My World Has No Room for You Anymore

Just after our sons hundred-day celebration, my husband of seven years asked me, with a faint smile, What do you think about a man having two wives?

Before I could respond, my stepsister Sophie entered, holding a three-year-old boys hand. Nicholas had invited them. This is my son with Sophie, he said calmly.

He explained they had been together for four years. I know you resent Sophie because of your mother, so I kept them hidden out of consideration for you. Now, I want them by my side openly.

As I trembled, he continued, Be generous. Dont interfere when Im with them on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. His tone turned cold. Or, you can divorce me. Our baby stays. But if I stop caring for you, I cant promise to care for the child you gave me.

He looked at my pale face and asked casually, So, have you decided?

My throat was so tight it ached. I stood there, stiff as a board, and asked mechanically, Why did you have to tell me today?

Just hours ago, at the party, he had kissed me with such joy, thanking me for giving him a beautiful son.

Nicholas sighed. Honestly, I was planning to hide this from you forever.

But the day you went into labor I was with Sophie and Liam, picking out a puppy.

My eyes, sore and dry, blinked slowly.

I remembered.

That day, I was on the delivery table, writhing in the agony of contractions. The nurses called him again and again, but his phone was off. I told myself he was tied up with a difficult client. Though I was terrified, I summoned the last of my strength and signed the consent forms myself.

His voice was a soft whisper, as gentle as the sweet nothings he used to murmur in my ear. Do you know what I was thinking? When I got back to the hospital and saw you, saw how youd nearly died giving me a child I actually felt a pang of pity. For Sophie.

I stared at him in disbelief, certain I had misheard. I was dying and you felt sorry for her?

Nicholas nodded. I felt sorry that Sophie had to give me Liam without any recognition, that she had to hide our relationship for four years. I felt like I owed her.

My nails dug deep into my palms. I fought to hold back the flood of tears, my voice choked with bitterness. You know my mother was driven to jump from a building because of Sophie and her mother. Why, of all people, did you have to cheat on me with her?

Nicholas glanced at Sophie, a look of helplessness on his face. What could I do? My mother dislikes you, and you could never manage your relationship with her. I was stuck in the middle, torn apart.

Only when Im with Sophie can I forget all my troubles.

It was true his mother didnt like me. For six years of our marriage, I couldnt get pregnant. She found fault with everything I did. Every time we visited the family estate, shed pick on me, even making me kneel in the old family chapel as punishment.

Nicholas would always comfort me afterward, telling me how much it hurt him to see me suffer.

But I went through six rounds of IVF for him. I endured countless injections, my stomach a canvas of purple bruises, and never once complained. I risked my life to give him a child.

And all this time, while he watched me suffer, he was off somewhere in a world I couldn't see, playing happy family with Sophie and their son.

A giant fist clenched around my heart, squeezing the air from my lungs. I gasped for breath.

Nicholass eyes tightened, and he moved to hold me. Amelia, if you can accept this arrangement, you dont have to leave.

The dam of my emotions finally broke. I shoved him away, hard, and slapped him across the face. Have you forgotten what you promised me?

Before the words were even out of my mouth, a force slammed into me, sending me sprawling to the floor. Pain exploded behind my eyes, and my vision went black for a second.

Through the ringing in my ears, I heard Sophies tearful voice. Amelia, Nicholas has already sacrificed so much for you these past four years! He loves you so much, why cant you be more understanding?

Or is it that you only love yourself? You never cared about what Nicholas needs, did you?

The man who had sworn to protect me for life had cheated on me with my own fathers illegitimate daughter. They had a secret child, forced me into the same impossible choice my mother faced, and now they were asking me to be understanding?

The cruelty was breathtaking.

A hysterical laugh, laced with tears, escaped my lips.

Nicholas froze, reaching for me before his face hardened with impatience. Just think about it. Let me know what you decide.

He took Sophie and their son by the hand and left, the slam of the door echoing like a gunshot.

Our sleeping baby, startled awake, began to wail, his cries piercing the sudden silence. The sound, mixed with the bone-deep agony in my heart, was like a knife twisting in my gut.

