Thirty-Three.......Brayden Hills

He stood up after I had seen him.

"Riley! You... you're still here.", he said gesturing for me to seat. I looked at the chair like it was a judge sentencing me to death because this was similar.

I had just met my boyfriend who left almost a year ago when I found out I was pregnant with my husband's child.

I sat and looked at him. He still looked the same. His bright blond hair seemed darker. He now had a little stumble signifying he probably hadn't shaved in a while. He even seemed to be wearing expensive clothes now.

"Did you think I would have gone by now?", I asked.

"Yeah. I mean you have a rich husband of course I thought you would have left by now.", he said.

"I thought you knew me better that I wouldn't be able to leave my dad.", I said.

"Oh yes, your dad.", he said with some underlying tone.

"You seem comfortable.", I said.

"And I can say the same for you.", he said and cracked a smile. "I'm glad you're happy.", he added.

"Are you?", I asked. "Did you ever want me happy?", I asked and he looked at me.

There was a tense silence.

"Why did you leave Brayden?", I asked, his name sounding somewhat foreign in my mouth.

"Why did I leave?", he asked back sounding in a way irritated which confused me.

"Yes, why did you leave? I wasn't the one who left.", I said.

"But you wanted me gone.", he said and I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"Excuse me?", I asked genuinely confused.

"What do you mean excuse me, you were the one who had discussed it with Ansel.", he said and I looked even more confused.

What was he talking about?

Flashback..........Brayden's POV

I sat there staring at a picture I had taken of her. She was dressed casually and her hair was caught in the wind behind her, making her look like a cool character in an action movie.

We had gone to the amusement park that day. We just wanted a day out to celebrate her finishing college. She now had a job and I was proud of her.

Nothing else could have made me happier than her accepting my marriage proposal and I knew she would.

Riley. The girl I fell in love with in high school and I've always been in love with.

And now I was gonna lose her. I didn't know what I was doing any longer and then the cafe bell jingled and I looked up to see him, Ansel Winson.

The rich man who now wanted to marry Riley. The fact pissed me off so much. He barely knew her and he already claimed to be in love with her. Did he even know what love was?

Behind him was Mr Colson, Riley's dad. See the thing was, Riley's dad was broke and they needed money to cover up their debts. Theresa, her step mum, had introduced the idea of getting Riley married.

And now they had settled things but they had just one problem. Me, the Boyfriend. I didn't know what it was they wanted to talk about, but I sure hell knew it was about Riley.

They sat down across from me.

"I'm Ansel Winson.", he introduced with a hand stretched forward.

"I very much know who you are.", I said calmly with my arms folded, unwilling to shake

He looked at Mr Colson who cleared his throat.

"Brayden. You... you have been a lot of things to me and you have helped my daughter so much. That I'm very grateful for.", he started.

"But, you know the kind of financial situation I'm in and right now, Ansel here seems like our only window of opportunity. He has decided to help us with our business. But... uh... you see he is interested in Riley and would love to have her as his wife.", he said.

"So long story short. You want to sell Riley.", I said feeling angry. Did she know about this?

"No, it's not like that. He's just helping.", Mr Colson tried to explain.

"What do you want with me?", I asked.

"You know the usual saying, out of sight, out of mind. So we were thinking of sending you away for some time, obviously with benefits like a comfortable life for you and your family and prospects of a new and well-paying job, just not here.", Mr Colson said.

"Does Riley know about this?", I asked after a while. If she did, if she really wanted to marry this man for such a reason then I wouldn't have any problem. And if she wanted me gone, sadly I wouldn't also have any problem with that. I knew how much she loved her dad and if this was her decision then so be it. I have and will always respect her choices.

"Y...yes.", Mr Colson said stopping Ansel from saying anything. "She was the one who said we should come to you. To make things easier for her.", Mr Colson said.

I felt terrible. Riley wanted me gone. A month ago I was so sure if I had proposed to her she would have accepted. Why didn't I then, why didn't I?

I looked up and tried to imagine the bright side of this, but there wasn't any. With Riley gone, my life would never be as before.

Present Day.

"You had told him and your dad to pay me money so I would leave the country and it would be easier for you to marry Ansel.", he said and I got on to the point.

At first, I felt numb, my heart was shattering into a million pieces. Ansel had lied to me from the very start. I fell in love with him, I trusted him but he kept this away from me. He lied to me. From the start, he had been lying to me.

Then I became angry. How could he do this to me? He had manipulated things with his money so Brayden would leave and I would have no reason not to marry him.

