Chapter 4

After slightly tidying himself up, Solomon walked straight onto the stage.

"Hello, everyone. I would also like to take this opportunity to announce some good news.

"This lady next to me, Ms. Melanie Cosgrove, is pregnant. And this is the proof and fruition of our love; a gift straight from heaven itself."

Loud applause erupted around us, followed by countless subtle glances cast in my direction.

"However," Solomon said, "Ms. Ivana Wesley will still be my lawfully wedded wife. I will make proper arrangements for Melanie and the child. She will not be threatening Ivana's position as my wife. I would like everyone here to bear witness to that."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Melanie wove through the crowd and stopped right before me. She extended her hand and said in a gentle voice, "We're going to be family from today onward, Ivana. I will be showing you proper respect next time."

Just as she was about to touch me, she then added casually, "You've miscarried before, haven't you? And you can't ever get pregnant again. Am I not right?"

My fingers turned ice-cold as I snapped my head up to glare at her.

My miscarriage had left a deep scar that I still couldn't get over. Yet, Melanie had so easily exposed it to the public.

All of my grievances I'd been suppressing from before finally burst forth at that moment.

"Don't touch me!" I said, shaking her hand off.

However, a split second later, she acted as though she'd been shoved back with a terrible force and fell to the ground heavily.

A thin trail of red began to run down the inside of her calf.

"Blood! Ms. Cosgrove is bleeding!"

The entire hall descended into chaos.

Solomon rushed up to me, his eyes bloodshot and furious. He looked at the blood on Melanie's leg and then at me, who was frozen to the ground. He didn't even give me a chance to say a single thing before slapping me hard in the face.

I staggered back by a few steps and fell into the tall champagne tower next to me.

Alcohol and glasses rained down on top of me, and I was immediately turned into the most disheveled mess in the entire hall.

"You're such a vicious bitch! And to think that I thought you'd finally learned to behave yourself tonight! You're still as vicious as ever! How could you even bear to lay a finger on an unborn child?"

Solomon continued yelling at me as he pointed a finger in my face. "What else do you want from me, Ivana Wesley? You already have the title of 'Mrs. Geyser', and you eat and live for free while living under my roof!

"Must you destroy everything before you're finally happy with yourself?"

The immense pain in my cheek turned numb. I slowly raised my head and looked at him.

All my feelings for him were completely dead.

Even the last embers had long been scattered by the storm.

Amidst the whispers, I endured the throbbing pain in my face and pulled the divorce papers from my bag.

My voice was hoarse as I said, "I don't want the title of 'Mrs. Geyser' anymore, nor any of those things you said you gave me, Solomon Geyser. Let's get divorced."

The entire hall fell into a hushed silence.

The rage on Solomon's face receded like the tide, leaving behind only shock and astonishment. He looked at me abruptly like he wanted to say something, but my phone suddenly began buzzing loudly.

The notifications kept coming, and it was particularly jarring in the otherwise deathly quiet banquet hall.

Solomon's gaze fell on my bag. He shot forward and rummaged through the bag to find my incessantly vibrating phone as text messages flooded in one after another.

"That bastard! How dare he do such a thing to you!

"I'm going to kill him! I swear I'm going to kill him right now!"

Solomon glared daggers at the screen before looking at me.

"Who is this?"

His voice was dry and hoarse. He probably didn't even realize it was trembling slightly as well.

He then shoved the phone under my nose.

"Is this the bastard you've been cheating on me with the whole time? You're divorcing me because of him, aren't you?"