CHAPTER 4

Anastasia 

“What?” The word barely left my lips.

I stared at Rosalie in complete disbelief, my mind struggling to process what I had just heard.

You snatched Brandon from me.

“What are you talking about?” I asked again, my voice shaking slightly.

Rosalie scoffed softly like she found my confusion amusing.

“See?” she muttered. “Completely clueless.”

She slowly rose from the chair beside my bed and smoothed down her dress before beginning to pace around the hospital room leisurely.

I gripped the blanket tightly over my lap while watching her move.

Pain still throbbed through my stomach, but somehow the ache in my chest hurt worse.

“What do you mean I stole Brandon from you?” I demanded weakly.

Rosalie glanced at me over her shoulder and laughed softly.

“You really know nothing, Anastasia.”

The pity in her tone made humiliation crawl up my throat.

“I've been with Brandon long before he married you,” she said calmly. “We were together before your father ever noticed him.”

I froze.

“No…” I whispered immediately. “You're lying.”

She merely shrugged.

“Believe whatever helps you sleep at night.”

My heartbeat became uneven.

This had to be another attempt to hurt me.

Brandon loved me, didn’t he?

My thoughts suddenly faltered.

No, I had thought he loved me.

But the image of him kissing Rosalie in that townhouse immediately flashed through my mind again.

My chest tightened painfully.

Rosalie continued pacing slowly.

“Brandon always had ambition,” she said casually. “That man wanted power more than anything. The problem was that being an illegitimate son made people look down on him.”

Her lips curled mockingly.

“Then you appeared.”

I swallowed hard.

“What does that mean?”

She stopped walking and looked directly at me.

“It means you handed him everything he could never have achieved on his own.”

The room suddenly felt colder.

“What are you saying?” I whispered.

Rosalie crossed her arms.

“The only reason Brandon looked your way was because of your family's fortune.”

The words slammed into me so violently that I flinched.

“No.”

I shook my head instantly.

“No, that's not true.”

Rosalie rolled her eyes.

“You really are naïve.”

Tears burned behind my eyes again.

“No…” I repeated shakily. “He loved me.”

“Loved you?” She laughed openly this time. “Anastasia, Brandon targeted you.”

I stared at her speechlessly.

“He knew marrying you would secure his position in Black Holdings,” Rosalie continued mercilessly. “Your father practically worshipped him after the wedding. Brandon gained wealth, status, influence, everything he wanted.”

I felt sick.

Every memory I had of Brandon suddenly twisted painfully inside my head.

The way he pursued me relentlessly back in college, the way he always encouraged me to trust him with company matters, the way he slowly took over my father's business operations.

God.

My breathing became shallow.

No.

No, Brandon wouldn't…

But even as I tried to defend him in my mind, another voice whispered cruelly inside me.

Then why did he get another woman pregnant? Why did he blame me for losing our baby?

My vision blurred again.

Rosalie watched my expression carefully and smiled in satisfaction.

“Looks like reality is finally sinking in.”

I stared down at my trembling hands.

Had I wasted my entire three years? Had my marriage truly been nothing but a calculated scheme? Had Brandon ever even loved me at all?

The thought shattered me completely.

I remembered all the nights I stayed awake helping him prepare for meetings.

I had given him everything, including access to my family's company.

Tears rolled silently down my face.

Rosalie noticed and clicked her tongue.

“Don't cry now. It's embarrassing.”

I looked up at her with burning eyes.

“How could you both do this to me?” I whispered painfully.

Rosalie shrugged carelessly.

“You were useful.”

The cruelty in her voice stunned me.

Useful.

That was all I had been.

A tool, a stepping stone. Something Brandon only used to get to the top.

I laughed weakly through tears, but the sound came out broken.

“I loved him…”

Rosalie's expression remained indifferent.

“And he loved your inheritance.”

My chest hurt so badly that I struggled to breathe properly.

Everything around me felt like it was collapsing.

Even my child… My baby had died while Brandon was planning a future with another woman.

A sob nearly escaped me again.

Rosalie walked closer to the hospital bed slowly.

“As things stand now,” she said coolly, “you're already finished.”

I frowned weakly.

“What?”

She smiled faintly.

“Even if you divorce Brandon, your family's wealth will still fall into his hands eventually.”

My blood ran cold.

“What are you talking about?”

Rosalie tilted her head.

“You trusted him too much, Anastasia.”

Fear slowly crept into my chest.

“No…”

“You signed over more authority than you realized after your marriage,” she continued casually. “Brandon has been positioning himself inside Black Holdings for years.”

I stared at her in horror.

“No…”

“Your father practically treats him like a son now. The board trusts him. The investors trust him.” Her smile widened slightly. “And you foolishly let him gain control of everything.”

I suddenly remembered all the documents Brandon used to ask me to sign without reading carefully.

Rosalie looked pleased by my reaction.

“You finally understand.”

I couldn't think properly anymore.

My head spun painfully.

I suddenly felt like the stupidest woman alive.

Hot tears streamed endlessly down my face as humiliation consumed me whole.

Rosalie watched me coldly for a moment before reaching into her designer handbag, then she walked right up to my bed.

“Anyways, I didn’t come all the way here to give you some fairytale stories.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a stack of papers which she dropped on my thighs.

I looked down numbly.

For the first few seconds, I just stared at the documents without moving, a part of me still desperately tried to believe that all that had happened in the past twenty four hours had been nothing but a bad nightmare.

But the word “divorce” stared at me loudly from the paper on my thighs.

“No…” I whispered faintly. “This can’t be happening.

Rosalie folded her arms. “There's no need to drag things out.”

My hands shook violently as I slowly picked up the papers.

My eyes moved to the bottom of the page and I saw Brandon’s signature already sitting there boldly, as if he he was eager to let me off.

My entire body went cold instantly.

He had already signed them.

And he hadn’t even come himself, he sent his mistress instead.

A sharp pain tore through my chest so violently that tears instantly spilled down my cheeks again.

I stared at his signature like it had personally stabbed me.

I blinked repeatedly, trying desperately not to break down again.

But my tears wouldn't stop.

Rosalie sighed impatiently.

“There's no point getting emotional now.”

I slowly looked up at her.

“You're disgusting,” I whispered.

She smiled mockingly.

“And yet I still won.”

Rage flickered through my grief instantly.

Rosalie leaned slightly closer.

“You should just sign the papers quietly and leave.”

My fingers tightened around the documents.

“I'll never forgive either of you,” I said shakily.

She laughed softly.

“We weren’t asking for forgiveness, Anastasia. And if I were you, I would sign the papers without all of this drama. Because if you don’t, I will keep meddling in your family’s affairs.”

With that , she scoffed loudly and began walking away casually, her hips swaying from side to side as she left the room.

The door closed behind her softly.

As soon as she was gone, silence filled the room again.

I sat there frozen for a long time, the divorce papers rested in my lap.

Brandon's signature stared back at me mockingly.

My tears slowly stopped, not because the pain disappeared.

But because something else was beginning to grow inside me.

Anger. Pure, burning anger.

I thought about my dead baby, about my shattered marriage, about Brandon using me.

My fingers slowly tightened around the papers.

How dare he?

How dare he ruin my life and expect me to quietly disappear afterward?

My breathing became hotter. The grief inside me slowly twisted into fury.

If Brandon wanted a divorce so badly, then I’d give it to him. 

My trembling hand reached for the pen beside the hospital bed.

The moment the pen touched the paper, another tear slid down my cheek.

Then, with shaking fingers and a heart full of devastation, I signed my name across the divorce papers.

Anastasia Black Moretti.

The signature that signified the end of my marriage.