chapter 1

It didn't matter that he didn't obey the courts ruling

Irina didn't care if she had gotten nothing from the divorce,What mattered was her freedom and she was happy. Despite walking out of that godforsaken place with a broken finger and a black eye. Yes,even when she went to get her things, he did what he did best. Sometimes she wished she had listened to her momma and had married Paris. Not this horrible man that broke her to the very last of her being.

   Men were truly scum. Just like Ivy had said.

It was tough, trying to get her life in place. She had nothing and had to start from the scratch,at 25. Her ego and pride wouldn't let her contact momma. Her mind didn't go to her old man, not once. She wouldn't be able to live if she saw him. She knew that and kept her problems to herself. She ignored the incessant calls,she knew what they wanted to know.

        "Is it true?" The first call she had received and actually picked up,from Pierre,began with that question, not even a hello. She was divorced at 25,scandalous.  What ever had she done to be on the receiving end of the greatest marital curse. She didn't know what exactly that meant but she had heard people talk badly about Alberta when she had a divorce.  Albert,30 them, had divorced her man for bringing in another woman. Irina knew it wasn't the fact that he brought in another woman that led to the divorce.  Albert couldn't stand the fact that it was a woman she looked better than.  It flamed her ego to no ends.

  Irina sighed for what seemed to be the thirtieth time today. She was having a hard time choosing what company she wanted to work for.  She had been accepted for an interview  by 6 different companies. The sixth one held the highest pay.  Cedar conglomerate. It had lesser hours too,  she wondered why she was having a hard time in the first place.  She stood up.

The interview was the next day. Irina had nobody to blame for her reckless habit of procrastination. She sighed. Again.

By the time she was done picking out her outfit for the next day, she fell asleep.

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Somewhere in the distant part of her mind was a numbing feeling, it stung. Odd. It hurt but she didn't know where. She could feel her legs trashing about, she looked around.  She was at his house. She was running down the stairs,she tripped,landing on her face. She turned quickly when she saw him,that shit eating grin resting on his face. The face she had once loved. His hands were on her neck before his body descended on hers. He smiled,his lips moving.  Lips she had once kissed with love. He was speaking, incoherently. Something about her being his to use. Her heart stilled. His hands were gliding down her thighs.  Hands she had once ached for.  She groaned in disgust and he looked at her sharply.

  A smack.

Right across her face.

Another smack. Tears were falling down her cheeks.

Another smack.

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Irina woke up with a start,her heart in her mouth. Her cheeks were wet with tears. Her lips quivered as she rocked herself praying for this feeling of dread to go away.