Tears streamed down Thalassa’s face as one of the officers stepped behind her and took her hands, placing her wrists in cuffs. She stared pleadingly at Kris, hoping he would realize his mistake and save her from this humiliation, but he merely stared at her with nothing but coldness as she was led out of the room.

As if this humiliation wasn’t enough, when they got outside, several reporters instantly rushed towards her, flashing cameras as they came.

“Thalassa, is it really true that you married Kris Miller all for his money?”

“How do you feel after your theft was discovered?”

Thalassa had never felt this humiliated in her life, with people staring at her and reporters asking all sorts of questions as she was led into the police car.

“Wait! Please, this is a mistake. I’m innocent. You’ve got to believe me,” she pleaded with the police officer who led her into the holding cell.

The officer laughed as he locked the gate to the cell. “That’s what they all say. You really should’ve thought twice before messing with a woman like Linda Miller.”

Still laughing, he walked off. More tears streamed down Thalassa’s face. She’d known that her mother-in-law had never liked her, but to hate her this much to construct such a plot against her?

Her eyes scanned the room and its cold, barren walls before settling on the bed that looked like it had seen better days. This was where she was—a place meant for criminals.

Her heart broke a million times over as she sank onto the bed. How could Kris have done this to her?

She wasn’t going to deceive herself into thinking that her marriage had been perfect before this. It had been far from it.

While they were dating, Kris had been the perfect gentleman, always putting her needs first. He’d gone against his own mother and his family members when they disapproved of their relationship because Thalassa was from a low class. He’d even warned reporters and tabloids who’d insinuated that she was a goldigger. He’d been the perfect man.

But all that changed once they got married. Kris transformed into a completely different person.

From the man who always treated her like a queen, he turned into a man who made her cry almost every night with his coldness.

It tormented her all the more because she couldn’t understand what could’ve possibly made him change so much.

To top it off, she’d had to deal with the humiliation from his family members, being treated like a servant in their family home. That was what her life had been like for the past year.

Still, she never would have expected Kris to allow her to be arrested and humiliated like some common criminal. It hurt even more because she was carrying his child.

Lassa sniffed as she placed her hand over her belly. She was pregnant, but Kris didn’t know about it. She’d found out yesterday, and she’d wanted to tell him, but he hadn’t come home in the past two days, and he never bothered to answer any of her calls.

The only person she’d told was Karen, her best friend. Aside from her, no one else knew.

“Don’t worry, baby. It’s all going to be alright, I promise,” she said to her belly, even though she knew it was probably still a clot of blood since she was only two months pregnant. “Your father is going to realize his mistake any moment now, and he’s going to apologize, and everything is going to be alright. You’ll see.”

The next three days in the holding cell were the most agonizing days of Thalassa’s life. Kris never came to get her out or apologize. In fact, nobody came to visit her. She’d demanded several times for the one phone call she knew she was entitled to, but it was always denied. They hadn’t even given her a chance to call a lawyer.

Thalassa had no doubt that this was all Linda Miller using her influence. Was the woman truly intent on having her jailed for something she never did?

On the evening of the third day, Thalassa was lying on the prison bed crying silently to herself when she suddenly heard the sound of the prison cell being unlocked.

She quickly sat up, her eyes widening with hope as she saw Mr. Sawyer, Kris’s family lawyer.

“You’re lucky that the Miller family decided to drop the charges. You’re being released,” the officer said.

Thalassa’s heart leapt with joy. Finally, Kris had realized his mistake. He was surely going to apologize for not trusting her earlier. Everything was going to be alright.

“Thank you so much,” she said to the lawyer as she wiped her tears. “But where...where is Kris?”

She stepped outside of the cell, looking down the hallway to see whether Kris was standing anywhere there, but he was nowhere in sight.

“Kris didn’t come with me,” the lawyer clarified. “He merely sent me to drop the charges and have you released.”

Thalassa’s heart sank, but she quickly smiled. Kris was probably too busy, that’s why he couldn’t come, but he was obviously waiting for her at home.

Everything was going to be fine, she assured herself again.

The lawyer began walking to the main station, so Thalassa followed. The cops had taken her handbag and her phone yesterday, so she was led to sign some documents to finally have her things back.

Once she was done, she turned to the lawyer. “Didn’t Kris send a chauffeur? Or are you going to be driving me home?”

The lawyer looked at her. “That’s one thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

Thalassa’s heart skipped a beat. “What about?”

Without answering, the lawyer brought out some papers from his bag and handed them over to her. Thalassa’s heart sank as she stared at the words boldly written on top of the first page.

DIVORCE AGREEMENT.

