Chapter Five.

“What happened?” He asked.

“I just wanted to check how Eleanor was in the dressing room but she told me to leave and pushed me. I guess she didn’t hear me coming” she glared at me.

“I didn’t push her” I told Richard.

“Eleanor, you have been on edge lately and have been very clumsy. I don’t approve of such behavior”

“Are you going to believe her over me, Richard?” I asked.

“Look we will talk later. The driver would take you home. I have to get her checked”

My jaw dropped. It was unbelievable.

He cradled her in his arms and lifted her effortlessly.

I stood frozen in position as he walked out the door, Sophie glanced back sticking out her tongue slightly before wrapping her arms around his shoulder.

I caught the staff's glances, but I didn’t care.

I had lost Richard.

In the car, I made a call to the agency.

“Hello, is my flight ready?”

“Yes ma’am, everything is as you wanted”

The male voice said.

For a moment, I was second-guessing my decision, but I had come way too far to quit.

“And the videos? Were you able to get them?”

“All of it, depending on which you would want posted”

“Thank you so much, I want it sent as early as possible for the wedding. When Everyone's watching” The driver's gaze met mine from the rearview mirror. I shifted on my seat turning to face the window.

“Yes ma'am”

“That would be all for now” I said quickly, cutting off the call.

I couldn't risk letting my plan slip up.

My ability to hear was a little secret that the driver and I shared, after he had walked in on me on a call.

He kept his mouth shut and I paid him an allowance occasionally.

Ma’am,” he said gently, still watching the road.

“Whatever you’re planning… I hope it gives you peace.”

My chest tightened.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

When I got home, my phone kept blowing up with notifications and Richard wasn't back yet.

I didn't want to look at it. I just wanted time alone to say goodbye bye to the life I had known all my life.

When it didn't stop, I picked it up and they were all notifications from Sophie.

They were pictures, countless numbers of them.

There were pictures of a CT scan and a pregnancy test results.

Hey Eleanor, just getting back from the hospital. See what we found out.

I am carrying Richard's child. Now he would have no choice but to dump you.

I clutched my chest, gasping for air.

The phone slipped from my hand and landed heavily on the floor.

He didn't even have the decency to use protection. He let all of this happen. And now his mistress is carrying his child.

Something he had been all too careful about with me.

I glanced at the nightstand. A framed photo of him and me when we travelled to Istanbul hung on the wall.

We were both smiling. He was holding out a bouquet of roses to me.

“I will fight for you till my last breath Eleanor” I remembered him saying.

What a joke.

I walked briskly to it, taking it in my hands I smashed it to the floor.

The glass shattered. Leaving the piece of paper exposed.

I reached for it tearing it into tiny pieces, the tears blurred my vision.

Don't worry Richard. By tomorrow you will be free, and you can live a happy life with Sophie without me in the way.

Then I noticed my blood dripping on the floor.

I had pricked myself by mistake.

I walked to the first aid kit and wrapped my hand with a bandage.

It's over.

I shoved my suitcase on the bed. I threw my clothes in, not bothering with arrangements.

Then I looked at my engagement ring. The urge to fling it was strong but I needed the fake corpse to have it on.

I didn't sleep throughout the night.

The morning felt peaceful, lighter than usual. My eyes were puffed up but at least I was going to be free.

The agency pulled up at my house before noon.

I handed the man the ring.

“Ma'am, would you like to choose which of the videos to be displayed?” he asked.

My stomach knotted.

“I would rather not look at those videos, just do as you wish”

He bowed.

“Here, this should be sent as well” I added.

It was a letter I had composed with my tears all through the night. I wanted him to know what I thought of him and what I knew all through our years together.

At the airport, after I was cleared.

Just before I boarded the plane.

I turned to the man from the agency.

“Terminate my flight records. I don't want any trace of where I would be going.”

“Yes ma'am”

My phone dinged.

A text from Richard.

“In a few days my love you would be my wife and i will be your husband. I can't wait to see you in a flowing wedding dress like i have always dreamed.”

I replied.

“You would be utterly surprised my love”

Then blocked him.

I sat by the window. I was restless.

I was going to be starting afresh. A new life. A new city with people I had never met before.

The hardest decision I had made in my entire life.

I imagined the look on his face when my plan would be executed two days later.

My lips curved, what better satisfaction?

“Hello, is this seat taken?”

I looked up, a man early twenties, with brown hair, stared at me beaming with smiles. A bag slung over his arm. Waiting for a reply.

“Maaam?” he pushed.

“Oh no, it's totally free” I replied, flashing a fake smile admits my red puffed-up face.