Sign Here for Vengeance

Chapter 5: I Never Had Love

OLIVIA

-PRESENT TIME-

"Son of a gun." Pauline muttered under her breath. Her eyes flaring with rage.

I chuckled at her expression, "I know, right?"

"Where did you go then? Did you have any money?"

"No. I lived with one of my father's workers for a while. She took care of me. She was also there during those hellish nights of grieving my parents and my broken marriage," I forced a smile, looking down at my fingers, "She brought me soup and bandages for my hands... that bled after hours of clenching and punching a wall."

"Olivia, dear..." She looked at me with much pity. Her eyes glimmered as tears welled in her eyes. She grabbed my hand and held it tight.

"But just a few days after I signed the divorce papers, an envelope came to me. Its contents are now inside this bag." I took out everything in my small bag, "A ticket, a credit card, and an address of what's supposed to be a house in Hawaii. Well, at least he gave me a house. How nice of him."

She gaped in disbelief, "Nice?!"

"I was just being sarcastic, Pauline." I snickered. Then, I pulled the remaining item out of my bag and showed it to her, "And I also have my wedding ring here. I couldn't wear it anymore, but I also couldn't throw it away."

Then, I put all of the things back in my bag.

"That bastard... So that's why you're here!? He wanted to send you off?" Pauline exclaimed.

I nodded, "He knew I had nowhere to go. But he also didn't want his pitiful ex-wife lingering around him. And I had no choice. I had to sell everything I owned back then to help compensate our employees. I was left with no money to my ruined name."

"What about the money you gave to your husband? Shouldn't you get it back? It belonged to you."

I sighed, "Yes, it did. It was my own money from helping in our business. But my family asked me to give Clyde my money. After all, he was my husband. What's his is mine, as they said. So, I should just give it to him as investment in our... partnership."

It would be inappropriate to call it a marriage now.

She gasped in horror, "Your parents said that to you!?"

I swallowed a huge lump in my throat, "Yes."

After I answered, I lowered my head in shame and self-pity. I was never loved by my parents. They only ever cared about money, and saw me as an investment. But they were all I had for a while. Then, they had me get engaged to Clyde, and for a moment, I hoped to have a real family with someone I loved.

I dedicated my entire life to be his perfect wife. But he just used me. And now, he's throwing me away and giving me this measly compensation after everything I've done for him.

"You're crying again, Olivia." Pauline said in a soft tone.

She was right. I didn't notice my tears dropping onto my bag, nor did I feel myself shaking. As soon as I realized this, I sobbed.

"Oh, dear..." Pauline immediately hugged me, like a friend would. I succumbed to her embrace because I felt so weak that I needed to hold onto someone.

"I feel so stupid. Why did they give me to him? Why didn't he want me?" I confessed.

I always knew he was a man of ambition, always chasing after the greatness of his father. I was stupid to think he had a place in his heart for anything else. He killed the young, innocent boy I fell in love with, and turned him into a money-loving tyrant. Still, I stayed with him and married him, hoping the man I fell in love with would return. But he didn't.

But in the end, I was merely an abandoned daughter... and a wife who never had a husband.

"Look, Olivia." She released me from my hug, "I know it's hard, and you feel alone. You don't have anyone, and you are at your lowest point right now."

Wow. Way to sum up my misery.

"But look where you are. You are on a plane to paradise. You're still young and beautiful. And my dear, you are not alone." She gave me the warmest smile I've ever seen, "Just look at what you did today. You made a friend,"- she gestured to herself- "and I don't feel lonely right now because of you."

"Pauline..." I whimpered.

She let out a breath, wiping away my tears with her thumb, "I know this...partnership- "

I let out a faint giggle at the word.

"-is yet to mature. But I'm here for you dear. And since I'm of age, you can think of me as your mom."

My mother was nothing like her, so I didn't know what to say. I only saw these kinds of moms in the movies and with our housemaids back then. They're the ones who taught me how a mom should be. They showed me, but I never got to experience it for myself. What do I say to her?

"My mom never..." my breath fell short, so I took a deep one, "...she was never like this. I'm sorry. I don't know how to... you know..."

"Oh." She uttered sadly, but then she chuckled, "Well, for starters, mothers serve as examples to their children, so if you don't know... I'll show you."