Chapter 3

[TODAY'S NEWS:*** The popular gold digger, Caily Windsor who married into the Thornefield family last two August has been accused of cheating on her billionaire husband, Alex Thornefield. ***According to our source, Caily attended a business dinner party with her husband, Alex Thornefield, but when it was time to head home, Caily strongly refused to leave. Looked like she had other plans for the night, and fortunately, she was caught red-handed. ***It has reached us that Mr. Thornefield has divorced her and cut all ties with her.]

***

It was just three days before Caily would leave the country with her best friend.

She had spent half of the week preparing for the departure. She had even gone to stay with her family a little so she could explain to them about her situation.

But it did not go as well as she expected it to.

Her parents had read the news of her false infidelity in the tabloids that were attached to the pictures Alex had confronted her with, and it did not sit well with them.

"You brought nothing but shame to our family, Caily," Her Father had whined

"You were married to him for only two years. Alex had promised to invest in our family's business. But look at what you have done! How do we survive now?" Her mother had joined in a sad lament.

Seated on a couch in Emily's sitting room while she was at work, Caily released a heavy sigh.

She hated the life she had now.

Probably, if she had never agreed to marry Alex or if she had never met him, she would at least be halfway to achieving her dream with her used-to-be overly determined heart.

But now she was at the rock bottom.

She had fallen in love with a man who was unworthy of her love and had lost her zeal to live on the way. Now, the whole world saw her as nothing but a cheating gold digger.

Caily squeezed her eyes shut as she swore not to give any man a chance ever again.

Just then her phone started to ring. She was taken aback when she saw who the caller was, it was Alex.

What was he calling for?

Did he suddenly feel bad for not believing her and regret his actions toward her?

As she clicked on the pickup button, her heartbeat anxiously escalated,

"Caily?" His soft husky voice called her name in the most affectionate way,

"Alex?" She called back, a soft anxious smile creeping onto her face, the self-reflection she had just had before the call seemed to have gotten lost in her cloud of thoughts, and all she could picture was her getting back together with him,

"Come get your parents from my house before I have the police take them!" Alex rumbled through the phone and hung up, leaving a perplexed Caily who was struggling to pick up what had just happened.

When Caily finally grasped the situation, she jerked up on her feet, silently hoping that her parents did not actually go to the Thornefield's home to do what she would never do but her hope fell into a deep pit.

When she arrived at the thornefield's house, Caily felt her heart sink to her stomach when she saw her parents on their knees, and standing before them was Alex with a deadpan expression on his face, and his mother gawking at her parents with disdain in her eyes.

"Please, Mr. Thornefield. Forgive our daughter and take her back," Caily's father desperately begged,

"You can even take her as a second wife if you please. You can even use her as your mistress. Just please, take her back in exchange for the investment money you had promised to put in our family business," Caily's mother joined in, with a beseeching cry.

As a gasp of despair escaped from her lips, Caily anguishedly buried her face in her hands, feeling her whole world and sanity crumble to shreds.

She struggled to regain her composure.

Ignoring Alex and his mother, Caily rushed to her parent's side.

As she struggled to lift her parents from their knees, her eyes rested on Mirabel in a corner from a slightly far distance, laughing and using her phone to record the whole drama.

And that was the final straw for Caily.

She clenched her hands into tight fists and matched towards Mirabel.

"Are you laughing right now? Is this funny to you?" Caily challenged her with a gleam of rage in her face,

"Yes, it is. Just the perfect illustration that a poor family would do anything for money," Mirabel replied,

"I know you did something to me that night," Caily impugned with determination,

Miracle feigned pretense, "What are you talking about?"

"Don't even pretend. You know what I'm talking about. I'm sure you drugged the bottle of wine you gave me that night. And what's worse you had a man pretend to sleep with me!" Caily exposed,

"How are you sure he just pretended? And what proof do you even have, you gold digger?;" Mirabel fired harshly,

Caily drew a sharp breathe in,

"I can't fight you now, but I promise…I will be back and I will reveal all your atrocities!"

Just as Caily concluded with what sounded like a threat, Amelia appeared and pushed her to the ground, "That is exactly where you belong," She spat,

"I'm calling the police if you don't leave here with your parents in ten minutes!" Alex decreed in a loud growl, his eyes boring into hers as she remained dumbstruck on the floor.

Caily bit her lower lip in a gut-wrenching inhale,

She scampered up on her feet and dejectedly made her way out of the premises, leaving her parents behind.

Once out of sight, it didn't take long for her parents to appear, jogging behind her, breathlessly.

Caily glanced at her vulnerable parents, she paused as a feeling of guilt washed over her,

But when her parents got closer to her, they grasped her arm and uttered the words that shattered her heart into a million pieces, "Let's go back and cry our eyes out so they would feel pity on us and take you back in."