by Richa Resa
Table of Contents
Prelude
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Epilogue
GET (5) FREE READS EVERY FRIDAY!
An Innocent
Wife
Innocent Hearts Series
Book One
RICHA RESA
An Innocent Wife
Copyright © 2018 by Richa Resa.
All rights reserved.
First Print Edition: February 2018
Limitless Publishing, LLC
Kailua, HI 96734
www.limitlesspublishing.com
Formatting: Limitless Publishing
ISBN-13: 978-1-64034-307-8
ISBN-10: 1-64034-307-5
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
Dedication
Dedicated to my family and my love for books.
Table of Contents
Prelude
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Epilogue
GET (5) FREE READS EVERY FRIDAY!
Prelude
Eunice
The smallest blessings in our lives need to be cherished. Sometimes they just vanish too easily. They might run away, never to return. I knew this from experience. How? In the past few months, I’ve been subjected to a life of misery. At times, it felt like an eternity passed. I was slowly dying, day by day, burning in the flames of hatred inflicted by this love of mine. I lost my patience gradually. I didn’t think I could keep going; there wasn’t enough resolve left in me to survive. The ecstasy in my life was replaced by a heart-wrenching agony.
The love of my life pushed me into the depths of sorrow and pain. He was no longer the man I once loved. He had turned into this cold man who loathed me in his heart, a place where previously only pure love resided. He hurt me beyond my limits.
The love I once cherished was replaced by a raw pain that felt never-ending. He detested me, abhorred my being. To him, I was a thing of disgust. It hurt me in the most humiliating way. This love of ours that was once so divine was now stained with filthy accusations; unwanted silences that made me feel hollow. However, the silence was far better than the voices and sounds I heard, sounds that tore me apart strand by strand. My love had vanished; the essence of my happiness was gone.
I lived inside that house—lost with nothing left worth surviving for, nothing left for me to rely on. My pain, tears, and sorrow were meant for his amusement and pleasure. It killed me to stay there with him. He was killing me. Our marriage had turned into a hurtful trap.
Death seemed more appealing than living this life. I had tried so hard to bring back those happy days, but nothing seemed to change. Now I stood on the last few strands of this love, where it had become my choice to either stay or not, to either believe in my love for him or his hatred for me. I wanted to believe in the former. I wanted to stay, but I didn’t know how long I could because my breaking point was so near.
***
Joshua
I didn’t know how to live. I wanted something to replace this emptiness in my heart. The woman I loved had perished. My love for her had faded into the mournful air. Now there only remained her pretty face that I once adored, her soft lips that I once kissed, and her brown orbs that once sparkled with love.
My hatred for her was the best thing I had. I loved the way her tears flowed, eyes turned red, skin grew pale. I relished in the knowledge that she was smoldering in tears and anguish.
She had turned into this person in front of me that I never could have imagined. All I wanted was for her to suffer for her mistakes, for the sins she had committed. I had promised to make her pay for every single one of them. I spoke the words that cut her deep, reveled in the way she withered in pain.
The truth is I had forced myself to see the demon beneath her face so I could convince my heart that what I was doing was right. I wanted to justify my acts, my hatred, and myself.
I had loved her with all my heart. I even changed myself to make her happy. But then she changed me into this devil that she couldn’t see. And like a devil, I wished to take away her soul and leave her completely and utterly drained. I needed to make her feel what I had felt from her betrayal. I wanted to see the remorse in her eyes that I had felt. It became a basic need to watch her die as excruciatingly as I did. It didn’t matter that I was going to the extremes to break, hurt, and humiliate her. Why should it? She had crushed my heart. So now I would take hers and fill it with my own misery. I would torture her with my silence just to destroy her, because her life was mine to take.
I knew she saw me, heard me. That was enough for me to know I was breaking her, destroying her. In front of her, my face was bare of emotions. I seemed to ignore her very existence. I wanted to show her she meant nothing to me, that she had lost me. But it always seemed it wasn’t enough. I yearned to kill the beast she had become.
She had destroyed and torn me into pieces; now I would do the same, and I would make sure to rejoice in every ounce of her pain.
Chapter 1
Eunice
I looked out the restaurant’s large window, waiting for my friends to arrive. The streets were crowded with people, all in their own worlds. Life in New York was too fast for me now. There was a time when I enjoyed this hustle and bustle, but no longer, because that part of me died in the past couple of months. I didn’t know how to survive in this world now. I had no one left to rely on besides my long-time friend, Nora. She had been trying her best to get me to return to life, but it was difficult for me ever since that fateful day when I lost it all. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t ever forget it. Joshua’s hatred would never let me forget it. I tried to make things right with him, but my efforts only resulted in
him scarring my heart even more.
