Chapter 53 Touch Me Like You Hate Me (2)

Chapter 53 Touch Me Like You Hate Me (2)
“Did you just hit me, Mira?” Mason said, holding his reddened cheek. His eyes were wide with shock. “Like…”
I didn’t let him finish his words before I slapped him again, hard. The sound echoed in the large office.
“You’re nothing without me, Mason,” I said, my voice dripping with cold anger. “I’m the brain behind your company, and without me…” I paused. My gaze met his. I looked into the very eyes I once admired so much. Looking at them now, all I felt was deep disgust. “You’re absolutely nothing.”
“Mira,” Mason called softly. He stepped closer, trying to use that smooth, sweet-talking voice that used to make my knees weak. “I’m sorry. You know I am only joking. Please don’t leave me.”
“I already did,” I muttered, picking up my bag. My tone turned into pure mockery. “Deal with it.”
I turned around to leave. “I will let go of her!” he shouted desperately behind me. “I’ll let go of Sandra!”
“Mason,” I murmured, stopping in my tracks. I turned back slowly to face him. “You really think I am acting like this because of her?”
“Yes!” he said quickly. “Why else would you act like this?”
A harsh chuckle escaped my mouth. This was completely absurd. He actually thought I was throwing away our marriage just because of his so-called mistress. “Think whatever you want.”
I turned around to leave for good. My high heels clicked sharply on the floor as my hand reached the cold doorknob. “You should sign the papers.”
I opened the door and left his office. Behind me, I could still hear him yelling and cursing his lungs out, but I didn’t care anymore. I was walking down the long hallway, about to step inside the elevator, when I saw someone highly unpleasant.
“Oh,” the sharp voice rang out. “Isn’t this Mira?”
I didn’t stop. I stepped inside the elevator and pressed the button to close the door. But before the doors could slide shut, she forcefully stepped inside with me.
“What the fuck are you doing? Are you seriously ignoring me?” Her sweet, high-pitched voice was laced with pure hatred. “Bitch.”
“What do you want, Sandra?” I asked, keeping my face blank.
“What are you doing here?” Sandra asked. She was talking as if she was the real wife and I was the outsider.
“I’m here to see Mason,” I replied, my gaze finally meeting hers. I took in her tight, revealing outfit—the kind she usually wore when she sneaked into his office after hours.
“You’re here to see him?” Her voice rose, turning into a screech. “After what I sent to you?”
She was right to ask. Sandra had been sending me everything. My mind flashed to the filthy, explicit photos flooding my phone for weeks—sweaty bedtime photos, intimate videos of them together, and texts where Mason promised her he would divorce me and marry her. She wanted me to see exactly how he touched her.
“You’re so shameless,” she added, raising her hand to hit me across the face.
I grabbed her wrist tightly in mid-air before her hand could land.
“How dare you! Let me go. Now!” Her eyes blazed with rage as she shouted, trying to pull away from my grip.
“You call me shameless,” I stated with a dark smirk, tightening my hold on her wrist just enough to make her wince. “As if you are his wife.”
“The unloved one is the mistress. He loves me,” she said, trying to sound calm and confident. “So if you know what is good for you, you will leave.”
“Of course, I will.” I smiled, and a cruel grin spread across my face. I violently pushed her backward, sending her stumbling out of the elevator cabin and onto the hallway floor. “But if I am gone, don’t even think he will marry you.”
I stood tall inside the elevator as the doors began to close. “A mistress will forever be a mistress.”
I smirked. Sandra’s pretty face twisted into something truly ugly as she scrambled to her feet.
“A bitch,” my lips curled around the words right before the doors finally shut tight.
I leaned against the wall and sighed in deep relief. Just a few more days, and I would be completely free from Mason.
The hot outside air hit my face as I stepped out of the Mason Corporation building. I shoved my hand into my designer bag, pulled out my phone, and scrolled through my contacts. I dialed a number I hadn’t called in years.
The line rang only once before a deep, familiar voice boomed over the phone. “Finally. Mira.”
“Dad.” I wiped away a hot tear, trying hard to control my shaking emotions. Hearing his voice again after three years—three long years of running away from my family and building a life from scratch with Mason. I had foolishly thought Mason would love me and treat me right forever. I had been such a fool.
“Are you okay?” he asked. Despite the horrible way I had treated him when I left, he still cared about me.
“Yes, Dad,” I replied, forcing my voice to sound calm. “I’m coming back. I’m coming home.”
“Really?” he asked, his voice suddenly sounding full of joy.
“Yes, Dad.”
“I’ll send the car to pick you up right now,” he announced proudly.
“Not yet,” I replied. “I’ll call you as soon as I’m ready.”
“Okay,” he said softly, without pushing me any further.
After ending the call, I put my phone back inside my bag and headed to the house.
As soon as I stepped inside the house, my phone rang. I took my phone out of the bag to answer the call. It was my lawyer.
“Mrs. Sterling,” Mr. Blackwood’s professional voice rang through the speaker. “The papers are ready.”
“Good. Please send them directly to Mason Corporation.”
“Yes, ma’am. Right away.”
I hung up. I would be stripped of the Sterling name very soon, and I would become a Hawthorne again. Mason thinks I can’t live without his touch, without his money, or without his love, but I am going to prove him completely wrong.
And at the same time, I am going to make him suffer beautifully for every single bit of pain he caused me.