Thalassa’s hands shook as her eyes repeatedly ran over the bold words: DIVORCE AGREEMENT.

Agreement? She certainly didn’t remember sitting down to talk about anything. This surely had to be a mistake.

She turned her panicked eyes to the lawyer. “Is this a joke?”

“I don’t remember ‘comedian’ being in my job description, Miss Thompson,” the lawyer said, sounding offended.

“Then what is this?” Thalassa demanded, her voice louder than she intended, laden with frustration.

The lawyer’s nostrils flared as he looked around at the people staring at them. “It’s exactly what you’re looking at, Miss Thompson. Kris wants a divorce.”

Thalassa noted how he kept referring to her by her maiden name, as if she and Kris were already divorced.

The lawyer took a step closer. “Look, don’t make this complicated. You’re lucky to be walking away with just a divorce. You could’ve spent several years rotting in jail. You should be thankful to Kris that he convinced his mother to drop the charges.”

Just like that, Thalassa felt hope spark inside her. Kris had convinced his mother to drop the charges. That could only mean that he loved her. There was definitely an explanation for all this.

Mr. Sawyer drew a pen from his bag. “Here, please take the pen and sign the papers. There’s no alimony because Kris said you can keep the millions you stole into your offshore accounts. All you have to do is sign at the required spots, and he’ll have your belongings delivered to wherever you want.”

Before the lawyer could finish speaking, Thalassa had turned and began storming out of the police station. Reaching the roadside, she quickly waved her hand at an approaching cab.

The car stopped in front of her, and she didn’t waste time entering. “The Miller mansion,” she instructed the driver. She still had the divorce papers in her hand, and her heart pounded as she stared at them.

It couldn’t be true. This had to be another one of Linda Miller’s schemes to separate her and Kris. She wasn’t going to believe it until Kris himself told her that he wanted a divorce.

When the driver stopped outside the Miller mansion, she reached into her bag and pulled out some dollar notes. Not caring how much it was, she tossed it at the driver and got out.

She was just about to enter through the gate when a burly security guard stepped in front of her.

“You can’t go in,” he said gruffly.

Thalassa glared at him. “What do you mean I can’t go in? This is my house! I’m Kris’s wife!”

“I know that. But I’ve been given orders by Mrs. Miller not to let you in.”

Of course, it was Linda Miller’s orders.

Thalassa roughly ran her fingers through her hair, feeling like she was going insane. Without a second thought, she ran past the security guard onto the mansion’s compound.

“Hey, I told you you can’t go in!” the man hissed, running after her, but his speed was no match for Thalassa’s desperation as she ran on and finally entered the house.

The Miller family was all gathered in the living room, but Kris was nowhere in sight. All of them turned to look at her disdainfully before storming towards her.

“What are you doing here, you thief?!” Cynthia, Kris’s aunt, demanded.

“This bitch really has some guts!” Tyler, Kris’s younger brother, scoffed.

“I’m going to drag her out by her hair!” Susan, Kris’s younger sister, gritted out.

“Ma’am, I tried to stop her, but she just ran past me,” the security guard said as he appeared behind Thalassa, grabbing her by the arm.

“It’s okay. Let go of her arm,” Linda Miller said as she finally stopped in front of Thalassa. The rest of her family also stopped behind her, their eyes blazing like vultures, waiting to tear Thalassa to shreds.

“You have no shame showing your face here after what you did to my son and our family,” Linda sneered, her voice dripping with disgust.

Anger shot through Thalassa as she snapped. “I did not do anything, and you know it! You were the one who sent me to meet that man. Why are you doing this? Why are you lying?”

Her voice broke, which only increased the pleasure on her mother-in-law’s face.

“My son wants nothing to do with you anymore, Thalassa, so you have no business being here. Get out of here.”

“You’re nothing but a snake! I am not leaving until I speak to Kris!” Thalassa stated firmly, glaring back at her.

“Don’t speak to my mother like that,” Kris’s harsh voice sounded as he approached.

Thalassa immediately ran towards him, holding up the divorce papers. “Kris...your lawyer...he came to me and gave me these papers. He said you wanted a divorce, but I know it’s got to be a mistake. It’s all a mistake, right?”

Kris stared coldly into her eyes as he answered, “There’s no mistake.”

Thalassa stumbled back, shaking her head in disbelief. “Kris...please, you can’t... Let’s save our marriage. All this is a misunderstanding. I didn’t do anything. Please, you’ve got to believe me.”

“Do you really still believe that I want to continue being with a woman like you? You don’t even have the decency to admit what you did,” Kris snorted, his cold eyes boring into her.

