The Tycoon’s Surprise Bride

Chapter 8

~Aria's POV~

I pulled away from Ethan's grasp, my face burning with anger, and my hand flew up, slapping him hard across the face. The sound echoed in the room, and I stepped back, my breathing heavy with indignation.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded, my voice shaking with fury. Ethan held his cheek, a chuckle bubbling up from his throat as he shook his head.

"I have every right to do that," he said, his grin twisted and mocking. "You're still my wife, Aria."

I laughed incredulously, the word 'wife' igniting more rage.

"Wife?" I spat out. "After what you did? You stole my life's work, you stole the company from me — and you think you have rights over me?" My voice rose, each word laced with venom.

"You should be grateful I let you live. Don't even talk about rights." Ethan dropped his hand from his face, his expression hardening as he took a step closer to me.

"Oh, please. Come off it, Aria. There's nothing you can do. And the more you anger me, the more I will make life harder for you and I will make sure you're left with nothing so that you won't be able to climb the ladders again, you won't be able to speak. You'll be a nobody. Not until you come begging me." His smile grew colder. "Then maybe, just maybe, I'll help you, or let you go. But don't delude yourself. You need me."

I felt a chill run down my spine at his threat, but I didn't back down. My eyes locked onto his, and I asked with disbelief, my voice low and measured, "are you really going to go down this path, Ethan?"

Ethan's response was a cold, flat "Yes" he meant it.

With a smug expression, he held out the divorce papers again, this time letting them dangle between his fingers.

I took them from him, my hands trembling with a mix of relief and raw hurt. As I grasped the papers, a wave of emotions crashed over me.

My heart felt like it was shattering into a thousand pieces, but not in the way it used to when I thought I loved him. This was the pain of truth, of recognition of all that had been broken.

I felt a heavy sense of liberation mixed with sorrow — sorrow for the years I had given, for the love I had squandered on someone unworthy. I needed this closure, I realized.

This moment was the severing of the toxic threads that had bound me to Ethan for so long. I needed it to let go of the crazy love I had for him, to acknowledge it was over, and that it had been destructive.

As I held the papers, my vision blurred slightly with unshed tears, but they weren't tears of grief for the loss of Ethan. They were tears of regret for the time I had lost, and of anger at myself for allowing it.

I felt a growing hardness within me, a determination. I was done. Done with chasing his approval, done with bending to fit his needs.

Suddenly, a memory burst into my mind like a jolt of cold water, a flashback.

I was back in school, standing in the empty courtyard, Ethan standing tall and critical in front of me.

"Run 10 laps around the school," he had said, his voice stern and unsparing. "You're getting too fat, Aria. You need to fix that if you want to be with me."

I had looked at him, confused and hurt, but he had added with an intense gaze, "It's because I love you, Aria. That's why I'm asking you to do this. You will do it! you will do it until you're slim. For us."

In the memory, I remembered running those laps, tears streaming down my face, believing it was for 'us', believing I needed to be perfect for him to love me.

The flashback faded, and I was back in the present, standing in Ethan's suite. I felt a bitter clarity. My whole life, I had been trying to be perfect, to fit all of Ethan's needs, moulding myself into what he wanted.

I had convinced myself it was love, that the pain and the adjustments were worth it because he was 'the one'. But now, with the divorce papers in my hand, I saw it for what it was — a crushing, one-sided manipulation.

I didn't need to be perfect for Ethan. I didn't need his validation. I was done chasing it. A quiet resolve settled within me. I was free of him. Free to find myself, free to reclaim my life and my work.

I looked up at Ethan, and for the first moment, I saw him clearly — a selfish, toxic man who didn't deserve any more of my energy.

Without a word, I turned and walked towards the door, the divorce papers clenched in my hand. As I opened the door to leave, I said over my shoulder, my voice steady and cold, "I'd do mine, I'd be awaiting yours. I want this done quickly." I didn't look back. I was already gone.

As I stepped out of the elevator's suite, the divorce papers clenched tightly in my hand, my phone buzzed with an incoming text.

I pulled it out, expecting it to be from my father or maybe a message of confirmation from the solicitor about the arrangements. But the message was from Gregory Miles, Mr. Sterling's lawyer. I read it with growing unease.

"Miss Aria, I inform you that Mr. Kaden Sterling has been waiting outside The Regent Hotel for several minutes. He is displeased to learn you are meeting with another man. Mr. Sterling demands a meeting with you immediately! he is waiting downstairs in the lobby. Please descend at once!"