Chapter 1
Silence engulfed the room after Anthony broke the most devastating news to Linnea
"What?" Linnea managed to say and tried to steady her breath, hoping that he was joking, but the stern expression on his face told that he was dead serious
"Let's get a divorce," He repeated and threw the divorce papers on the desk.
"What's wrong? We can fix it Anthony, we don't necessarily need to get a divorce," Linnea said, running her hands through the papers, flipping each page and trying to comprehend what was happening.
"There's nothing for us to work out, Linnea. It's not like there was ever a serious relationship between us." Anthony's words were like diggers pierced into Linnea's chest. Her heart throbbed in her chest. Hot tears welled up in her eyes realizing how serious Anthony was. He got everything prepared, and she didn't notice that her marriage was tearing apart.
"What do you mean? We love each other, right? That's the reason you got married to me," Linnea said, hoping to get a positive response, praying deep down that Anthony would burst into laughter and shout, "I got you, I was just kidding. You're so gullible, I can't believe you fell for that." But Linnea could tell this wasn't a joke.
"Anthony doesn't have a good sense of humor," She thought and clutched the papers in her hand
Silence filled the room again. Linnea's eyes browsed through the paper again before she threw it to the corner. The divorce papers fell next to the pizza box from last night.
"What was that? You have to sign those papers, you must sign them Linnea. There was never a serious relationship between us." Anthony repeated those words, causing Linnea to arch her eyebrow questioning, "Then what was between us if it wasn't serious? Why did we take the vows on the altar? Tell me this is a joke, Anthony, tell me that you're joking." Linnea couldn't take it anymore and her eyes betrayed her, causing her to cry in front of Anthony.
"I don't need to explain anything to you Linnea, look around you... Take a look at this room, look at this house," Anthony said, causing Linnea's gaze to sweep through the room. It was a mess! Her work clothes from yesterday littered the floor and the leftover pizza box from last night was on the floor. The coke she drank last night was on top of the bed and the little drop of coke that was left in the can stained the bedsheet.
"You no longer give me the money I ask for. I begged you to change my car, but how is that going? You still haven't changed it, you kept telling me that you don't have money to change it because your sales are reducing and you're going bankrupt," Anthony said strolling to where she threw the papers, and he picked it up, waving it in front of her, "The thing is, I don't care if you're going bankrupt! Sign these papers and we can both go our separate ways," Anthony said, leaving the papers on the bed before storming out of the room.
As soon as Anthony exited the room, Linnea threw herself on the bed and the tears rolled down her eyes, she tried to stop crying because it was out of her character to cry for a man but she couldn't stop crying, the more she tried to stop, the more the tears rolled down her eyes.
She stretched her hands, pulling the tissue box on the bedside, and she blew her nose, throwing the tissue paper to the floor.
Anthony didn't spend the night in the house last night and this morning while Linnea was still in bed, he woke her up with devastating news. Her world was slowly crumbling and if she signed these papers, she didn't know where to start. She doesn't know how to pick up the remaining pieces of her life and start again.
She ran out of the room, trying to catch up with Anthony and see if he would have a change of heart. "Anthony," she yelled, running out of the room door. She hastened her steps through the hall and down the chairs when she saw Anthony about to exit the house.
"Let's go for therapy, Anthony, even if it's just a session, please," Linnea begged. A dry laugh escaped Anthony's lips, and he turned to face her. Linnea took a few steps closer to him when he said, "You don't seem to get it, there's nothing for us to fix between us, you got so occupied with your work that you didn't notice that you lost me a lot a long time ago"
As Linnea got closer to him, the person that she stood before wasn't the Anthony she used to know, the Anthony she knew wouldn't let anything or anyone hurt her, "Was it all because of money" She whispered but her voice was loud enough for Anthony to hear
"This love was one of interest. You had a lot of money and I couldn't lose a sweet opportunity to taste it." Anthony's words sent shivers down her spine, and she exhaled sharply. She instantly became weak in her knees because she never expected this to happen.
Now when she was experiencing bankruptcy, she realized the true character of her husband.
"I'll be back in the evening, so sign those papers before I'm back," Anthony hissed and exited the house. Linnea instantly fell to her knees in tears. She screamed and rolled on the floor, hoping that she would wake up from this terrible dream. "No, no, no, this can not be happening to me!" she screamed, and her sobs increased.
Minutes turned to hours, and Linnea was still on the floor sobbing. She had no plans to get up from the floor. She felt numb. The knock on the door caught her attention, and she growled as she reluctantly stood up from the floor and wiped the tears from her eyes. She spun to see the time on the wall clock. "Past 11 am," she muttered and approached the door to open it.