Everything changed when his Ex-girlfriend returned…..

Larisa Bennett thought the news of her pregnancy would improve her relationship with her husband, Ryan Kingsley. However, before she could tell him the pleasant news, his ex-girlfriend, Ivy Williams, reappeared and turned her life upside down. It was like she was starting from zero all over again.

Ryan suddenly became distant and detached, his attention now focused on the woman he always loved.

Larisa was hit with the reality that Ryan would never love her. She was the third wheel in her own marriage and she was tired.

Resorting to the only thing that would set her free, she asked for a divorce but surprisingly, Ryan refused, not wanting to let her go but his actions told a different story.

His ex-girlfriend always came first.

In a shocking turn of events, everything turned south when Larisa found herself kidnapped at the same time as Ivy.

Ryan is faced with a difficult choice.

He can only save one.

Will he choose to save his wife or ex-girlfriend? What are the consequences of his choice?

If he chooses to save Ivy, will he regret it and will it be too late?

~ Leaving in the middle of the night

“Congratulations, you're pregnant!”

Larisa seemed a little absent-minded tonight... all she could think about was what the doctor had said to her that afternoon.

"What are you thinking about?” Ryan asked as he unbuttoned his shirt.

Looking at Ryan's sexy chest, Larisa blushed. They had been married for three years, but every time she saw Ryan's nakedness, Larisa couldn’t help but be shy.

Without waiting for Larisa's answer, Ryan turned and went to take a shower.

When she heard the shower go on, Larisa opened the drawer and pulled out a pregnancy test report.

In the afternoon, she had gone to the hospital because she was unwell. She thought it was an ordinary stomach ache, but the doctor told her that she was pregnant.

Finally, after three years of trying, she was finally going to have a baby!

She beamed and held the report to her chest as she waited for her husband to finish his shower.

They had been married for three years, however, their marriage remained a secret to the outside world.

Even though they had not made it public since they got married, and even though others thought she was just his secretary, she still felt very sweet. She could already imagine herself with a little baby in her arms.

With a huge smile on her face, she decided to tell her husband the news. She couldn't wait to see his reaction when he learned about her pregnancy.

Minutes later, Ryan had just come out of the bathroom when Larisa excitedly rushed to his side.

“Ryan, I’ve got something to tell you,” she stated, holding the document in her hands. Her heart was pounding erratically in her chest from the excitement she was feeling.

“Oh, what is it?” Ryan asked with an arched eyebrow, his gray eyes studying her.

“Well, you won’t believe it. After so long, I’m finally-”

Unfortunately, Ryan’s phone started ringing, stopping Larisa’s words mid-sentence. He furrowed his eyebrows and went to the balcony to pick up the call.

Larisa glanced at her phone and saw that it was almost twelve o'clock in the middle of the night. Who could be calling Ryan? Larisa felt inexplicably uneasy.

Whatever the person who called said made Ryan change his expression. He was no longer calm and he looked a bit anxious when he returned from the balcony.

“I’m coming,” he said to whoever was on the other side of the phone.

Larisa’s heart sank when Ryan quickly changed his clothes and began to walk away. She ran after him and called out, “Wait! Ryan. It's too late, you can't-”

“Something important has come up,” Ryan replied without looking back at her.

Before Larisa could tell him she had good news, Ryan was already out the door.

It seemed he was in a hurry to get wherever he wanted to go.

Larisa stood at the door, her heart clenching in pain. It had always been like this. Ryan never put her first.

It didn’t matter if she had an important issue to discuss with him or if she just wanted to spend time with him, to him, she always came last.

The only time he gave her attention was when he wanted to sleep with her. Afterwards, they lived like strangers.

Larisa thought having a child would improve their relationship and that was why she was excited to share the news with Ryan.

However, just like always, he left without hearing what she had to say.

A few hours passed and Larisa couldn’t fall asleep. She was in bed when she received a call from her best friend, Bianca Jones.

“Hey, Lisa, are you in a wheelchair now?” Bianca asked on the phone.

