Chapter Five: Cast out

Chapter Five: Cast Out

ANNA

After driving around for hours, I finally pulled into my parents’ neighborhood. They were the only ones I had left now. No one else believed me. Everyone had turned against me.

My father… he should believe me. He was my family. But Selena, Flora’s mother was another matter. She had despised me ever since my dad remarried her. No matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried to win her over, she always treated me like an outsider. And Flora? She had been jealous of me my entire life, always wanting what I had. But I never thought her envy would go this far.

My eyes were swollen and raw from crying. On my phone, the news exploded with scandal. The pictures were everywhere, me, with a strange man. My face blurred just enough to spark doubt, but clear enough that I knew that was me. I recognized the dress. The hair. The body.

But I hadn’t done it.

I would feel it if I had.

I would have felt it if I had slept with him.

This was Flora’s handiwork.

She had drugged me. The wine. She had staged this. But how had she even gotten into my home? And worse, had she and Abel really been together behind my back? For how long? Since when had she been planning to take everything from me?

My thoughts spiraled, each question cutting deeper than the last. Hurt. Betrayal. Rage.

But there was one thing I clung to, my father. He knew me. He would believe me. He had to.

I opened the front door. The air inside felt heavy, thick with tension. My father and Selena were pacing in the living room. The moment they saw me, their eyes snapped to mine.

Selena’s face darkened.

“You bitch!” she spat, rushing at me. Her fingers twisted in my hair, yanking hard.

“Ahh!” I cried out as she shoved me, slamming me into the wall.

“Selena! Stop!” my father shouted, grabbing her arm.

But she only sneered. “And you’re still defending her? After everything? Why do you love her so much? Can’t you see the truth? She’s a snake.”

She turned back to me with a twisted smile. “Flora told us what happened. My daughter is pure. She is loyal. Oh my daughter, she is the best. But you? I always knew you were rotten underneath.”

I covered my stomach instinctively, shielding the life inside me. Her eyes flicked down, narrowing at the gesture.

“I didn’t do this, Mom. Flora set me up,” I said, my voice shaking but defiant.

Slap!

The blow sent my head whipping sideways, my cheek burning, ears ringing. Tears spilled freely.

“Anna!” my father’s voice thundered. “Do not lie! Flora told us everything. You’ve always tried to pit me against her, spinning lies. But I never thought you’d stoop this low. Pinning this on her when you did it.”

“Dad, please,” I begged, my voice breaking. “You know me. You know I would never…”

“Enough!” he snapped. His eyes were cold, hard. “You are a disgrace to this family. A stain on the Donovan name. A stain on the Whitmore family. Do you have any idea what your marriage brought us? The respect, the alliance? And now you’ve thrown it all away. The Donovans are furious. Do you realize what you’ve cost us?”

Selena smirked, satisfied.

“I think Flora would make a better wife for Abel than you ever did,” my father said, his words slicing me open.

My heart stopped. My head snapped up in shock.

“What?”

“You heard me,” he said flatly. “Get out. Until you learn your lesson, you’re no daughter of mine.” He left.

The floor seemed to crumble beneath me. My own father, my last hope, had turned his back on me.

Selena’s hand clamped around my arm, nails digging painfully into my skin. She leaned close, her voice dripping venom.

“Listen well, Anna. You thought you were better than us because you married into the Donovans. You thought you could stand above my daughter. But now? I’ll tear everything from you. I’ll watch Flora rise while you crawl. And when she’s done, you won’t even have the strength to look her in the eye.”

Her lips curved into a sick smile as she yanked the door open.

“Now get out.”

And with a shove, she pushed me into the night.

My eyes blurred with unshed tears. I was all alone, and it felt like the world was ending. The pain clawed at my chest until I wanted nothing more than for it to stop. My family had turned against me. My husband, the very man who vowed to love and protect me had cast me aside without hesitation. No one cared enough to listen.

My hand slammed against the cold floor, again and again, in rage.

“Why?” The word tore out of me, raw and broken. “Why is everyone turning their backs on me? Why is this happening? Why?”

The tightness in my chest made it hard to breathe. I gasped as though the air itself had betrayed me.

Then my phone pinged. My heart leapt. With trembling hands, I reached for it, hoping, desperately hoping it was Abel, finally coming to his senses. Maybe he had realized his mistake, maybe he was begging me to come home.

But what I saw shattered me.

A picture. Flora and Abel, kissing.

Another one. Her arms wrapped around him, their bodies too close, too intimate.

Then another. His head resting comfortably on her lap as if it belonged there.

My throat tightened. My hands shook so badly I almost dropped the phone.

Then a message appeared beneath the images:

“It was too easy turning him against you. Seems he never loved you.”

And just like that, everything was deleted. The pictures, the words… gone, as though they had never existed.

But the damage had been done.

Rage coursed through me, hot and uncontainable. Selena’s cruel words echoed in my head, merging with Flora’s venomous games until they consumed me.

I staggered to my feet, dusted myself off, and grabbed my car keys. If Abel thought he could discard me so easily, if he thought I would crumble and beg, then he had no idea who I was.

He hadn’t even hesitated before abandoning me. One argument, and he had run straight into the arms of my stepsister, the very woman he had always mocked and condemned.

Since when? Since when had he desired her? How long had this betrayal been lurking in the shadows of our marriage?

The questions burned, but the answers didn’t matter anymore.

I was broken, yes. But beneath the pain, something far stronger rose inside me, anger. Cold, sharp, a

nd immeasurable.

If Abel wanted to end this, then so be it.

But I would never grovel at his feet again.