Chapter 50: Lisa's POV

I fell to the floor when I realised that all his things are gone. None of his clothes are in his closet. His golf clubs, snowboarding gear, tennis rackets and balls and all his other sports equipment are gone. He even took the new coffee machine. He was the only one who used it, but still. How f*****g petty is that? My back was against our bedroom wall when I slid down to the floor. My long black dress was pooling at my feet, getting wrinkled and getting dirtier by the second because there aren't any servants left to clean the house. "Justin", I left yet another voicemail, "I know you're upset, but this is not how a marriage works. You don't get to walk away when things are hard. We have kids, Justin. You know our daughter called me yesterday? She's getting bullied at school because of everything that's being said in the news about my family. The head master even sent us an email saying that it might be better for the kids if they come home for a few weeks. He's worried about his school's reputation and the safety of our kids. The other kids are bullying them, Justin and the school even had to hire more security to keep out some sick people who want to hurt us by hurting our kids. Please, Justin!" I begged again through my tears. "Please answer -" This voicemail box is full. An automated voice cut my message short. I dropped the phone on the floor. This isn't fair. My kids didn't do anything wrong. They're so young. They don't deserve any of this. I don't understand how things fell apart so easily and so fast. I was supposed to deal with Ericsson. I thought I had it handled, but truth is I fumbled before I could even make a move. If she hadn't gotten promoted at that stupid banquet, if I hadn't lost Connor and his father's support, if Sandra hadn't ... That's why I lost focus - Sandra. Everytime I thought of doing anything, I just kept seeing Sandra and Justin. He paraded her to the world. He didn't care that our kids would see what every newspaper was writing about him and the red haired girl. He didn't care that his own family threatened to disown him if he kept seeing her despite being married. I screamed at him. I cried and shoved our wedding pictures in his face to make him remember the oath he took infront nearly a thousand people. I begged him to just let her go and when I got desperate, I even considered begging Sandra to leave him alone. Every attempt to take down Ericsson was tainted by my husband and his mistress. I couldn't focus on dealing with her because I was busy trying to endure my husband and his mistress. And now he's gone. Sandra is dead, but Justin is still gone. "No." I muttered to myself and crawled my knees to try and get up. "I'm not giving up! His entire career is tied to me. He can't abandon me just because things aren't going well. We have kids together for goodness sakes! I need to find another way; another way to leave him with no choice but to be with me. I always find a way. Dad will see. I can fix this. I got distracted because of Sandra, but I'll focus now. I can fix it!" I tried getting up, but between my sobs, my trembling knees and my f*****g belly that's the size of Texas, I had no choice but to slump back down to the floor. I tried holding back my tears, but gosh I just couldn't anymore. I keep seeing how dad looked at me. I keep seeing how mom looked at me. They've never looked at me that way. They can't look at me like that when I've done nothing but put them and our family first my entire life. They can't toss me aside and start treating Lauren like she hasn't been a screw up her entire life. I'm the one who gets things done and she's the f*****g screw up who can do nothing but be pretty and cry. That's how it's always been and nothing is going to f*****g change that. Lauren is not the one who went to Law School only to be told it's better for her husband's career if she doesn't work as something she's only ever dreamt of her entire life. She's not the one with a Masters degree that's collecting dust and she's not the one sitting with wasted potential because she put this family first instead of herself. That's me! I did all that while she batted her eyes and cried to make me and dad do things for her. She doesn't get to replace me ... ever. "Hello?" I heard a familiar deep voice downstairs. "Lisa, are you here?" For a second I thought it was Justin, but his voice is different. Justin's voice is more melodic. He has the perfect voice for public speaking and leading a crowd. It's one of the many qualities that I love so much about him. I love everything about that man. Why can't he just love in return? None of this would have happened if he just loved me like he was supposed to. "Lisa?" The voice boomed through the empty house again. "You told me to come see you. Where are you?" "I'm upstairs, Brandon." I finally answered him. "I'm in the master bedroom." I tried cleaning up my face as best as I could, but I knew I looked terrible. I've been crying for hours and I still can't get up from the floor because of this f*****g belly. "Hey!" He gave me a concerned look once he entered the master bedroom. "Are you okay? Why are you on the floor?" He didn't wait for me to give him an explanation. He rushed to my side and started helping me up, and by some miracle got me up on the