“But I didn’t do anything!” Thalassa declared desperately, grabbing onto his arm. “Kris, please be–“

“Let go of me!” he hissed, snatching his arm from her hold.

“Why is the door left open?” A voice came from behind Thalassa.

It was the voice of Karen Blade, her best friend. Hope beamed inside Thalassa.

“Thalassa...” Karen gasped with surprise when she finally saw her. “You’re out of jail?”

Thalassa instantly moved towards her and grabbed her hand, leading her to where Kris was standing. “Karen, please tell Kris. Tell him how I called you after his mother sent me to give the documents to that man. Tell him how I was hesitant because something didn’t feel right. Tell him that I’m innocent.”

Thalassa waited. Waited for Karen to tell Kris exactly that, but the next words out of her best friend’s mouth sent her whole world crashing down.

“I’m sorry, Thalassa, but I’m tired of always covering up your lies. You never called me.”

Karen’s denial was like a slap, causing Thalassa to stumble backward as her mouth dropped open in shock.

“But...but Karen...what are you saying? What lies? I called you to tell you about it. You even called me later to ask whether I was on my way to do what my mother-in-law had asked.”

Karen’s eyes, which usually always shone with affection, now blazed coldly with malice.

“Enough already, Thalassa! Aren’t you tired of always telling lies? I’m so tired of always having to lie for you, but I can’t anymore. Kris is a good man and he doesn’t deserve your deceptions.”

Thalassa’s head spun as she tried to process everything. Was she dreaming? She had to be dreaming. Otherwise, why would her best friend, the person she trusted and confided in the most, betray her like this?

Feeling like her heart was beating out of her chest, she turned to Kris, looking at him pleadingly. “Baby, please, I... I don’t know why Karen is lying, but please believe me. I haven’t done anything. I’ve never lied to you.”

“You lowlife thief! So everyone else is a liar except you?” Susan, Kris’s sister, snorted as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Thalassa paid no heed to her words because they didn’t matter. The only person whose opinion mattered to her at that moment was Kris.

“Kris, why aren’t you saying anything? Please tell me you believe me.”

“I have nothing to say to you apart from the fact that you should sign the divorce papers and disappear from my life. I want nothing to do with you.”

“No!” Thalassa declared loudly, throwing the divorce papers to the ground. “I refuse to sign them. Kris, you can’t possibly believe that I could lie and steal from you in such a way.”

She grabbed his hand, staring into his hard eyes with her pleading ones. “You promised me that nothing would ever come between us. What happened to that promise?”

“That’s because I didn’t know I was marrying a liar, a thief, and a slut,” he hissed, jerking his hand away.

“It’s okay. I’ve had enough of this woman,” Linda Miller said. “If she refuses to sign the divorce papers, we can get it another way. Take her away.”

Immediately, the security guard grabbed Thalassa’s arm, but just as he was about to drag her away, she yelled,

“I am pregnant!”

The hall turned silent. So silent that you could hear a pin drop as everyone stared at Thalassa in shock, but the only reaction she cared about was Kris’s.

His nostrils flared, his eyes widening as if demanding to know if she was telling the truth.

“Yes,” she nodded earnestly. “It’s true. I found out yesterday. That’s why I called you so many times; I wanted to give you the good news, but you never picked up. And when I texted, saying I had something important to tell you, that’s what I wanted to share.”

Her breath caught as she gauged Kris’s reaction, anxiously waiting for his response. His eyes scanned her face as if looking for any hint of lying, his gaze turning conflicted.

Just as Thalassa began to think that he believed her, his mother appeared. “Son, you can’t possibly believe anything that comes out of this whore’s mouth after everything she has done. She’s lying! She’s obviously telling you this so that you won’t divorce her.”

“I am not lying!” Thalassa declared fiercely. “When I found out, I told Karen about it. She–”

“Why do you keep trying to involve me in your lies? You did not tell me anything,” Karen denied once again.

This time, Thalassa wasn’t surprised by the betrayal, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

At that moment, the look of conflict on Kris’s face transformed back into the hard, cold look as he gritted out, “Get out of here.”

Thalassa flinched, her throat tightening. “Kris, I just told you that I’m pregnant. Do you really want me to leave?”

“I am not falling for your lies anymore. I want you out of my life because I can’t stand you. I hate you, Thalassa Thompson.”

Tears brimmed in Thalassa’s eyes as she shook her head vigorously in denial. “You... You don’t mean that.”

Kris let out a chuckle so cold that it sent a shiver down her spine. “You’re right, I don’t mean that. Because I don’t hate you, Thalassa. I fucking despise you.”