Larisa furrowed her eyebrows at her friend’s question. She replied, “No, I’m not. Why would you ask me that?”

“Strange, I just saw someone who looks like Ryan. He went into a fancy restaurant while pushing a woman in a wheelchair. I thought you were with him.”

Larisa’s eyes widened. ‘A woman? Who could that be?’ She thought in her mind.

“I might be wrong anyway,” Bianca added.

When the call cut, Larisa’s heart felt heavy for some reason. She was about to put her phone away when a piece of gossip news popped up on her notifications.

It had something to do with jewelry design, so she developed an interest in the news.

[The famous jewelry designer Ivy Williams has returned. A mysterious male friend accompanies her.]

The man's name was not mentioned in the news. But the news stated that Ivy was accompanied by the Moonstone City’s most eligible bachelor who was also a billionaire.

Although the picture of the couple wasn’t clear, Larisa recognised the man. It was Ryan, her husband.

Ivy was back.

Larisa’s heart pounded hard as she read the comments that praised the lovely couple.

“Miss Williams might be in a wheelchair but she’s still elegant and sophisticated. Her fiance is rich and looks handsome too. I wish I could see his face.”

“Miss Williams is back! Are we about to get a new collection of her jewelry? It’s been so long since we got new designs from her. I can’t wait!”

“Who’s the rich guy she’s with? Are they getting married soon?”

“I managed to get a close-up photo. He’s so handsome!”

As it turned out, Bianca was right after all. The man she saw with another woman was none other than Ryan Kingsley.

Larisa’s heart felt like it had been stabbed by a knife.

So he left his wife late at night just to pick up his ex-girlfriend, his first love, his beloved as soon as he knew she returned to the country?

~ A mistress

In the morning, Larisa got up and went to the company on time although she didn't sleep all night.

"Have you seen the news? Ivy Williams has returned!" Tatiana Jenkins, one of the employees at the Kingsley group, remarked.

She was talking to her friend while they waited to get into the elevator. Behind them, Larisa kept quiet as they continued to talk about her as though she was invisible.

“You mean that jewelry designer?" The other colleague, Judy Brooks, asked.

"Yeah, she's not just an ordinary jewelry designer, she's also the only girlfriend our boss has ever admitted to dating in public. I heard she's his first love."

"Wow, but isn't it rumored that our boss and Larisa have some-?"

“Of course, not! She was just a mistress!”

“Haha! What a failure. She thought sleeping her way to the top would make the boss fall in love with her. Now that the woman that he loves has returned, I’m sure she’s not only going to lose her position as the mistress, she’s also going to lose her job.”

Larisa clenched her hands into fists. She gritted her teeth but didn’t say anything. After all, her marriage was a secret only known to Ryan and his family.

She was Ryan’s personal assistant but no one knew that the two had been married for three years.

Everyone just assumed she was Ryan’s mistress because of how close they were. However, Ryan never corrected them and Larisa had no right to correct them either. Ryan made her promise to keep their marriage a secret.

The doors to the elevator opened and they all entered the elevator. Tatiana and Judy shared a look before continuing their conversation.

“If I were her, I would resign on my own. It’s clear the boss has someone he loves. It’s so degrading to cling to him like a desperate chick,” Tatiana said, her words full of mockery.

“Hey… chill. She can hear you,” Judy whispered loudly and laughed.

It seemed they were having fun at Larisa’s predicament. They had been among the many women who were jealous of her closeness with Ryan Kingsley. Now that his real woman had returned, they found an opportunity to ridicule Larisa.

“I’m just saying the truth. She’s a mistress who’s about to be abandoned now that the future Mrs Kingsley has returned to the city,” Tatiana stated.

Larisa clenched her hands into fists at those words.

Mistress?

She was the rightful wife! And yet, she couldn’t even say that loud.

Larisa pursed her lips, her heart aching. Ryan had not returned home the previous night. He didn’t even have the decency to call her to let her know of his plans.

She concluded that he had spent the night with his ex-girlfriend. Just thinking about it made her feel like a cat was clawing at her heart.