My world was already destroyed, but he shredded it into even smaller pieces. I found myself slowly being pulled back to that day.
It was two months after the incident that I took the courage to clear the air between me and Joshua. I wanted us to try to get back together, back to normal. I knew it would be hard, but one of us had to try. Gathering my courage, I made my way to the office building, Crystal Workhouse, with the aim of having lunch with him in a restaurant and simply talking. Joshua was the CFO of the company. He and his friend Alex had started their own advertising firm. With time, the firm flourished, and soon they found themselves in the company of the rich. Being the CFO, he had a personal floor for himself which could only be entered with a special card that he, his secretary, myself, and other top executives owned.
Swiping the card, I made my way to his floor. I was early for lunch, but I couldn’t wait to see him. On my way up, I felt a lot better and refreshed, as if all the clouds of sadness had drifted away and new rays of sun shone brightly through the broken pieces my life. I wanted to start my life once again by letting go of the sorrow my heart held. I stared at my reflection in the mirror in front of me. I had put an effort into looking good today. My brown eyes didn’t look so lifeless. My chestnut hair and pastel white skin made my beautiful pink lips stand out. My pale features were in complete contrast to Joshua’s raven black hair and olive skin. I was dressed in my best. I wasn’t beautiful in the classical way, no flowing golden curls or ivory skin, no piercing green eyes like Joshua’s. I was shorter than average and certainly larger than a catwalk model. In one word, I was just ordinary, but Joshua at times had told me that in my ordinariness, I was stunning. As soon as the elevator opened, I averted my gaze away from the mirror, walking through the narrow hall and toward his office. His secretary, Serena, wasn’t at her desk.
“She might have gone for her lunch early,” I murmured to myself, and looked toward Joshua’s office. It was made of glass doors and walls, giving me a clear view of his desk. He was not there, and I could feel my happy mood fading, but I consoled myself by thinking that he might be in a meeting. Not knowing what to do or how long it would take for him to come back, I decided to leave a note for him on his desk.
Taking a pen and a sticky note from Serena’s table, I wrote:
Please call me when you are free. We really have to talk, and I need you.
Yours, Eunice
I took the note and walked towards his office door. I was just about to open it when I saw a movement out of the corner of my eyes at the far side of the office. I swiveled around to see what it was while standing on the other side of the door. In that moment, my world got torn into pieces. In a mere moment, my life was once again filled with dark clouds and raging thunderstorms that created havoc inside me.
The feeling of betrayal hit me so hard I couldn’t even remember how to breathe. I felt like I was stuck in a depth of darkness where there was only hurt and pain. The note in my hand got crushed into a small ball, my heart constricting in pain from the very sight of my husband making love to another woman. My heart was bleeding inside, a trail of tears falling from my wide eyes. I was scarred by the very sight in front of me. This pain I felt was beyond my limits. It felt as if this burning sensation in my chest was killing me, crushing me, and stealing away the life inside of me. How? Why? What had I done to deserve this? How could he betray me like this? Why would he do something so cruel? The lump in my throat was growing. It felt like I was choking. In that moment, I prayed for my death.
I stood there, watching the heart-breaking scene in front of me. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but it felt like I couldn’t move, like I had lost myself, like my mind had gone numb. My heart constricted at the sight of the woman who lay beneath him. I gave that woman a comfortable life to live in, got her a job, and consoled her when her world fell apart. I thought she was my friend. We weren’t close, but she was my godfather’s daughter; I had grown up with her. Wasn’t that supposed to mean something? I had trusted Anne. Two years younger than me, with her brown hair and slim figure, Anne had just become the medium of my destruction. I got her a job in this firm as a public relations assistant by begging Joshua for it, and this was how she had repaid me, with a bitter betrayal. I was torn, lost, and crushed under the weight of my husband’s infidelity and my friend’s betrayal. They both were so engrossed in each other like the world didn’t matter to them. I was completely broken to the depth of my roots.
Gathering up my courage, I made my way out of there. I couldn’t bear the sight of them. I wanted to escape this raw pain and betrayal which had broken my world into pieces so abruptly. I ran toward the elevator to get rid of this hot raging pain. I kept pushing the elevator button while a river of tears escaped my eyes.
“Come on,” I said in frustration. I wanted out of here. It felt as if the walls were closing in, threatening to crush me.