I held my son and wept, completely lost.

After the chaos subsided, I had barely caught my breath when my phone rang. It was Nicholas. His voice was low, laced with anger.

Amelia, who gave you the right to tell my mother about Sophie and Liam?

It wasnt me

He cut me off sharply. Get over to the estate right now and calm her down. If you cant learn how to be a proper wife in this family, then you can forget about raising our son, too.

The phone shook in my hand. Right after our son was born, his mother had tried to take him away to be raised at the estate. It was Nicholas who, seeing my heartbreak, had physically blocked the bodyguards shed sent.

He is my son, he had declared. No one has the right to raise him but Amelia.

Now, for Sophie, he was using our child as a weapon against me.

Nicholas had already betrayed me; I couldnt lose my son too.

Wiping my tears, I handed the baby to the nanny and rushed to the family estate.

In the old chapel, Sophie sat to one side, holding her son. The moment I walked in, my mother-in-law slapped me across the face.

Nicholas knelt in this chapel for three days and three nights to get my permission to marry you, she hissed. I thought you had some substance. I cant believe he could have an affair with an illegitimate girl and father a bastard child right under your nose without you noticing. Are you trying to bring utter disgrace to this family?

When my father brought Sophie and her mother home, my own mother didnt throw them out. Instead, she threw herself from the top floor of our house. My mother-in-law always thought my mother was weak, and by extension, she looked down on me.

But I never imagined she would blame me for Nicholass affair.

Nicholas glanced at me, then turned to his mother. Didnt you used to complain that Amelia couldnt give you a grandchild? I just gave you one ahead of schedule. Whats so bad about that?

His voice was nonchalant, as if hed done something commendable. Then, he shot me a cold smirk. You made this mess, Mrs. Hayes. You fix it.

As long as we are married, it is your duty to please my mother and solve my problems.

Sophie moved to his side, linking her arm through his. She looked at me with triumph in her eyes. Oh, Amelia, Im just a simple girl. Im not very good at handling these complicated family dynamics. Ill be counting on you from now on.

Unless youre no longer part of this family.

I bit the inside of my cheek, my eyes locked on Nicholas. I knew, rationally, that I shouldnt cling to a man who no longer loved me. But I couldnt let my son end up like me, living at the mercy of a stepmother.

Dont you dare think Ill make this easy for you, Nicholas.

As long as we were married, Sophie and her son would never be officially recognized.

Sophies taunt enraged my mother-in-law. She ordered the bodyguards to force Sophie to her knees. If you want to enter this family, youll take ninety-nine lashes first. Well see if our ancestors approve.

My mother-in-law despised Sophie, and I should have felt a flicker of satisfaction. But what Nicholas did next nearly made me lose control.

He kicked away the two bodyguards and wrapped Sophie in a protective embrace. He shot a look at his mother, but his final, disgusted gaze landed on me.

Its just ninety-nine lashes. Ill take them for her.

But after this, Sophie is to be allowed to come and go from this house as she pleases.

Every crack of the whip on Nicholass back felt like a sharp blade carving into my own heart.

In our third year of marriage, after two failed IVF attempts, my mother-in-law grew furious. She claimed the family ancestors disliked me and dragged me to the chapel to be whipped ninety-nine times to atone for my sin.

Terrified, I had huddled in Nicholass arms, trembling. I selfishly wanted him to fight for me, just as he had fought to marry me.

But he had only kissed my forehead and whispered, Amelia, I know shes just letting off steam. For our future, please, just endure it.

Then, the guards pulled me from his arms. Before him and the entire family, I took every single lash. The last thing I remembered before passing out was the raw, searing pain of torn flesh that seemed to penetrate my very bones.

The memory of my own blood merged with the horrific sight of the blood now on Nicholas. It was like a vicious slap, leaving my cheeks burning with shame.

With nine lashes left, his mother couldnt bring herself to continue. She looked at Sophie, but before she could speak, Nicholass weak voice cut through the air.

Let Amelia take the last nine.

My blood ran cold.