bed. I was practically sweating and panting while I tried to catch my breath on the bed. He was standing on one knee infront of me and rubbing my leg. "You look so much like Justin." I tried to smile at him and he chuckled. Of course, unlike Justin, the sight of me doesn't disgust him or make him want to throw up. If Justin had just treated me like a wife, I would have never sought out Brandon. Even if he just slept with me and hated me in the morning or while we had s*x, we wouldn't be in this situation. What if Brandon also abandons me? What if he hates me as much as Justin hates me? And what about Shonda? Gosh, Shonda can never find out. That woman has been a better sister to me than Lauren could ever be, and even now, she's risking wrath from the Greysons by loaning me money since all our bank accounts are frozen. "He'll come back." He cupped my cheeck. "You're his family. He's just going through some things right now." I couldn't look into his dark blue eyes without crying even more than I already was. Gosh, he's also friends with Justin. Of all the people to choose, why did I choose him? His three kids call me Aunt Lisa. We have all taken vacations together. I've thrown surprise parties for both him and Shonda. Shonda has shared her marital problems with me and stood by me each time Justin threatened to leave. How could I do this to her? When she and Brandon first got married she told me her biggest fear was him leaving her for a cute blonde girl. I remember that day so well. It was the day she decided to chop off her dreadlocks because changing her hair every few months is something she loves to do. She said she would much rather have him leave her for someone half her age who looks a lot like her or even a man, but not a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes because that's what Brandon's ex looks like. I used that information to my advantage. That's how I made her husband the father of my children - by always being there to lend a listening ear. I know every single one of their problems. I was even there to help fix some of those problems. And now... "He wants a paternity test." I gritted through the humiliation of those words. "He refuses to accept that my kids are his. He-" I tried to still my breath, "he knows my kids aren't his." He stopped his gentle caresses almost instantly. "What do you mean?" He wrinkled his brows. "He's never touched me." I smiled angrily as more tears brew a storm in my eyes. "We've been married for YEARS, but my husband has never touched me." "Then how-" "I drugged him." I interrupted him. "I'd just put something in his drink, he'd pass out and the next day we'd wake up naked in bed and I'd let him believe that we had s*x. He, uhm, he always spent an hour scrubbing his body in the shower after those nights. He said he felt dirty for sleeping with anyone other than Sandra and a few times he even came close to beating me when he thought that he did something as disgusting as sleeping with his own wife." His confusion turned into pity, but that's because he doesn't know what's to come. He doesn't know that his entire life is about to change in a few seconds. "I'm sorry." He planted a gentle kiss on my forehead. "I'm so sorry, Lisa." I held onto his hand while he kissed me. I just want a few more seconds of not disappointing anyone else. I want a few more seconds of him not hating me for ruining his family. Just a few more seconds where at least one person in this world is standing in my corner. ... "They're yours." I whispered. "My kids are your kids, Brandon." He tried to let go of my hand, but I held onto it even tighter. "That's not possible." He shook his head and started chuckling. "We used protection every single time. They're not my kids, Lisa." "My daughter creases her brows just like you." I bit my lip. "She's a fast runner just like you and my son has your nose, your eyes, your jawline ..." I watched him as the light amusement on his face turned into realisation of something that's been staring him right in the face all this time. His mind was putting all the pieces together. He was starting to see how he and my sin always get along seamlessly and how him and my daughter butt heads whenever they're together. It's because they're both so much alike. And then the realisation turned into horror. He was thinking about Shonda, about his kids. "What did you do?" He lifted his head to meet mine. "Why didn't you ... how? We used protection." "Condoms aren't a hundred percent effective." I reminded him. My fingers instinctively went up to my mouth and I started chewing my nails. I couldn't tell him that I poked holes in the condoms. Justin already hates me. Mom and dad hate me. I can't have Brandon hating me as well. Yes. This is for the best. It's best if he doesn't know. "They're not my kids." He pushed himself from the floor. "I only have three kids. Three kids who I love more than anything in this world. Three kids that I have with the love of my life and YOUR best friend. Three kids who are friends with your kids and who are as sensitive as their mother. Three kids who will never speak to me ever again if they find out I cheated on their mother with Aunt Lisa!" His face got red, he clenched his fists and he started looking at me the way Justin looked at me each time he thought we