Chapter 4 End Of The Fairytale

As the only daughter of the Hargrove family, people were always nice to curry favor with her.

So for a temporary moment, Amber forgot two-faced people existed until Sabrina’s actions registered in her head.

She flinched fearfully, backing toward the kitchen sink when Julia and Greta rushed in, their faces twisted with outrage.

Then came Aaron.

As his gaze landed on the fresh red handprint on Sabrina’s cheek, his eyes darkened.

Before him, Amber’s back pressed against the counter, watching him nervously.

Her behavior toward Sabrina this evening could easily lead people to believe she really slapped her, she understood that much. But for a split second she hoped he would ask what happened.

But to her utmost dismay, Aaron clenched his fists, his steps pounding against the tiles as he stormed toward her.

“What did you do to her, you wicked woman? Didn’t I tell you to be nice to Ms. Leahy? Have you lost your mind?!”

Grabbing her neck, his hand shot up to the air before he brought it down on her face.

A split instantly appeared at the corners of her lips and her eyes slowly reddened.

“Y-you slapped me?”

“And I’d do it again!” The man gritted his teeth, not the least bit remorseful.

“She said I’m not a good actress. That I don’t deserve to be famous at all. All I did was try to help her with the dishes, Aaron. Did I do something so wrong?” Behind them, Sabrina sobbed, her tears streaming down her face like a river.

Bending over, Greta hurriedly held her hand and shook her head. “Don’t cry, Ms. Leahy. What does she know? She’s just a housewife who didn’t even finish high school.”

Julia nodded in agreement. “Yes, if it was so easy to be an actress, everyone would be doing it. She’s just jealous of who you are.”

“It hurts. My cheek hurts.” Sabrina cried even harder.

Seeing how heartbroken she was, Greta gnashed her teeth in irritation.

“That’s it, Aaron! Grandmother is dead and we have no use for this woman any longer. She already reduced your status as a filmmaker.”

“Imagine how much more damage she’ll cause if people find out she said such awful things to Sabrina Leahy and even slapped her!”

Aaron was also thinking the same.

This woman had been nothing but a pest to him for the past three years.

From the moment he went to see his grandmother in the hospital, she hadn’t left his side.

He couldn’t even go anywhere with her. While his colleagues introduced their well-off wives, his own wife had nothing to her name.

If his grandmother hadn’t said the only way to claim the inheritance she left him was to marry her, he never would’ve cared about such a nameless person.

Thankfully, this was their third year being married, the year he was to receive his inheritance. So he had no need keeping her around anymore.

Knowing how powerful Sabrina was, Julia feared the woman would get offended and take back everything she was to help her son with, so she straightened up to yell at Amber.

“You’ve always been bitter toward other women whenever you caught them looking at Aaron, but now you’re just crazy and a danger to him.”

“As his mother, I can no longer stand aside and watch him ruin his life because of you. Aaron, you will divorce her this instant!”

The center of attention remained rooted to the spot, her eyes still wide open in disbelief.

Parting her lips, the metallic taste of blood slipped into her mouth.

He really… slapped her. And hard enough to make her bleed.

“Look at her, not even caring to apologize to Sabrina after what she just did. She’s utterly mannerless! Listen to mother, Aaron!” Greta chipped in again.

But despite his desire to divorce her, the man was a little hesitant to do so.

However, when he recalled she was a dog who did whatever he told her to, he lowered his annoyed gaze to her.

“You will apologize to Sabrina.”

Smiling bitterly, she met his gaze and for the first time in three years huffed, “Apologize? Why?”

Greta hissed.

“You’ve been leering at her the entire evening, we don’t need to think too hard to know why you hit her.”

“I didn’t hit her.” Amber insisted strongly.

On the floor, Sabrina chuckled inwardly.

As long as no one saw what happened, she knew without a doubt no one in their sane mind would believe someone like Amber over her.

Nevertheless, Amber’s coolness under all this chaos was gnawing at her nerves and irritating her, so she couldn’t just let the drama unfold.

Hence, she whimpered painfully upon hearing her.

“Mrs. Foster, that is a bit ridiculous to say. Saying you didn’t hit me means I hit myself. Why would I ever hit myself?”

“That is simply just absurd and it just goes on to show what a shameless liar Amber is.” Julia huffed in agreement. “Even if you say she did hit herself, what could she possibly gain from doing so?”

Aaron’s eyes dimmed.

Indeed, Sabrina had no reason to slap herself and blame Amber.

No matter how much he thought about it, she had to be telling the truth.

At this realization, his voice dropped to a low growl and he pointed a finger at Sabrina, the veins on his neck popping as he repeatedly icily, “Amber! I said, apologize to Ms. Leahy. Now!”

Going against every bone in her body, Amber vehemently refused, “You won’t even ask me what happened, yet you believe I really did it?”

His eyes darkened. “I’ve known Sabrina for a while now, and she’s not one to lie. In fact, she’s one of the most honest people I’ve ever met. So saying she lied against you is just too much!”

“Now I don’t care if she forgives you for hitting her, I won’t. If you don’t apologize to her this instant, that will be the end of this marriage!”

Amber’s heart skipped, but at the same time, it shattered seeing how he was standing up for a complete stranger over her.

His mother and sister she understood, but him? They’d been married for three years and she made sure he knew her more than anyone, yet here he was choosing a stranger over her.

Her heart ached even more seeing the anger in his eyes and she wanted nothing more than to apologize to Sabrina, but she was no fool.

Furthermore, he had hit her.

The deal she made with her father three years ago… it broke the moment he hit her.

Swallowing, she shook her head in refusal. “I will not apologize for loving you, Aaron. And I will not apologize to this scheming woman who set me up.”

“Do whatever you want then.” The man hissed and stormed out of the kitchen.

He entered again a minute later and shoved a document and pen into her hand.

“I wasn’t going to give it to you now, but you leave me no choice. This divorce agreement states that you leave the marriage with nothing but the things you came in with.”

“You were just a nobody when I married you, and you had literally nothing. So I trust you will respect yourself by only taking the cheap clothes you came here with.”

Then he turned, walked toward Sabrina, and held out a hand to help her up. Then together, the two left the kitchen.

Julia and Greta did the same, doing nothing to hide the big smiles on their faces.

Left alone, Amber ignored the tightness in her chest and stared down at the document, reading it word for word until she was ready to sign.

She could hear their laughter in the living room as she made her way to the bedroom where she took her clothes.

They were the only things in her side of the drawer, as he had been too busy to buy her new clothes and she didn’t want to sound imposing by asking for more.

That night… she walked out to the streets with her bag and kept walking until she made it out of the estate.

With her phone broken, she found a phone booth and tried all the numbers she remembered, but none went through.

After a long time deliberating, she dialed the last one.

In a luxurious study, a man sat behind a desk, some fringe of hair falling over his face, resting on the glasses he had on.

The door to the room was yanked open a moment later and a young man walked in bearing a document.

“Mr. Kent, this is the film firm you asked to partner with. Once you sign this, you become co-owners in it with Aaron Foster.”

The man took it and after staring at it for a while, signed and tossed it to the other end of the room.

The assistant made to pick it up when he exhaled, “Leave it.”

A moment later, the cell phone beside his laptop lit up with an unknown number.

It rang for a while before he answered.

“Hello?”

“Ezekiel, it’s Amber.”