Her colleagues mocking words echoed in her ears and her throat ran dry. She was the legal wife but she couldn’t even speak out to defend her position. Could she even defend her position?

How can she defend something that wasn’t hers to begin with?

It didn’t take long for Larisa to arrive at the CEO’s office. However, she wasn’t in the mood to work that day. So, she went to the office to ask Ryan for leave to go home.

Sure enough, when she knocked and entered his office, she found him seated in his swivel chair wearing different clothes from the ones he wore the previous night.

“You’re late,” Ryan said in a cold deep voice.

“Yes… I slept late. I’ve come to ask for a one-day leave,” Larisa requested, trying hard to hold back her tears.

He didn’t even look bothered that he slept out.

“Why? Are you sick?” Ryan asked nonchalantly, his gray eyes studying Larisa’s frame.

“I’m not feeling well,” Larisa replied, trying to swallow the lump in her throat.

The thing is… she wanted to ask him where he had spent the night but she didn’t want to know that he had spent it with another woman.

Thinking about it and hearing it from the horse’s mouth were two different things.

“Ok,” Ryan replied and when Larisa didn’t move, he arched an eyebrow and asked, “Anything else?”

Larisa shook her head. She couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Ryan didn’t even attempt to explain where he had spent the night. He was acting like what he had done was normal.

With a broken heart, she left the company and went to the parking lot. However, she bumped into someone in the company’s underground parking lot.

It was none other than Ivy Williams— the woman of Ryan Kingsley’s dreams.

In that wheelchair, she looked very vulnerable, giving the people around her the urge to want to protect her. She was moving her smart wheelchair and stopped in front of Larisa, blocking her way.

“So, you’re Larisa, Ryan’s wife? I’m Ivy. Nice to meet you,” Ivy said.

Larisa turned pale, she didn't expect to meet Ivy so soon.

“Thank you for taking care of Ryan in the past three years,” Ivy added with a smile on her face.

Larisa internally scoffed! She made it sound like she was just a caretaker! Was she indirectly asking her to back off now that the owner had returned?

“You don’t need to thank me for doing my duty as his wife,” Larisa replied through gritted teeth.

She felt sorry for the woman since she was in a wheelchair but she felt like her statement was a mockery of the real situation of her relationship with Ryan.

Ivy smiled gently. She replied, “Of course. See you around.”

She began to wheel herself away when her phone slipped from her lap and dropped to the ground. Looking at Larisa, she asked, “Can you help me pick up my phone? I can’t reach it as you can see.”

Larisa nodded and approached Ivy. However, just when she crouched down to pick up the phone, Ivy suddenly fell on the ground and screamed.

“What happened-”

“Ouch! That hurt!” Ivy cried as blood trickled down her face, making Larisa’s eyes widen in horror.

“What the-”

“IVY!” A deep voice resonated in the area.

Larisa’s heart skipped a beat when she heard that familiar voice. It belonged to her husband and she had never heard him sound so worried before.

He rushed towards them and held Ivy in his arms. When he saw the blood dripping from her forehead, his eyebrows furrowed in anger. He glared at Larisa coldly, giving her the chills.

Wait did he think she did it?

Larisa’s eyes widened in shock when she realised what was happening. She was being framed!

“Ryan! I swear, I didn’t push her-”

“Get lost!” Ryan yelled and pushed Larisa who landed on her ass.

He carried Ivy bridal style, his eyes filled with worry. He looked at her and whispered gently, “Don’t worry, I’ll take you to the hospital.”

~ Let's part ways

“What the hell is going on?” Ryan asked Ivy after the doctor attended to her. Guilt crept into him as he looked at the bandage on her forehead. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why Larisa has changed. She used to be so kind.”

When he went to the parking lot, he thought he saw Larisa pulling Ivy out of the wheelchair. He got so nervous that Ivy would get hurt.

After all, she hurt her legs because of him. He wouldn’t want her to get hurt because his wife got jealous.

“I hope you can forgive her. She usually doesn’t get worked up,” Ryan added.

