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.”

sure to split our assets equally!”

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

that she could barely breathe. She looked up at him and said, “Fine.

Wasn’t she even going to shed a tear at the sight of him in bed with another woman? Ian wasn’t too pleased by this

Tracy, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, was delighted by this turn of events. A victorious smile curved her lips—they were finally getting

hopelessly drunk. She wore a shirt and jeans she borrowed from Holly, and her heels were placed beside her

the food street on

…

down in the chair and called

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

some liquor makes you more lucid the more you drink it? I know exactly

can remember, she’s told me time and time again

her food. She knew her best friend was in terrible pain, but she had nothing to make it better. Perhaps alcohol was the only thing that could temporarily keep the pain at bay. Getting drunk wasn’t

on me after we got married. He started

picked up on Erin’s underlying meaning.

saying.” Erin downed the rest of

when Erin’s phone rang. Erin answered it and yelled drunkenly, “Who the hell do you think you are, calling at such a godforsaken

heart ached when she saw Erin having trouble remaining upright. “Babe, I think you’ve had enough.

phone pinged. She’d received a text 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

instantly shocked into sitting