A DEAL

002

The night after Clara discovered her husband Nick’s devastating betrayal, she drove fifty miles away from Atherton, desperate to escape the suffocating pain and heartbreak. She spent two days alone in a quiet inn, drowning in tears and silence, but no amount of distance, solitude, or sleepless nights could ease the ache that had shattered her heart.

Clara felt lost and hollow, as if part of her had died. With Nick set to divorce her and a baby growing inside her womb, she had no idea what future awaited her.

Yet despite the heartbreak, Clara still found herself returning to the apartment she shared with Nick. She wanted to run away from everything, but she simply couldn't.

Inside the apartment, waiting for Clara, was her aunt Esther Merrick, the sister of her late adoptive father.

Esther welcomed Clara with a deadly glare before striking her across the face with a sharp slap, the sound echoing through the silent apartment.

Esther’s eyes burned with rage as she stepped closer, her voice sharp and merciless. “How dare you do something so vile and shameful to Nick,” she spat.

Clara stood frozen, completely stunned, as the words sank in and the weight of Esther’s accusation left her speechless.

“You got pregnant with another man’s child and disgraced the family name that took you in and raised you. You’re disgusting, Clara!”

Clara shook her head in disbelief, her voice barely steady. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Aunt Esther.”

“Nick came to the house last night looking for you, devastated and broken, and he told us everything about your betrayal. My old woman even suffered a mild heart attack when she heard what you shamefully did. This is all your fault and your disgraceful behavior, you bitch.”

Esther’s hand flew again, striking Clara across the face with another harsh slap, the sound ringing sharply. Tears spilled down Clara’s face as she stood there trembling, unable to hold them back any longer.

Clara had been adopted by the Merricks and spent half her life living near them, but warmth never followed her into their home. Whenever her adoptive parents were away for work, Aunt Esther and even the Merrick grandmother made it clear she did not belong, treating her with cruelty rather than care. Clara was never made to feel like family. She was spoken to and treated worse than a servant, often left hungry and alone under their harsh indifference.

It was all the Merricks’ doing, especially Aunt Esther and her husband Percival, who had always treated Clara with cruelty and control. Burdened by debts owed to Nikolai Sarkhel, they saw her not as family, but as payment. Clara was pushed into an arranged marriage with Nick as part of that repayment, her life traded away under obligations she never chose after her adoptive parents passed away.

“And now we can only blame you,” Esther said coldly. “Nick refused to lend us money for Mother’s medication, and he’s pushing through with the divorce. Now he’s demanding we pay back the old debt we owe him, a debt that was never cleared because you destroyed everything and betrayed him!”

Clara’s voice finally broke through the chaos, trembling but firm. “None of that is true,” she said. “Nick was the one who cheated on me with that model who always visits his bookstore.”

But Esther refused to listen. Blinded by her loyalty to Nick, she had already decided that Clara was the only one at fault in the marriage. No matter what Clara said, every truth she tried to speak was twisted, dismissed, or ignored, leaving her alone in a storm of accusations she could not escape.

“How are we supposed to repay Nick when our debt is a fucking half a million dollars?” she shouted. “We can’t even breathe under this kind of money! When the investment we used the money for went bankrupt, we were scammed!”

Clara’s thoughts spiraled as everything hit her at once. Nick had always seemed like a simple bookstore owner, his life modest and unchanged before and after their marriage.

Yet beneath that image was the Merricks’ staggering debt to Nikolai Sarkhel, a truth she had never been told. It shattered everything she thought she understood.

Nothing made sense… how Nick, with so little, could have lent such an enormous amount of money to Aunt Esther.

The more she tried to understand it, the more everything unraveled into confusion.

“Because of your reckless flirting and stupidity might be enough for Nick to get my husband thrown in jail!”

“Aunt Esther, for once, please listen to me,” Clara pleaded, her voice breaking. “I have done nothing wrong to Nikolai. Since I accepted this marriage, I have been loyal to Nick. I gave him my heart, I loved him—I would never do the things you’re accusing me of.”

Esther grabbed Clara’s arm roughly, her grip tight and unrelenting as her anger spilled over. “Once Percy gets into jail, I will make you pay,” she spat. “Nick will divorce you, and mark my words—I will find another man to sell you to so we can get something back from all the trouble you’ve caused. Our lives weren’t this hard until my brother adopted you and everything turned into hell. And if I find an ugly, dying old man with money willing to take you, I won’t hesitate, Clara and I will sell you to him without a second thought!”

Hours after Aunt Esther left the apartment, an ultra-luxury car pulled up outside, its engine cutting through the silence. A man stepped out—Nikolai Sarkhel, the cheater bastard!

When Clara caught sight of him, confusion tightened in her chest. Nothing about what she was seeing matched the image she had of Nick. How could a simple bookstore owner be connected to something like this, let alone be tied to a world of such extreme wealth and power?

Nick came straight into the apartment and slammed a stack of papers down in front of Clara, his movements sharp and unforgiving.

Divorce agreement!

“I need your signature on it, Clara,” Nick said coldly.

Clara, always gentle and vulnerable, could only break down in tears.

“You ruined my life, Nick. I didn’t do anything wrong to you. I trusted you my whole life, I was loyal to you. Why are you turning everything around and making it look like I’m the one who cheated on you?”

“You’re pretty, Clara, but your softness bores me,” Nick said coldly, his eyes distant. “It makes me regret marrying you. You’re shallow, and I never asked you to love me—that’s pathetic. I never loved you, Clara. I only wanted an heir from you.”

“And yet, Nick, there’s a baby living in my womb,” Clara said through tears, her voice trembling. “This will be the heir you’ve been wishing for. You made me do this, Nick. You wanted this baby.”

Nick’s expression twisted in disgust as he looked at Clara. “That was the most stupid thing I ever did in my life,” he said coldly. “I was desperate and a mess when I got a medical result saying I could hardly make you pregnant, Clara. But after treatment, I’m cured now, and Calla is pregnant. Of course I’m not going to choose the child growing inside your womb over the baby Calla is carrying—my real heir.”

“You are so cruel, Nick,” Clara whispered, her voice breaking completely. “So cruel.”

“Sign the divorce papers now, Clara,” Nick said flatly, his patience gone. “I’m tired of your boring drama. You’re wasting my time.”

Clara, clouded by pain and betrayal, slowly took the pen in trembling hands. Her vision blurred with tears as she signed the divorce papers, each stroke feeling heavier than the last, as if she were signing away not just her marriage, but everything she had once believed in.

Nick coldly grabbed the papers back, his grip firm and detached, before turning away without a second glance and preparing to leave.

“Start packing your things. You’re supposed to leave this apartment before sunset, Clara.”

Clara rushed after him, her voice breaking as she begged. “No, Nick, please… just let me stay here. I have nowhere to go. Please, just until I find work. Let me stay, it’s getting winter…”

“I’ll make a deal with you, Clara,” Nick said. “You can stay in this apartment only if you abort that child inside your womb. I won’t let that bastard be born into this world. It would only become a thorn in my real heir’s future success and the organization.”