Chapter 3 - The Strike
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"The house is jointly titled, Adrian," I said, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to project strength. "We bought it together."
"The company funded the down payment," Adrian countered coldly. "You contributed nothing. You sat at home while I built an empire."
"I left my position as an architectural coordinator because you begged me to!" I snapped back. "You told me we were starting a family and needed stability."
"No one forced you to become dependent," Adrian said smoothly. "You chose to stop working because it was easy."
Bianca let out a dramatic, ringing laugh that echoed down the quiet hallway, drawing glances from two attorneys reviewing notes nearby.
"Dependent?" Bianca chimed in, her tone dripping with malice. "You mean parasitic. You used this baby as a desperate attempt to trap him when you realized he was moving on."
"Do not speak about my child," I warned, stepping forward.
"Why?" Bianca sneered, taking a step directly into my path. "Does the truth hurt? You’re embarrassing yourself, Lydia. Adrian is a brilliant executive. You’re just a bitter, needy housewife who couldn't keep her husband interested."
I looked past Bianca, staring straight into Adrian’s eyes, waiting for a shred of decency—a sign that he would stop his mistress from mocking the mother of his child.
Instead, Adrian smirked. He subtly raised his chin, giving Bianca his silent approval.
Driven by an impulse of pure cruelty, Bianca stepped forward and raised her right hand.
Crack.
Her open palm connected brutally with my left cheek before my brain could even register the movement. The impact cracked across the quiet corridor like a gunshot. My head snapped back, and my feet tangled beneath me. Pain erupted through my jaw as my back teeth sliced into the soft flesh of my inner lip.
I stumbled sideways, my shoulder slamming against the hard wooden bench. My hands instinctively wrapped around my stomach to shield my baby as I struggled to keep my balance.
May you like
The hallway fell into dead silence.
"Perhaps now you'll learn to stop creating scenes," Adrian murmured calmly, adjusting his cuffs as if nothing extraordinary had just happened.