They were in a VIP hospital room with Ivy lying on the small hospital bed since they had left her wheelchair.

Ivy smiled and grabbed Ryan’s hand, saying, “Hey, don’t get it wrong. This is not Larisa’s fault. I fell on my own… it seems my wheelchair has some problems.”

Ryan’s eyes widened slightly. He asked, “Are you saying Larisa didn’t push you?”

Ivy shook her head, biting her lower lip. She replied, “No, she didn’t push me. Please don’t blame her for this. I don’t want the two of you to have a misunderstanding because of me.”

Ryan furrowed his eyebrows. He recalled how he had roughly pushed Larisa away. He didn’t even turn to see if she had hurt herself when she fell on the ground.

Who knew he had misread everything and blamed her for something she didn’t do?

Guilt crept into him. ‘Come to think of it, I overreacted without finding out what happened,’ he mused.

“I had no idea…” He murmured.

Ivy gave him a sweet smile and said, “You should go to her and clear up the misunderstanding.”

Ryan glanced at Ivy. He thought Ivy was still as considerate as she used to be. Nodding, he uttered, “I’ll go and see her but first, let me take you home. We left your wheelchair at the company. I’ve called someone to get you a new one since that one is faulty.”

“Ok… I can wait alone though… don’t leave Larisa alone for too long,” Ivy remarked.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll explain to her and she will understand,” Ryan replied.

…

Meanwhile, Larisa met her best friend at a cafe before going home.

“What? You’re pregnant?” Bianca’s eyes widened into saucers. “That’s incredible news!”

A sad smile crossed Larisa’s lips. She said, “I don’t know if it is… you were right about last night. The man you saw was Ryan. It turns out the woman he was with is the woman he has always been in love with.”

“What the hell?” Bianca hissed. She clenched her hands into fists and asked, “Is he cheating on you with his old love?”

“I don’t know. I always knew there was no love between us but it hurts to confirm it. Perhaps I should do what I have been delaying to do all this while,” Larisa responded, her heart clenching.

“Are you crazy? Why would you leave your marriage? Especially now that you found out you’re pregnant? Being a single mother is tough, hun. I say, get rid of that homewrecker. You’re the legal wife here!” Bianca proclaimed. “If you can’t tell her off, I can do it for you.”

“And then what, Bee?” Larisa shook her head. “You should have seen how worried he looked when he thought I had pushed her. He didn’t hesitate to push me for her sake. I don’t think I can handle seeing him defend her… moreover, I can only keep a man who wants to be kept.”

Bianca felt bad for her friend. She nodded and remarked, “Try to tell him about your pregnancy. I’m sure the temporal excitement he’s having at seeing his old love will disappear once he knows he has a child on the way.”

Larisa placed a hand on her belly and caressed it slightly. She recalled how hard Ryan had pushed her away. He didn’t even try to check on her to see if she was ok… what if he didn’t want to have a child with her?

He may end up asking her to get rid of the baby so that he could be with the love of his life.

Shaking her head, Larisa said, “I’m not going to tell him about the pregnancy. He never wanted to marry me in the first place… I’m sure having a child with me is the last thing he would want right now. I’ll only get in the way of his happiness.”

Bianca sighed heavily. She realised that Larisa had made up her mind, so there was no use in talking her out of it.

“I’ll support whatever decision you make, hun. Just know that I want you to be happy,” she remarked.

...

A little while later, Ryan returned home and found Larisa waiting for him in the living area. Looking at her, he recalled how he treated her earlier and his heart was completely filled with guilt.

“Larisa, look, about earlier, I’m-”

“I’ve got something to tell you, Ryan,” Larisa said, cutting off Ryan’s words.

She had a look of determination on her face as she got to her feet and gave Ryan the documents she had in her hands.

Ryan frowned in confusion as he looked at the documents. He asked, “What is this? Is it work? Can’t it wait till tomorrow? I wanted to us to talk about-”

“No, it can’t wait. These documents are my resignation and divorce papers. Let’s part ways, Ryan. It’s been long overdue,” Larisa proclaimed. "Let's get a divorce."