BETWEEN MY EX AND MY FIRST LOVE

005|His Truth

~Matt~

The sound of that call still echoed in my ear, refusing to fade. What if it was not some joke and Lisa was really hurt?

But I couldn’t let myself think that way. She was the one who betrayed me anyway.

I can still remember the bitterness and pain I felt the moment I saw those pictures. I wanted to believe it wasn’t her, that there had to be a mistake. Maybe she had a sister, someone who looked exactly like her.

But no. Lisa didn't have as many sisters as I know. She was the only one I had allowed myself to love. The one person I trusted with everything, but she betrayed me.

I had Cindy, my friend, look into the matter for me as soon as I saw those pictures, but I ended up uncovering the voice note she made too.

I could make her voice anywhere I heard it.

“You do not need to worry. He is nothing to me. If it wasn’t for his money, I would never have married him.”

The words hit me more than the images ever could. It made me realize that all the love we have shared over the years had been nothing more than a lie.

I turned to look at Cindy. She was still saying something, but I stopped listening a long time ago.

Cindy had that concerned look on her face. “Are you alright, Matt? You look bothered.”

I forced a smile onto my face. I am bothered to say the least. No matter how much I try to hate her, to not care about her, I still can’t.

“I’m fine Cindy.”

I looked her over. “You really need to be more careful. What if you hurt the baby?”

She smiled softly. “Matt, I am alright, the doctor confirmed the baby is fine too.”

I sighed, taking my seat. “Cindy, are you sure you won’t tell him about the baby? He should at least know about his child.”

The smile on her face disappeared, and was instantly replaced with a scared look. She began shaking her head frantically.

"No, if Ben finds me, he will kill me. "Please Matt, I can’t tell him about this baby, he will kill us both.” She reached out, holding onto my sleeve with a panicked expression.

My heart softened. Cindy has been my best friend for as long as I can remember, but I never liked Ben. She left the country to be with him, but the man treated her like s**t, beating her up mostly like his punching bag.

It was when she asked me to come get her that I learnt about Lisa’s infidelity. Cindy happened to have seen her enter the hotel with a man and told me about it. I thought it was a lie, till the pictures confirmed it.

Just then, my phone rang, breaking my line of thoughts.

I nodded apologetically and picked it up. It turned out to be my assistant.

“Frank, what’s wrong?”

His response sent a shocking wave through me.

“Sir, I just took Mrs. Wilton to the hospital. She forced the doctors to discharge her, but she was badly injured.”

My heart flew to my mouth.

"What?”

"I didn’t think she was wounded, she looked just fine. My legs began moving before I could stop them.

“The doctor confirmed that she had lost a lot of blood, and it turned out she……….” He trailed off.

I stopped walking, my heart pounding. “She what Frank?”

God, I can’t breathe.

“She was pregnant, and she lost the child due to the fall that led to overbreeding.”

My legs faltered under me. I almost fell to the ground, but managed to hold onto the railing. I wanted to speak, to say anything at all, but my mouth felt too dry.

She was pregnant?

I rushed out of the hospital, ignoring Cindy’s calls. The only thing on my mind is getting to Lisa.

This is my fault; I shouldn’t have left her there.

She should have told me about the pregnancy.

Tears gathered under my eyes as I hurried out to where Frank was waiting for me. He opened the door for me to enter, and under my command he drove us speedily back to the house.

I had to see her, I had to make sure she was okay.

The few-minute ride back to my house suddenly felt like hours long. I dashed out of the car as soon as we got there without even waiting for Frank to open the door for me.

But as soon as I stepped into our home, I was met with a deafening silence.

My heart tightened. Maybe she was in our bedroom.

I hurried upstairs, but as I got to the door, my steps faltered. What if she doesn’t want to see me?

I shook that thought out of my mind. I just needed to see she was alright; we could talk about everything after that. I imagined her on the floor crying her eyes out.

I swallowed the painful lump forming in my throat and pushed the door open.

Silence.

The room felt strangely empty. I looked around, but still no sign of Lisa there.

“Lisa”

Still nothing.

I looked around, until my eyes settled on the papers on the bed. I didn’t need to pick it up to know what it was, but my hands moved to it quickly.

Divorce papers.

I flipped through it quickly, my hands trembling with every page I flew past, until I caught sight of the last page.

The paper slipped from my hand.

She signed it. Every part of it.

My stomach churned. I know I said we should get a divorce, but I was angry. I never meant it, I just wanted her to tell me the truth.

But she got divorce papers, and signed them.

I turned away from it, my throat tightening.

My eyes flew to the wardrobe which we both shared. It was open, and I could see her side was empty, she had taken her things.

My heart began to pound hardly in my chest. I took out my phone and dialed her number, but she didn’t answer.

She had no memory of her life before now, and she had no friends. Where could she have gone to?

I rushed out of the room, and then I saw our head maid coming out. She bowed as soon as she saw me.

“Have you seen Lisa?”

I waited, hoping, praying she would say something calming. Maybe she is in the garden or somewhere else…. Not gone.

“Mr. Wilton, I saw Mrs. Wilton leaves with her things.”

“Did she tell you where she was headed?”

She shook her head. “No sir, she didn’t tell any of us anything.”

“She left home after the older Mrs. Wilton spoke to her and left.”

Was my mother here?

But her next words shocked me. I got to know that my mom had been harassing Lisa before now. Why did she even think I wanted to marry Cindy?

I ran my fingers through my hair. This had to be a bad dream.

I had a bad feeling about this. I tried calling Lisa again, but the calls went straight to voice mail.

“Oh God, let her be alright, please.”