Jessica’s face instantly paled. "W-What are you talking about?"

I lifted the folder in my hand and gave it a small shake, a triumphant smile plastered across my face. "I’m talking about my house. It’s time for you to move out."

Her eyes flickered toward the documents. Then toward the newly installed lock. Then back to me again. The panic was subtle, but it was there.

"You can’t just show up here and make demands," she said, trying to recover, but the way her voice trembled didn’t go unnoticed. "You have to leave, you can’t be here."

A scoff left my lips as I kept my voice steady. "I don’t need your permission to enter my own property."

Her expression froze, and I watched as she swallowed the lump in her throat. "This isn’t your house. This is Lucas’ place. He bought this place," she retorted, still in denial.

I raised a brow. "Are you so sure about that? Then why are you suddenly changing the lock?" I questioned, my eyes bounced from her, then to the new lock and back to her. "Because he told you so? Bet he didn’t mention why he needed the new lock, right?"

"I..." Her voice trailed off, and she averted her eyes immediately.

I took a slow step forward, the smile still etched onto my face. I pulled a document from the folder and held it up right to her face.

"Do you see this? This is the prenup, it states that this house belongs to me. And if you don’t believe me..." I pulled another document out from the folder smoothly. "This is the title deed. It’s only my name on it."

"No...no...it can’t be. Lucas told me this house is his! He told me he bought this house. You...you could have forged these documents for all I know!" She shouted, and the words that left her lips were dripping with accusation as she pointed her finger at me.

A humourless laughter left my lips. "Forge these documents? I don’t have the time for that, nor would I resort to such lowly tricks."

"Who knows?" She shot back, her eyes narrowing at me. "Why should I trust you? I told you the house doesn’t belong to you, so leave before I call security!"

I folded my arms over my chest, unfazed by the threat she hurled at me. "Go ahead," I urged and watched as the confidence in her eyes faltered for a split second. "Let’s see what they have to say when they see the documents. I would love to know."

One second, she was glaring at the papers in my hands, and the next second, she lunged right at me. Before I knew it, she had snatched the papers from my hands.

"What are you doing?" I stared at her with wide eyes, but I remained calm. After all, I had seen this from a mile away.

She looked at me with a twisted look on her face as she hastily tore the papers up into tiny pieces and threw them into the ground.

She huffed, and a triumphant smile formed at her lips. "What papers, hm?" She taunted. "How are you going to take the house back now?"

A laugh burst out of my lips. "Do you seriously think this changes anything? I thought you would be smarter than this, my dear sister," I mocked with a wry smile. "The house still belongs to me. Destroying the documents does not alter the law, and certainly doesn’t change the fact that I am the rightful owner. Tearing up these documents does nothing but make you look like a fool."

"I’m not a fool!" She said through gritted teeth and flushed cheeks.

"I find that hard to believe."

"You!"

"Stop wasting my time. And don’t make me repeat myself. You better start packing before I get people to throw everything out for you," I warned.

"You can’t do this. Lucas isn’t home yet."

"It doesn’t matter. You can pack his things for him then."

The answer seemed to catch her off guard. "You...what about Kayla, huh? She needs a place to stay. Are you going to leave her stranded? What kind of a mother are you?"

Without a single warning, I raised my hand and slapped her across the face.

Smack.

The sharp sound echoed through the empty corridor.

"You don’t get to question me."

She stumbled backward, one hand flying to her reddening cheek. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at me. "Did you just..." Her voice trembled. "Did you just slap me?"

"Yes," I replied evenly. "And honestly? I should have done it sooner," I added, the corners of my lips twisting into a smile.

Jessica’s mouth fell open. "You psycho! How dare you touch me?" she hissed, raising her arm too.

But before she could even lay a finger on me, I wrapped my hand around her wrist tightly, my nails digging into her skin. I let out a short laugh. "How dare I?" The irony was almost laughable. "You slept with my husband."

I threw her hand out of my grasp. Her expression flickered.

"You moved into my house."

Another flicker.

"You walked around acting like you had every right to take my place." The color slowly drained from her face. I stepped closer, closing the gap between us. "You want to know what’s truly amazing?"

Jessica unconsciously took a step back. Silence stretched taut between us like a rubber band that was on the verge of snapping. I smiled.

"The entire time, you actually thought you won."

Her jaw tightened. "Lucas loves me and promises to take care of me and our baby. I did win."

"Did you?" I arched a brow and watched as the confidence in her eyes wavered. "You can keep telling yourself that. But last I checked, the man you’re carrying a child for was standing in my office lobby full of people and claiming that I was still his wife. If you don’t trust me, you can ask him when he’s back, though I doubt he would tell you the truth."

Her face turned white. The words struck exactly where I intended. "You bitch," she snarled.

"Truth hurts, doesn’t it?"

Jessica’s breathing grew heavier, her cheeks painted red. "He loves me." The statement sounded more like a question than a fact. Her hand rested on her belly once again as she kept her eyes locked on mine. "He loves me and our baby."

I tilted my head. "If he loves you so much, why hasn’t he signed the divorce papers yet?"

I knew the truth. It wasn’t about love, Lucas doesn’t love me. It’s about control, most importantly, his ego. He simply couldn’t accept the fact that I was the one who chose to leave him, that I was the one who wanted a divorce. But I needed Jessica to pressure him to sign the papers so I could be truly free from him.

Jessica looked away first, and that was all the answer I needed. A cold satisfaction settled inside my chest. For the first time, she didn’t look like the confident mistress who had stolen another woman’s husband.

She looked insecure. Threatened. Afraid.

"Tell me why he couldn’t leave me alone?" The words spilled out of my lips, each one stabbing at her chest, and I watched as her expression transformed into one of fury.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" She yelled. "I don’t know what you are talking about."

"Do you really not know? Or are you pretending not to know because you don’t want to face the truth?"

She looked at me through narrowed eyes, anger written all over his face. The commotion between us had eventually caught the attention of some of our neighbours. The doors swung open, and one by one, people started coming out to look down the corridor with curious eyes.

Murmurs started to fill the air.

"What is going on?"

"What’s happening?"

I watched as Jessica’s demeanour quickly shifted when she saw the neighbours. Putting on a pitiful look on her face, she stepped back and lowered her head. "I’m sorry, sister. I didn’t mean to upset you. If you really want me and your daughter to move out, I will start packing right away."

She turned around, one hand resting on her belly. I knew exactly what she was doing. She was intentionally drawing attention to it, she wanted everyone watching to know that she was pregnant to gain their sympathy and use it against me. I knew it all too well.

Jessica turned back around, her eyes glistening with tears this time. "Don’t blame her. It’s her right, after all, the house belongs to her, I don’t have a say in this." She lowered her gaze, keeping her voice small. "I’m only worried about her daughter. After all, she’s only six."

As expected, whispers started to rise from the people again.

"Is she pregnant?"

"Oh my god, how heartless can she be? How can she chase her own daughter and pregnant sister out of the house?"

"She’s a horrible mother. I would have never done that. Does she not feel guilty?"

I silenced everyone with a glare. "The house belongs to me. As for my daughter, I have my own plans. There’s no need for you to worry."

It was at that moment that the front door to my apartment flew open, and I watched my daughter walk out, puzzled. Then her eyes landed on me.

"Mummy?"