Beyond Her Cruelest Lie

Beyond Her Cruelest Lie

Gavin

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The "Dreamland Adventures" carousel flashed, a stark contrast to the bruised purple sky. It was my twins' fifth birthday, a day meant for joy, but dread tightened in my stomach with every distant thunder roll. Sophia, my neurodivergent daughter, pointed at the Ferris wheel, her voice pure happiness: "Daddy, look! Can we go on that one next? Please?" Leo, always more sensitive, clutched my hand. "It' s getting loud, Daddy." My wife, Olivia, a busy CEO, had insisted on this flashy park, then vanished. This was her grand gesture, now she was nowhere. My tenth call finally connected. "What, Ethan?" Olivia' s voice was sharp, impatient, a loud cocktail party behind her. Mark Jenkins, her ex, laughed nearby. I pleaded, "Olivia, where are you? The storm is getting worse, the park is shutting down rides. The kids are scared." "Don' t be so dramatic. It' s just a little rain." Her lie, so blatant, left me breathless. "I can' t just leave, Ethan. Mark is having an emergency. His father is ill. I need to be here for him." I held Sophia' s hopeful gaze. Olivia' s dismissive sigh echoed: "Sophia will be fine. You' re there, aren' t you? That' s your job. Just take them on one more ride to shut them up and then go home." My heart screamed no, but her words pushed me into a corner. "Okay, sweetie," I said, my voice tight. "One last ride." "This is the best birthday ever!" Sophia shouted as the Cosmic Rocket lurched upward. It was the last thing I ever heard her say. The ride groaned, a metallic screech ripped the air, and her car detached. It just... fell. My world ended. Hours later, on the wet pavement, I received a notification. Olivia' s social media: a picture of her and Mark, champagne glasses raised. "To new beginnings and rekindling old flames! Best night ever." She was celebrating. While our daughter lay dead and our son was broken, she was celebrating. A black, icy rage washed over me. It wasn't an accident. It was the direct result of her choice. Sophia is dead. "Ethan, this is not the time for your melodrama. I told you I' m dealing with something serious. Stop trying to get my attention." Her phone call followed, syrupy and annoyed: "Honestly, Ethan, you need to grow up. I have a real crisis on my hands. Just handle the kids. I' ll send you some money. Buy them something nice." Then, muffled, "Sorry, honey. Just Ethan being needy again." Needy. For telling her our child was gone. My father-in-law, Richard Hayes, arrived, crumpled and old. "My little Sophia." I showed him Olivia' s texts. He heard the voice note. His face shifted from grief to disbelief, then to a deep, terrible fury. "That... woman. She is no daughter of mine." He looked at me, eyes clearing. "I' m so sorry, Ethan. I' m sorry I ever let you marry her. I was a fool." The doctor' s words echoed: "He' s not speaking, Mr. Davis. Selective mutism." Olivia hadn' t just abandoned them. She had destroyed them both. In that sterile hallway, my decision was made. Not about grief, but justice. "I want a divorce. She will never see Leo again." Richard nodded. "Whatever it takes. I' m with you."

Introduction

The "Dreamland Adventures" carousel flashed, a stark contrast to the bruised purple sky. It was my twins' fifth birthday, a day meant for joy, but dread tightened in my stomach with every distant thunder roll.

Sophia, my neurodivergent daughter, pointed at the Ferris wheel, her voice pure happiness: "Daddy, look! Can we go on that one next? Please?"

Leo, always more sensitive, clutched my hand. "It' s getting loud, Daddy."

My wife, Olivia, a busy CEO, had insisted on this flashy park, then vanished. This was her grand gesture, now she was nowhere. My tenth call finally connected.

"What, Ethan?" Olivia' s voice was sharp, impatient, a loud cocktail party behind her. Mark Jenkins, her ex, laughed nearby.

I pleaded, "Olivia, where are you? The storm is getting worse, the park is shutting down rides. The kids are scared."

"Don' t be so dramatic. It' s just a little rain." Her lie, so blatant, left me breathless.

"I can' t just leave, Ethan. Mark is having an emergency. His father is ill. I need to be here for him."

I held Sophia' s hopeful gaze. Olivia' s dismissive sigh echoed: "Sophia will be fine. You' re there, aren' t you? That' s your job. Just take them on one more ride to shut them up and then go home."

My heart screamed no, but her words pushed me into a corner. "Okay, sweetie," I said, my voice tight. "One last ride."

"This is the best birthday ever!" Sophia shouted as the Cosmic Rocket lurched upward. It was the last thing I ever heard her say.

The ride groaned, a metallic screech ripped the air, and her car detached. It just... fell. My world ended.

Hours later, on the wet pavement, I received a notification. Olivia' s social media: a picture of her and Mark, champagne glasses raised. "To new beginnings and rekindling old flames! Best night ever."

She was celebrating. While our daughter lay dead and our son was broken, she was celebrating. A black, icy rage washed over me. It wasn't an accident. It was the direct result of her choice.

Sophia is dead.

"Ethan, this is not the time for your melodrama. I told you I' m dealing with something serious. Stop trying to get my attention."

Her phone call followed, syrupy and annoyed: "Honestly, Ethan, you need to grow up. I have a real crisis on my hands. Just handle the kids. I' ll send you some money. Buy them something nice." Then, muffled, "Sorry, honey. Just Ethan being needy again."

Needy. For telling her our child was gone.

My father-in-law, Richard Hayes, arrived, crumpled and old. "My little Sophia."

I showed him Olivia' s texts. He heard the voice note. His face shifted from grief to disbelief, then to a deep, terrible fury. "That... woman. She is no daughter of mine."

He looked at me, eyes clearing. "I' m so sorry, Ethan. I' m sorry I ever let you marry her. I was a fool."

The doctor' s words echoed: "He' s not speaking, Mr. Davis. Selective mutism." Olivia hadn' t just abandoned them. She had destroyed them both.

In that sterile hallway, my decision was made. Not about grief, but justice. "I want a divorce. She will never see Leo again."

Richard nodded. "Whatever it takes. I' m with you."

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Contract With The Devil: Love In Shackles

Contract With The Devil: Love In Shackles

Gavin
4.5

I watched my husband sign the papers that would end our marriage while he was busy texting the woman he actually loved. He didn't even glance at the header. He just scribbled the sharp, jagged signature that had signed death warrants for half of New York, tossed the file onto the passenger seat, and tapped his screen again. "Done," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. That was Dante Moretti. The Underboss. A man who could smell a lie from a mile away but couldn't see that his wife had just handed him an annulment decree disguised beneath a stack of mundane logistics reports. For three years, I scrubbed his blood out of his shirts. I saved his family's alliance when his ex, Sofia, ran off with a civilian. In return, he treated me like furniture. He left me in the rain to save Sofia from a broken nail. He left me alone on my birthday to drink champagne on a yacht with her. He even handed me a glass of whiskey—her favorite drink—forgetting that I despised the taste. I was merely a placeholder. A ghost in my own home. So, I stopped waiting. I burned our wedding portrait in the fireplace, left my platinum ring in the ashes, and boarded a one-way flight to San Francisco. I thought I was finally free. I thought I had escaped the cage. But I underestimated Dante. When he finally opened that file weeks later and realized he had signed away his wife without looking, the Reaper didn't accept defeat. He burned down the world to find me, obsessed with reclaiming the woman he had already thrown away.

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