I abruptly stood up, screeching my chair in the process and earning some looks from some other customers.

"Are you alright? Didn't you know?", Brayden asked but the words weren't forming in my head.

I turned around and stormed out of the cafe ignoring the lady at the counter who was calling me back.

I got in the car and slammed the door.

"Mekhi take me home. Now.", I said angrily and he nodded. Soon we arrived home and I was sure Ansel was home. I entered and he saw me.

He stood up with a smile but I knew not to fall for it. Once I reached him, I immediately slapped him. He looked at me in shock while holding his cheek.

"Riley dear what is...."

"Don't you dare Riley me you cheap bastard.", I said. "How could you!! You lied to me!!", I yelled.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about?", he asked.

"You lied!!"

"Riley you..."

"Shut up!!! Just shut up!! You lied to me from the very beginning. You lied about Brayden.", I said and immediately his expression changed.

"Riley, I... I can explain.", he started.

"Explain what!!", I yelled now breathing erratically. "That you paid Brayden to leave so I would marry you. You cheap bastard!!", I yelled now pushing him.

He held my hand but I forced it from his grip.

"Don't touch me. Don't you dare touch me! You have no right to.", I said trying to calm myself but it wasn't working. I felt sick.

"Riley I can explain, I..."

"I can't stay here.", I said.

"What?", he asked.

"I... I can't.", I said and pushed past him and ran upstairs. When I got to the room I brought out my suitcase and started stuffing things inside.

Soon after, he came up but stopped in his tracks.

"What... what are you doing?", he asked.

"I'm leaving.", I said and he held my hand to stop me.

"You can't do that.", he said.

At that moment, I felt bile rise and I rushed to the toilet to let out the contents. I slowly stood remembering the condition I was in. I rinsed my face and went back to the room.

Ansel didn't say anything at first.

"Riley are you pregnant?", he then asked and I froze. I couldn't tell him, I wouldn't tell him.

"No.", I said now zipping the suitcase.

In some strides, he was beside me. He held my arm tightly and forced me to look at him.

"Look at me and tell me you aren't.", he said looking at me intensely with a pleading look and I returned it with a fierce look.

"I am not.", I said and grabbed the suitcase and my handbag not sure what exactly I had stuffed into it.

He started calling me back but I didn't listen. Mekhi was still there.

"Ma'am. I.. is everything alright?", he asked.

"Give me the key. Give me the car key.", I demanded and he did.

I took it with shaky hands and headed outside. I put the suitcase in the back seat. I threw my bag in the passenger seat and as I was about to enter Ansel held me back.

"Ansel let me go.", I said angrily.

"Riley, y..you can't leave. You can't, you promised you wouldn't.", he said.

"And you promised you wouldn't hurt me but you just did.", I said and entered the car before driving off.

I drove and drove. I didn't know where to go. I couldn't go to my dad since he was also aware of this. I couldn't go to May because that was the first place Ansel would check and Paloma was spending time with Davis.

My phone kept on ringing so I switched it off. I didn't know where I was when I saw a hotel. It looked decent enough. That should do.

I got down with my luggage and checked in. The process didn't take long and soon I was in my room.

I sat on my bed and that was when it all started hitting me. At first, I was angry but now I was really sad. And that was it, I started crying. I buried my head in my hands and started crying. I didn't know how long I cried but I ended up curled on the bed.

It felt like a thousand pins were piercing my heart and pulling it apart. I held my chest and cried deeply. I didn't know what to do now. I was so lost, sad and heartbroken.

I woke up the next day still in my yesterday's clothes and in the same position. My phone was still switched off.

I picked it up and turned it on and the alerts came in. Twenty-three missed calls from Ansel, ten from my dad, five from May and three from Paloma.

I decided to check the messages.

Where are you? Martina came in very angry and she's angry you're not around. She's pissed.------Paloma

Riley, I called you three times, is anything wrong.------Paloma.

The hall looks amazing, I feel so happy, thanks.------May. This one made me want to smile but I just couldn't bring myself to it.

Riley, Ansel just left. He's looking for you. He said you left the house but he didn't tell me why. Please call me when you see this.------May.

Riley, I hope everything is fine. Martina's angry that you're not here. If you can't make it, let me know, and I'll cover for you.------Parker.

The rest were from Ansel and I didn't want to see anything so I deleted them even before reading and then switched off my phone.

I stared into space, right now I didn't feel angry or sad. I just felt numb.

Oh poor Riley, my heart is breaking for her.

See what I did with my hearts.👇

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The Sparkling Authoress

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