Me? Take them for her?

Pain contorted Nicholass face, sweat beading on his forehead, but he managed a faint smile. Amelia, Sophie was raised delicately by her parents. She cant even handle a single lash. But youre different. You took all ninety-nine last time. You can definitely handle nine.

When I didnt move, his expression darkened.

If you cant even do this much to help your husband, then maybe you shouldnt be raising our son after all.

I staggered back, a smile more painful than tears spreading across my face.

To keep my son, I endured nine more lashes.

I thought my submission would be met with some decency, but Nicholas went on to have Sophies son officially added to the family registry.

I hated him.

I hated him for no longer loving me yet dragging me into this impossible situation. I hated him for turning my son, barely a hundred days old, into a laughingstock for the sake of his other child.

I cast aside my dignity as his wife and leaked the story of him and Sophie to the media. But since he was already planning to go public, my actions only made them more brazen.

I became the joke of our social circle.

Furious and out of my mind, I wrote a long, detailed post exposing how Sophie and her mother had driven my own mother to her death. But before I could post it, Nicholas intercepted it.

To punish me, he threw a lavish, high-profile party to officially introduce Sophie's son to our circle. For reasons I couldnt understand, his mother didnt object.

On the day of the party, I locked myself and my son in our home. For his sake, I wanted to stop fighting. But Sophie wouldnt let me.

She sent me a video.

In it, Nicholas held her tightly, their kiss passionate and desperate. His heavy breathing was disgustingly loud.

A text followed: Nicholas said that even if you two divorce, I wont ever have to feel wronged in front of his mother again.

My fists clenched. What about all the times I had been wronged?

Then came another picture, this one of her son. It shattered the last remnants of my sanity.

Around the boys neck was my locket.

It was the one my mother left me, the one I had placed around my own sons neck.

I stormed into the party. I ignored the mocking, pitying stares and walked straight up to Nicholas.

The moment he saw me, a satisfied smile spread across his face. Amelia, so youve finally come to your senses

Give me back my locket. I cut him off, my voice shaking. That was from my mother. What right do you have to give it to someone else?

As I said it, I felt myself breaking.

After my mother died, Sophie had snatched that locket from me once before. I had cried and begged for it back, but my father had beaten me severely and locked me in a dark closet for a day and a night without food.

When Nicholas, not yet twelve years old, found out, he stormed into my house and set a fire. He was just a kid, but he stabbed my father three times. He got the locket back and warned Sophie with a chilling ferocity that if she ever touched my things again, hed stab her next.

Sophie had fainted from fear.

But eighteen years later, she hadnt just stolen him from me. Now, all she had to do was say she wanted something of mine, and he would take it for her.

Nicholas pulled Sophie and her son behind him protectively. He stared at me, his voice cold. Its just a locket. What does it matter who wears it? Besides, Liam can call you mother too. Whats wrong with giving it to him?

His entitled tone destroyed my last shred of self-control. I am not his mother, and I will not give my sons things to a bastard.

At that, the little boy lunged at me, his small fists pounding against the still-tender scar from my C-section.

Pain shot through me, and I instinctively raised my hand.

But before I could touch him, Nicholas shoved me violently. I stumbled backward, the back of my head cracking against the sharp corner of a table.

An explosion of agony, and then darkness.

The last thing I heard before the world went black was Nicholas screaming my name in terror.

When I opened my eyes again, Nicholas was sitting by my hospital bed, his expression weary. Seeing me awake, a flicker of irritation crossed his face, and his first words were a reprimand.

Look at you. You dont look like the wife of a magnate at all, fighting with a child over a trinket in front of everyone.

A bitter smile touched my lips. I said nothing.

He seemed to lose interest and left after muttering a few more words. I didnt see him for two days.

On the third day, Sophie came.

She was toying with the locket, an amused look on her face as she tossed it onto my bed.

Making such a scene over a piece of metal, getting yourself all banged up. Too bad it still belongs to my son in the end, doesnt it?

My fingers froze. The numbness that had enveloped me began to recede. What are you talking about?