The lift opened, but it wasn’t empty. Serena stood there with dry cleaning bags in her hands. Seeing me, her eyes widened, and it was evident she knew everything. She quickly held my wrist and captured me in a comforting hug. As the doors closed, I let it all out. With great force, the tears escaped my eyes, and sobs came out. I withered from the excruciating pain inside me.
“I am sorry, ma’am. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” she slowly whispered in my ears, hesitation smothering her voice. “Please calm down, Eunice, please. Please, Eunice. Just wait till we are out of here.” She desperately handed me a tissue from her bag.
Taking the tissue, I wiped away my tears and tried to compose myself. I didn’t want the others to know about it.
“Can we walk to the park?” she asked.
I nodded, trying to stay calm and stop the tears that welled up in my eyes from flowing out. As soon as the door opened, Serena helped me out of the building while trying to act like everything was fine, and thankfully, we did not garner much attention. Soon we were outside, making our way to the nearby park.
Settling down on a bench, we sat in silence. The sight of my husband and Anne kept on playing through my mind again and again. Once more, I let the tears out. They were the proof of Joshua’s betrayal of my love. I wanted to destroy the very first thing in my sight, to crush it into tiny pieces like my heart had been. He had torn me apart in the worst way possible, broken my trust in a mere moment. He had proved to me that this love of ours wasn’t strong enough. He had played me…but for how long? How long had this act of infidelity and betrayal been going on? Had it been long before that momentous day or after? Was it always like this? Were my eyes fooled by the sparkle of love in his? Finding my voice, I gathered the courage to ask Serena.
“How long has this been going on for?” I asked without looking at her, choosing to focus on the greenery of the tree above me. I stared at the leaves like they were my world, my everything. I heard her exhale a deep sigh.
“The past few months, Eunice. There have been many women, not only Anne. My eyes and mind have been scarred by these images. I have been turned into one of those secretaries who has to clean up her boss’s dirty work. The clothes I bought were for them both. He has been burning holes in his pockets. Anne has become his usual these days. Ever since he came back to work, he’s been distant, and a month later, he started all this. I have booked him hotels in the city for his escapades with…women there. I can’t tell you how ashamed I feel, Eunice. I feel guilty for doing his dirty work. I didn’t know how to even tell you this. I didn’t have the heart to.”
I knew she was crying, but I couldn’t comfort her because I was already broken, and a broken person is no better than a dead person. I looked at her and saw guilt on her face.
“I confronted him one day about all this. Asked him how he could do this to you when you needed him. He had clearly kept me out of what has been going on with you two. He ordered me to mind my own business or he would replace me. I…Eunice, you know I need this job; this is the only way for me and my child to su
rvive, so I shut myself up. I’m so sorry, Eunice, I’m so sorry for not letting you know,” she said between sobs.
“You have nothing to be sorry about, Serena. It wasn’t like you were sleeping with him, you just hid something that you were forced to hide,” I said while looking back up at the trees, silent tears running down my cheeks.
My life had taken an upside-down turn since that one incident.
“I know, Eunice, I should have told you; maybe you would have done something rather than having your heart broken and suffer like this. You know I was always in debt to you for treating me so well, for making sure I was comfortable with this job even though I wasn’t your responsibility. You did so much for me by giving me flexible hours and taking my place when I needed you, and this is how I repaid you—by letting you see what was happening with your own eyes. I’m sorry for all of it. I can’t even think about being with him like a lover, ever, Eunice. Never ever. I try my best to keep him busy in meetings and work so he won’t act like this, but in the end, he always finds a way. I can’t stop him from destroying your marriage and love, Eunice. I’m really sorry for not letting you know,” she apologized, as a trail of tears fell.
I knew it wasn’t her fault; she didn’t deserve to be blamed. The blame was his, but why was he doing this? Turning into a man I didn’t know? We both sat there in complete silence, the city noises surrounding us.
“What do I do now, Serena?” I asked, because I couldn’t find the ray of hope in the dark clouds surrounding me.
All I saw was pain, suffering, and sorrow in my future.
“I don’t know, Eunice. He’s changed; I don’t think confronting him would change anything. He has this cold, distant look in his eyes, like he’s lost. Maybe you should try to bring the warmth back to his eyes through your love, or wait for him to find his way back to you. If you want, you can confront him, shout at him, throw things, but I don’t know whether that would help or not, because that man you have loved so long is lost somewhere,” she said, with so much sorrow in her voice.