The tears finally fell down her face. In that moment, the pain that went through her heart was so sharp and intense that it felt like a knife piercing through her. She had to wait a few seconds for the pain to subside.

“Fine,” she finally said, wiping furiously at the tears streaming down her cheeks. “Give me a pen, and I’ll sign the divorce papers.”

She was done. Done being humiliated. Done trying to prove her innocence to Kris. If he despised her, then so be it.

A pen was thrust in front of her. Without even bothering to see who was offering her the pen, Thalassa grabbed it and walked towards the center table in the living room. Squatting, she placed the divorce papers on top of the table and signed all the required spots.

Once done, she closed it and walked back towards where Kris was standing.

“Here,” she said, her voice and expression now devoid of any emotion. “I’ve signed them. Just like you wanted.”

Kris took the papers from her hand, his eyes never leaving hers. “Once you decide, let me know where you want your belongings to be taken to, and I’ll have them brought to you.”

And just like that, he turned and walked off, never looking back as he climbed the stairs.

Once he disappeared from view, Thalassa slowly turned to look at the people behind her. They all had victorious smirks on their faces, except for Karen who didn’t even have the guts to look at her.

“What are you still doing here, bitch? My brother has divorced you already. Tomas, take her away,” Kris’s brother, Tyler, instructed.

Just as the security guard grabbed her by the arm, Thalassa jerked herself free and coldly said, “I know my way out.”

With her head held high, she began walking towards the door, but just as she was passing by her ex-mother-in-law, the woman grabbed her by the arm and whispered for only her to hear, “Do you really think you’re going to have that bastard you’re trying to pass off as my grandson?”

When Linda Miller finally let her go, Thalassa didn’t respond as she continued her way outside. She couldn’t have responded even if she wanted to because she felt tired. Exhausted. Numb.

One year of enduring Kris’s suddenly cold attitude and his family’s humiliation, trying her very best to make her marriage work, and what did she have to show for it? Nothing. It had all been for nothing.

Once outside the Miller Mansion, Thalassa kept walking. She didn’t know how long she walked. Neither did she know where she was going. All she knew was that her whole world had come crashing down around her and she didn’t know how to pick up the pieces.

Her surroundings came sharply into focus when a hand suddenly grabbed her from behind and shoved her into a dark alley. As her heart skipped a beat, Thalassa let out a scream, but the person who had grabbed her quickly covered her mouth with his hand.

“Don’t you dare scream!” her attacker hissed. It was a man, and his face was covered with a mask.

Thalassa sucked in a breath, realizing how reckless she’d been for wandering alone at this time of night.

No, she couldn’t let anything happen to her. She’d been through too much to add this on top of it.

With all her might, she clamped her teeth on his hand, biting him fiercely. The man shrieked, letting go of her, but before she could use that opportunity to run, he grabbed her by the neck and slammed her into the wall before violently jamming his knee into her belly.

Thalassa gasped as pain shot through her abdomen, and her eyes widened with dread. Her baby!

“Don’t hurt me. Please don’t hurt me,” she pleaded. “You can take everything I have on me, but please don’t hurt me. I am pregnant.”

The man laughed callously. “Who says I care?” Leaning forward, he whispered into her ear, “I’ve been sent to give you a message; next time, don’t mingle where you don’t belong.”

Then he jammed his knee into her abdomen again, this time more fiercely than before. Thalassa let out a groan of pain, her body going weak as she sank to the ground.

She clutched her abdomen as she lay on the ground, her voice weak as she pleaded, “I beg you. Please don’t hurt me. I am pregnant. Why are you doing this? Please have some mercy. Please.”

But all her pleas fell on deaf ears. The man began kicking her in the abdomen, over and over again. The more she begged him, the more he kicked.

By the time he stopped, Thalassa had tears streaming down her face as she groaned repeatedly in pain. It took her several seconds to realize that her attacker had left.

Her whole body hurt as she braced her hand on the ground and forced herself to sit up, but she froze when she realized she was bleeding. Blood was soaking her panties and pooling around her thighs.

Panic shot through her. No! Her baby! Her baby! She needed to save her baby.

With the last bit of strength she had, she crawled out of the alley, weakly calling out, “Help me. Please, help me.”

She tried getting up to her feet, but it hurt too much, so she just kept on crawling as she continued calling for help.

She saw a woman approach and stretched out her hand. “Please...help me.”

The woman looked freaked out and quickly ran off without even turning back to look at her.

“No...please, don’t go. Help me.”

She was feeling too weak. The whole world spun in front of her eyes before she collapsed on the floor, and everything went black.