Chapter 1. I want a divorce

With her body dripping with sweat and trembling with pleasure, Elizabeth retreated into the mattress. Her slender frame was still violently racked by short bursts of her powerful release. Within seconds of their orgasm Anthony, her husband, had retreated and distanced himself from her. He was lying on his back next to her with ragged, heavy breathing. Elizabeth turned on her side to carefully follow his profile with her eyes. She wanted to touch and caress his smooth,firm skin, but she was aware that she would be rejected. Even after all these months, his words, which he always said after his climax, were still in the air between them. They still hurt more than they should have.

With those four words, he ended the afterglow, ended the intimacy of the moment, and reduced the act to nothing more than a biological necessity.

"Give me a son..."

Elizabeth had finally accepted that it would never change after a little over 2 years. It was anything but an unexpected acknowledgment. No, it was one that had been developing consistently since the absolute first time he'd said them. However, Elizabeth had four of her own. This was a phrase that had been on her lips for months and ought to have been spoken a long time ago. She was unable to take them in any longer; regardless of how much she would hurt when she said them. She drew her knees close to her chest while sitting up naked, her body still shaking. She folded her arms over her legs, squeezed her cheek to her knees, and looked as his breathing steadied and his own shaking died down. She knew he wasn't asleep because he was lying spread-eagled and stunningly naked with his eyes closed. As expected he would take a couple of seconds to compose himself then head for the shower, where she generally envisioned him madly scrubbing her fragrance and contact from his skin.

She could never again contain the words, and they spilled from her lips almost franticly

"I want a divorce."

He tensed. Before turning his head to meet her gaze, every muscle in his body clenched like a spring. His upper lip curled in mockery and his eyes were hooded.

"I thought you loved me, Elizabeth," he provoked mockingly.

Elizabeth shut her eyes, attempting to push down the aching pain that his words caused. when she was certain she had her feelings in check,she opened her eyes.

" Not anymore." She hoped he couldn't see through her lie.

"What happened to 'I'll love you forever, Anthony'?"

She whispered, "Things change."

"What things?" He rolled over onto his side, put his head on his hand, and propped himself up on his elbow.

He was so handsome that her throat went dry with want. She gulped.

"F-feelings..."She mumbled.

he gave an imposing murmur of understanding, however Elizabeth wasn't tricked by his casual stance; He was as tense as a snake in a coil.

"You look no different," he said, his voice still terrifyingly tender.

" I...I've changed"

"Your still the same woman I married. The person who said she loved me so much that she couldn't live without me, The one whose father ensured she got precisely what she wanted… "

that was the point at which he struck, without moving, without changing his voice.

"The same little Elizabeth who can't give me the only thing I've wanted from this god forsaken marriage."

She winced yet she wouldn't look away.

"More of a reason to get a divorce." She pursued coolly.

"for you Maybe" He shrugged. " However, as we discussed before , my dear, there would be no easy way out of this marriage. Not until I got what I want from you, and that day seems to be quite far off. Sadly, despite its cliché situation, you have made this bed, and now we must both lie in it!"

"I can no longer live like this." She tried to hold back the tears as she buried her face in her knees.

He slowly sat up and stretched before getting up to walk to the bathroom in the bathroom.

"Neither of us have much of a choice..." Elizabeth heard the shower start minutes after and took a couple of moments to get herself together while swiping away the hot tears from her face with the backs of her hands.