Chapter 1
550words
"Victoria, have you completely lost your mind?"
Looking at the divorce agreement on the table, Lawrence clenched his fist before slowly uncurling his fingers.
"I'm perfectly sane. I'm just done pretending with you."
"Pretend? We have children together and you're calling it all an act?"
Children? Hah. What a joke.
"You know damn well how those children came to be."
I raised my head and met his gaze, staring unflinchingly into those pitch-black eyes of his.
"Lawrence," I sat up straight, crossing one leg over the other and resting my hands on my knee, "are those two really my children?"
"What the hell are you saying? You're their mother! How dare you even suggest otherwise!"
His hands balled into fists again, veins bulging across his knuckles like ropes beneath his skin.
Lawrence glanced nervously at the door behind him before turning back, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper.
"The kids just fell asleep. Do you really want to do this now?"
"I'm not here to argue. I want a divorce."
Unlike his barely contained rage, I remained perfectly calm.
Or rather, I'd been emotionally dead for years.
"Why?"
Lawrence finally regained some composure, yanking off his already loosened tie and letting his hands fall limply at his sides like a deflated balloon.
"Why ask questions when you already know the answers?"
I lowered my gaze to my freshly manicured nails—blood red and bold, a style I'd never dared wear before.
...
Silence engulfed the room. No ticking clocks, barely even the sound of breathing.
"Lawrence, I promised I'd play the perfect wife. But I'm done with this charade. I won't be a substitute anymore, won't raise another woman's children, won't spend my life wearing a mask."
Lawrence was seething with rage but remained silent, his eyes boring into mine.
"Can't we just end this cleanly?"
"Hmph, end this cleanly?" Lawrence suddenly relaxed, a cold smirk spreading across his face.
"Victoria, we never started on good terms. What makes you think we could end that way?"
He twisted the tie between his fingers, silent for a moment before speaking in a dangerously soft voice.
"Vicky," he paused, his voice dropping lower, "have you gotten so comfortable that you've forgotten our arrangement? Perhaps you need a reminder."
His icy stare pinned me in place like a butterfly to a board.
"Don't test me. You won't like the outcome. Even I get tired of wearing the good guy mask. Go back to your room now, and I'll forget this happened."
"Lawrence..."
Before I could finish, his shadow loomed over me, one hand slamming down beside me while the other clamped around my throat, choking off my words.
"I said, shut your mouth!"
This was the real him. The monster behind the mask.
His eyes burned with feral intensity, forehead pressed against mine, lips twisted in a predatory smile. Like a wolf about to tear out my throat.
An eternity passed as my face burned from oxygen deprivation, my hands frantically pushing against his chest, desperate to break free.
"Such a disobedient little pet."
Lawrence finally released my throat. As I gasped desperately for air, he yanked my arms behind my back and bound my wrists tightly with his black tie.
"Disobedient pets need proper discipline. Time to relearn your place, Vicky."