slept with one another. "Brandon-" I tried to reach for his hand, but he slapped it away. "I love my wife, Lisa!" He screamed at me. "I love her so much! I'm not losing her over what was only s*x for convenience sake, Lisa because that's all it was! I slept with you because you were closeby. We work together. We travel together and spend days and sometimes weeks away from our homes. I slept with you because you were there; not because I wanted you or because I wanted to have kids with you!" I opened my mouth to speak, but the only thing that came out were uncontrollable sobs. I can't have another man look that disgusted with me. I'm beautiful. I'm a f*****g attractive woman even this late in my pregnancy. I'm prettier than both Shonda and Sandra. I don't have red frizzy hair that blur my vision. I don't have to change my hair every few months to try and find a style that suits my face best or whatever phase Shonda would be going through that particular month. So many men wanted me when I was younger. Goodness, so many of them still want me today. I don't deserve to be treated like I'm some fat, ugly, pimple-faced woman. I don't deserve to have any man ever look at me the way Justin has looked at me ... the way Brandon is looking at me. "She's going to leave me!" He started pulling his hair. "I love that woman so much and now she's going to leave me because of a woman who could never even be half the mother or wife or woman that she is!" He pulled his hair even harder and it genuinely looked like he was about to rip his hair right out of his scalp. "No one can ever find out!" He suddenly stopped pacing in the room. "Shonda and my kids can NEVER find out. This will ruin them. It will turn them into a laughing stock." I bit my lip while waterfalls of tears poured down my face. This can't be my life. This has to be a prank by some evil and sadistic creature who enjoys seeing others in pain. Please, don't let this be my life. "You have to stop that paternity test!" He started shaking me by the shoulders. "Beg Justin. Do whatever it takes for him to forget about that paternity test! Remind him that in the eyes of the law, he will always be the father of your kids. He will still have to pay child support even if those kids are biologically not his, so why put himself and them through the trauma of a paternity test? Those kids are his, Lisa!" He shook me even harder. "I already have a family. I'm not going to lose them!" "You're hurting me." I tried to scream. "Tell me no one will ever find out!" He kept shaking me and screaming at me. "I promise no one will find out." I cried out loud and he finally stopped shaking me. "But I can't stop the paternity test anymore. Even Justin's family want one. It's out of my hands." He raised his hand and I swear time slowed down while I watched a man who has seen me at my most vulnerable ... in bed ... reaching orgasm after orgasm ... having s*x while people sung happy birthday for his wife downstairs ... f*****g in his marital bed because it made the s*x that much more thrilling ... having s*x in my own bed during one of the many nights when Justin didn't sleep home ... Not one time during all those years and fiery nights did I think that I would see him raise his hand ... ... and slap me ... not once but twice. Brandon slapped me twice. "We can tamper with the paternity test!" I screamed and tried to shield myself against the third slap. "We still have Doctor Shetland in our corner. I may be barred from going near most doctors in this country, but you can talk to her. She can help us." His hand froze in the air. His eyes were filled with tears while I sat there - a pregnant woman trying to protect herself from the father of her child. He didn't answer me. He stared me down with trembling fists that he was clearly trying not to hurl at me. He closed his eyes and took a deep a breath. "I hate you." He said softly. "I hate you so much, Lisa. That's what made the s*x good. I could unleash all my rage at you by f*****g you senseless because you and your entire family are the most terrible people I have ever met in my life." There was no chance for me to remind him that he was just as terrible as me. I wanted to tell him that he betrayed Shonda as much as I did. I didn't do this alone. He was there sneaking around with me and enjoying it all as much as me. If I'm such a terrible person, then Brandon Scott is just as terrible as me. But I couldn't tell him any of that. He walked out of the master bedroom with such defeated eyes that for a second I felt more sorry for him than I did for myself. ... I sat on the bed staring at the floor for an hour ... then two hours ... then three hours ... then four hours ... at least that's how long it felt. I couldn't see my feet. I can't remember the last time I saw my feet. My belly is too big. I think it was around midnight when I felt something wet gathering between my thighs. I lifted my dress and found myself soaked in blood. I laughed. I laughed for a good five minutes while more blood pooled out of me. My vision was getting blurry and I didn't have the strength to stand up or to try and pick up my phone that was still on the floor. So I laughed some more and laughed even harder when James suddenly entered the room and stopped smiling when he saw the blood on the floor.