Between Love and the Ex-wife's Revenge

The night was cold-cold as the ice that had long since settled in Olivia's heart. The dim lights of the living room barely illuminated the tension that hung in the air as she moved gracefully through the space, burdened by the invisible weight of her troubled marriage.

He-Harrison-the man for whom Olivia had sacrificed so much, watched her from a distance. Yet it wasn't admiration that glimmered in his eyes, but a subtle contempt that lingered in the shadows. Every word he spoke was a sharpened blade, every gesture a cruel reminder of his indifference.

"Olivia, can't you do anything right?" His voice sliced through the silence like a whip as she tried to balance the tray with trembling hands.

Olivia remained silent, her eyes lowered, concealing the pain that pierced her soul. Deep down, she knew something had shattered, but still clung to the hope that one day, he might love her. That hope, however, faded with each passing humiliation.

Harrison, meanwhile, couldn't take his eyes off the elegant woman gliding across the dance floor. Olivia noticed his wandering gaze, and her heart sank at the sight of the desire gleaming in his eyes-a desire that no longer belonged to her.

"Olivia, you're just a nuisance. You should learn some elegance from women like her," Harrison muttered, contempt thinly veiled, as he gestured toward the woman who had stolen his attention.

"But my love, I can be elegant like her... I can shine just as brightly... if only you-" Olivia hesitated, her words flickering like a candle in a storm.

"What about me, Olivia?" Harrison smirked, his eyes devoid of empathy.

"If you were just a little more compassionate with me... You've delegated all the mansion's responsibilities to me. I'm the one who cooks, who cleans. I don't feel like your wife-I feel like your maid!" Olivia burst out, the words spilling with the strength of someone who had kept her silence for far too long.

Her confession hung in the air. Harrison looked at her with a coldness that could freeze even the tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

His scornful laugh pierced the room. "Compassionate? You expect me to feel compassion for a woman as insignificant as you?"

Olivia felt the last remnants of her hope collapse. The elegance she longed to embody, the brilliance she yearned to possess, seemed now more distant than ever- completely unreachable.

The moment plunged into tragedy as Harrison, with a defiant glance, left Olivia standing in the middle of the room and walked toward the enigmatic woman who had enchanted him. The music began, and with every spin, every shared laugh, Olivia's heart was torn apart.

Three years had passed since Olivia had bound her life to Harrison's-three long years in which he had done nothing but wound her heart with abuse and insults. To him, Olivia was no more than a dull presence-a woman who had appeared from nowhere, attractive only for the first few months. Over time, in his eyes, she had become nothing but a burden.

The next day...

"Olivia! Where's my breakfast?" Harrison shouted, his brusque tone echoing through the house.

"As always, Harrison... Olivia doesn't understand you need to leave for work early. I still don't know why you ever married that woman-she doesn't even have a last name. She's a peasant," grumbled Harrison's mother, Emma.

"Mom, I know it was a huge mistake. But our family name won't be stained much longer by her dishonor. Soon, everything will be ready for her to leave this house," Harrison declared coldly.

Emma smiled with satisfaction and stared at her son.

"But you'd better get a maid to help with the chores. If she's leaving, I'm not going to lift a finger in that kitchen."

"Mom, we can't afford a maid right now. Our business is in recession," Harrison replied dismissively.

The mansion's atmosphere was thick, poisoned by the toxicity of broken relationships. Olivia, meanwhile, continued to carry the burden of a crumbling marriage.

And yet, in that moment, the only thing on Olivia's mind was her husband's presence.

She loved him so deeply that she had given up everything that had once been hers. Despite being labeled a mere peasant, Olivia carried a secret of significant proportions-one she had never shared. Her deepest longing had always been true love: someone to love her for who she was, not for what she had.

