Leah’s POV

“Let me see what he’s working on” she thought to herself then froze when she saw the file on

his desk

DIVORCE, it read.

She turned pale as she went through the file with her hands shaking.

Confused and speechless, she drove in the rain to Eric’s office but stopped when she was at

the half opened door.

She hears him conversing and laughing with someone else,

a woman.

It’s his ex

“He said he was working, he lied”

“I should’ve known he’d pick her” tears rolling down her cheeks.

She goes back home, packs her things and leaves.

The receptionist tells Eric she was here.

He’s confused,

“She didn’t come to my office.”

He calls her.

No answer.

He gets home and all her stuff is gone.

He searches the house for her. He sees the scattered divorce files

“She knows!”

Two months earlier*

I was exhausted after a long day of work and felt a sense of relief wash over me as I stepped

into the house and smelt the turkey mom was making

“Welcome home princess, Maya’s upstairs” my mum said as she took the food out of the

oven.

“Maya!, she didn’t let me know she’d be over” a surprised look on my face.

I was happy to see my best friend and I practically raced upstairs to meet a worried looking

Maya sitting on my bed.

“Hey Maya”

“Leah, welcome home, how was your day?” she said with a nervous smile.

“I'm good, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s great, wonderful even” the same nervous smile

“So why’re you here?”

“To see my beautiful and smart best friend”

I looked her dead in the eyes with suspicion

“Are you sure?”

Defeatingly,“It’s Charles”

“What about Charles?”

She bent over the bed to get her phone

She looked at me with a hurt expression then showed me a picture of my boyfriend with a

complete stranger making out at some party.

“Im sorry Leah”

Lost for words, I sat on the bed panting, fighting through the tears

“How, how could he do this to me? Me!”

“Im sorry, he was trash anyways”

“How did you get this?”

“I was there last night and took the pic”

“Are you sure it’s him?”

“Look at it, who else could it be”

I sat on the floor and cried, hands trembling and still in disbelief of what I just saw.

Four years of relationship just down the drain. I held my best friend as I cried, she patted my

back softly to calm me down. I cried for three hours before my mum came to my room.

“Leah dear, what’s going on?”

“It’s Charles”, my voice shaking, “He cheated”

“That loser!”

“Mom!”

“What!, I thought I told you to leave that boy. He doesn’t have a future fit to take care of you.

He’s reckless and doesn’t even treat you like he values you.”

“He loved me” struggling to speak

“Of course, so much he cheated on you, it’s time you stop putting your time into baseless

things and focus on the business. At least money won’t make you cry”

Losing myself from Maya’s hug I turned to face my mom properly

“Not everything is about money, I want love too”

She looked at me for a short moment and sighed

“Clean yourself up Leah and come downstairs for a meeting, it’s important”

She left the room with her words sticking to me. My happiness wasn’t their priority, their

business was. That's all my parents cared about and that sudden realization hurt badly.

“Don’t listen to her, everyone deserves love, money isn’t everything” Maya said trying to

comfort me.

She knew how my family was. Shallow and hardly cared about my wellbeing.

Her house felt more like home, it was just her and single mom but it was always filled with

joy and laughter. It was an escape from the chaos going on at home. And I loved it there.

She was like the sister i never had.

Feeling down and still heartbroken, I gave Maya a weak smile. “I’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Of course you will my love”

I slowly walked to the bathroom and washed my face. I looked in the mirror and saw my tired

face and messy hair.

“You will get through this”

“You deserve better”

“You deserve the good things in life”

“You are enough” I told myself.

A smile slowly crept on my face with a sense of hope washing over me.

“Uurgh!, what does he want?” Charles was calling.

I picked up my phone in anger and tapped decline, then block.

“I deserve better”

“And that’s on period!” Maya adding.

We both laughed.

I walked out of the bathroom feeling a little better.

Maya smiled while widening her arms for a hug and I forced one back and hugged her

reluctantly.

“What would I do without you”

“Honestly, I have no idea”

“Leah, we're waiting!” My father yelled from downstairs with an impatient tone.

We let go of each other and Maya got her things together to leave.

“Bye, I’ll come over tomorrow” I said.

“I’ll be expecting you” Maya waved and left.

I got dressed and went downstairs with a frown on my face waiting to hear what was so

important than my mental health.

“Good evening dear”

“Good evening dad”

“We called you for this meeting because of the company”

“Which I have been running excellently well”

“We know, we know, it’s just” he paused

“Just what” my heart started racing

“We could do better with a little help from my new business partner, the Harpers”

“As in Harper Corporation, one of the biggest empires in New York owned by the Eric

Harper, one of the youngest CEOs”

“Soon to be owned by Eric Harper, and yes that corporation”

I jumped out of my seat with joy. “Are you serious? That’s such big news, we should

celebrate”

“Yes honey, we will…at the wedding”

The smile on my face slowly turned to confusion as I asked them what they meant by

wedding.

“Who’s getting married?”

“Eric and you” he said with a low voice

Trying to make sense of what I just heard, I sat down back with my fist curled up lightly

“What do you mean by Eric and you?”

“We’ve spoken to the Harpers and it was what we concluded at. The marriage would make

our bond strong and business stronger”

There's that word again, business, I hated hearing it.

“So you’re just going to marry me off” my voice raising.

“Just like that!”

“We think it’s the best time to make this move” mom added.

“And what makes you think so?”

“Well you’ve left your scrappy boyfriend and the business could really use that boost”

“Stop saying that word! Just stop it!” I slammed the arm of the couch .

I started pacing the room slowly, visibly filled with rage, looking like I’ll lose my mind at any

moment. I stopped and looked directly at them.

“How could you?” My voice cracked as I tried to let the words out. I wanted to cry.

“You sold me off to a man I know nothing of with the purpose of stupid business!”

They looked at me with guilt in their eyes but still firm on their decision.

“I hate you both and I will not be forced into any marriage and that's final!”

I went back upstairs, rage written all over me, I banged the wall as hard as I could and started

panting again. I hated my parents. They never put me as a priority unless it’s something that

favours them. All my straight A’s back in high school,valedictorian, prom Queen, all those

clubs I had joined to impress them. I didn’t even go to college because I put all my focus into

their precious business. Those were the only times they ever paid attention to me.

I thought of calling Maya but then decided to cry myself to sleep. I was overwhelmed. First

the breakup, now I'm marrying some billionaire. I wonder how he feels about all this.