
He wrapped his arm around her swollen belly and said softly, “You’re all I need. She’s nothing but the past.”
Nothing.
I staggered back, as if the word had physically struck me. My chest tightened, my lungs refused to expand. Still, I stood my ground.
“I have every right to be here,” I whispered, voice hoarse, but filled with desperation. “You may be carrying his child, Veronica, but I’m still his wife—”
SLAP.
My head whipped to the side from the force of it.
Pain bloomed across my face like fire, and I stood there stunned, one hand on my cheek, unable to breathe.
My sister, my own blood, had hit me. And Lucas?
He didn’t move.
He didn’t flinch.
He didn’t care.
I looked at him, searching his face, begging silently for even a flicker of who he used to be.
But he just stood there. Cold. Distant. Silent.
I dropped to my knees.
Everything inside me shattered.
“Don’t bother with her,” Lucas said casually, as if I were just an inconvenience. “She’s still my wife, for now. But before the week ends, she’ll get the divorce papers.”
“Can’t it be tomorrow, baby?” Veronica cooed, draping herself over him like a snake.
“I’ll try, sweetheart.”
And they smiled at each other.
Laughed.
While I sat on the floor, broken.
Tears fell down my cheeks like rain, silent and helpless. The kind of tears that come when your soul gives up.
Then Lucas turned to the servants, our servants, and gave the final order.
“Throw her out.”
And just like that, I was dragged out of the home I once belonged to, tossed away like garbage.
And they didn’t even look back.
I stood outside the gate, frozen. My legs refused to move, as if the earth itself had swallowed my strength. The scene kept replaying in my head like a cruel movie. Lucas, my husband… with her.
Not just anyone. Veronica.
My sister.
Different mothers, yes. But we shared the same home, the same childhood, the same secrets. So why this betrayal?
He was really going to divorce me.
The man I gave my heart to, the only one I ever loved, was ready to throw me away like nothing ever existed between us. All because of the accident. All because I was gone too long.
I couldn’t stop the tears. They fell hard, blurring my vision, each drop heavier than the last. The cold wind bit into my skin, but it was nothing compared to the frost inside my chest.
Then the gate creaked open.
Lucas walked out, hands in his pockets, eyes colder than the winter air. For a moment, foolish hope flickered in me.
Maybe he’d come to explain.
Maybe this was all a nightmare.
“I know—” I started, my voice weak.
But he cut me off. Without a word, he tossed a wad of cash straight at me. The notes scattered, hitting my face, my body, falling around me like dead leaves. My mouth parted in disbelief.
“Take the money,” he said, his voice hollow, “and get out. I’ll send the divorce papers.”
He turned away.
No hesitation. No guilt.
I rushed forward and grabbed the back of his shirt, clinging to him like I could hold onto the pieces of us.
“Lucas, please... you can’t just—”
“Get off me, you crazy wench!”
His words hit like a slap. And then, with a violent shove, he threw me off him.
I hit the ground hard.
Pain shot through my body, but the ache in my heart was worse. I lay there in the cold dirt, scattered bills around me, tears streaming as I watched the man I loved walk away like I meant nothing.
And for the first time…
I believed it.
- Writer