That's why she had given herself entirely to Harrison Martens, a successful agricultural entrepreneur known throughout the country. At the time, however, both he

and his family were drowning in financial ruin. Despite their difficulties, they continued projecting a glamorous image to society-displaying luxuries and eccentricities they could no longer afford, desperately clinging to the reputation they had built over the years.

Behind the glittering façade, Olivia hid her true identity and the extent of her sacrifices, convinced that one day she would receive the love she so deeply craved.

Remembering the cruel words her husband had hurled at her during the corporate dance, Olivia decided to surprise him. That afternoon, she transformed herself completely: she let her hair down, applied makeup-an art she had never mastered due to her humble life-and wore an elegant dress, though nothing too modern or flashy. She made sure that her reflection in the mirror radiated beauty. Her heart burned with hope-hope that she might win back her husband's affection.

She gathered a few dollars she had saved, planning to take him to dinner at an upscale restaurant, and headed straight to Harrison's company. She entered unannounced. However, all eyes turned to her-not with admiration, but with mocking laughter and whispered ridicule. Everyone sneered at her appearance.

Though a hollow feeling crept through her body as the stares pierced her, Olivia pressed on toward her husband's office. She was about to knock when a strange sound stopped her-noises from within. Intrigued, she froze, her hand suspended in the air, torn between the door and the ominous sounds coming from inside.

And in that instant, Olivia's heart shattered into a thousand pieces.

The sounds were moans-the brutal evidence of her husband's betrayal.

Without a second thought, her body trembling with grief, she burst through the door... only to find the most devastating sight she could have imagined: her husband was cheating on her in his office, right there, with another woman.

When the woman noticed Olivia standing at the door, Harrison quickly covered her and turned to his wife with disdain, scanning her with a mixture of reproach and mockery.

"What are you doing here? And dressed like that?" The woman beside Harrison laughed openly at Olivia. Chapter 1. The Fall

"What's going on here?" Olivia asked, her voice cracking.

When she recognized the woman, she realized it was the same one she had met at the dance.

"What you're seeing, my dear. There's another woman in my life-one who looks nothing like you. So please, get out of my office," Harrison replied coldly.

"But Harrison! How can you do this to me? What did I do to deserve it?"

"You're just a simple woman, with nothing that catches my attention. Look at you- how you're dressed, how you've done your makeup. You look like you walked straight out of a circus," the man snapped in anger.

Humiliation and betrayal twisted inside Olivia's broken heart as she struggled to hold back her tears. The surprise she had been promised had turned into a nightmare from which she couldn't wake. The reality of her marriage was crumbling before her very eyes.

Olivia ran out of the company. Tears streamed down her flushed cheeks. The pain was unbearable-yet the helplessness hurt even more. She loved him. She loved him with such intensity that even the word love felt insufficient.

She arrived at the mansion, still clinging to the hope that her husband would explain himself-that he would react to her discovery and choose to stay with her. That was what she longed for the most.

But Harrison chose to resolve the situation sooner than expected. That night, he arrived with a white envelope. Inside it were bold, cold divorce papers.

"Harrison, you've come home early," Olivia said, hopeful that he was having second thoughts.

The man threw the envelope at her chest. She barely managed to catch it.

"What's this, honey?"

"Are you blind?" Harrison replied mockingly. "Sign it and get out of my house."

"What? No, Harrison-please, my love, don't do this to me. I'll do whatever you ask. Just don't leave me."

"To stay with you, you'd have to be born again. Now go, Olivia. I don't want you in my mansion another minute."

He began pulling all her things from the closets and throwing them on the floor. Olivia, her tears blinding her, picked them up one by one. Inconsolable, she wanted to beg him again-but her husband dragged her across the floor in front of his family's mocking eyes. They all humiliated poor Olivia at that moment, and she felt her soul being mercilessly torn apart, without a shred of compassion.

"No! Harrison, please!" Olivia begged on her knees in front of the mansion's door-just before it was slammed in her face.

No one opened it.

They turned off the lights and left her out there-utterly heartbroken.