Love's New Bloom by Simone Hastings

Chapter 4 Threatened

At 3 am, Erin unlocked the door to her home and walked into the living room. She saw a pair of snakeskin heels that didn’t belong to her. Sure enough, Tracy was here. Erin took her shoes off and walked barefoot into the kitchen. Five minutes later, she silently pushed the bedroom door open and padded inside with a pail full of dirty water.

Seeing Ian and Tracy wrapped around each other with her own eyes made her feel like her heart was being ripped to shreds. Hatred filled her eyes as Erin lifted the pail and splashed the water all over them, making them instantly jolt awake.

Ian almost peed himself when he saw someone standing before him. After wiping the water from his face and getting a clear look at who it was, he roared, “Are you fucking nuts, Erin? What the hell did you pour on me?”

Beside him, Tracy immediately pretended to be afraid when she saw Erin. “Ian, I’m scared she’ll hit me…”

He turned to her and wiped her face with the sheets, saying consolingly, “Don’t worry. I won’t let her lay a hand on you!”

Erin couldn’t help sneering when she saw how Tracy remembered to keep Ian’s attention on her despite looking like something the cat had brought in. “I wouldn’t resort to physical violence—it’s just going to dirty my hands!”

Ian gave her a repulsed look. “I have nothing to say since you already know about this. Let’s get a divorce.”

to split our assets equally!” After that, Erin turned to leave. She didn’t want to

in his birthday suit. He grabbed her by the arm and said mockingly, “Has your greed addled your brains? Do you even remember who bought this house and the cars? I did! How dare you demand I give you half of what I worked for! The only way I’ll agree to divorce is if

breathe. She looked up at him

shocked Ian. He didn’t expect her to agree so readily…He thought she’d kick up a fuss. Wasn’t she even going to shed a tear at the sight of him in bed

advantage of his distraction to shove him away and flee. Tracy, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, was delighted

Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to get hopelessly drunk. She wore a

the food

…

hurried over to Erin’s table. She plopped herself down in the chair and called out to the stall owner, “Four more bottles of beer for

get me drunk, Holly? I’ve already had two beers…” Erin’s face was red. She stared at her beer bottle

you heard that some liquor makes you more lucid the more you drink it? I know exactly how you feel right now, so drink as much as

eyes again as she mumbled, “Ian wasn’t like this when we were in university, you know. Back then, he’d blush whenever he talked to me…I was raised by a strict mother. As far back as I can remember, she’s told me time and time again that a woman’s chastity means the world to a man. She said that my father was disgusted to find she wasn’t a virgin, and their marriage eventually ended in divorce. That’s why I insisted on waiting until Ian and I were married to have sex; I didn’t let him do anything throughout

she chewed her food. She knew her best friend was in terrible pain, but she had nothing to make it better. Perhaps alcohol was

me after we got married. He started spending more and more time outside, and things between us slowly started

up on Erin’s underlying meaning. “Wait, don’t tell me you

I’m saying.” Erin downed the rest of

was about to probe more when Erin’s phone rang. Erin answered it and yelled drunkenly, “Who the hell do you think you are, calling at such a godforsaken hour? Are you out of your mind?” Then, she hung up and burst into laughter.

she saw Erin having trouble remaining upright. “Babe, I think you’ve

message. She’d kept her phone on since storming out of the villa in hopes that Ian would apologize to her or beg her for forgiveness…it seemed she was out of luck. She didn’t recognize the number, and the message read,

about to turn her phone off when the other party sent her a photo. She was instantly