Chapter 22 CHAPTER 22
Journey to good life
The next morning broke with a strange kind of silence. It wasn’t the gentle quiet that came with dawn in the city, when birds sang faintly and life began to hum awake. No, this silence was heavy, like a cloud pressed down on the apartment, smothering the air.
Tessa sat at the edge of the bed, her suitcase half packed in front of her. She hadn’t even realized she’d been folding the same blouse over and over for the past fifteen minutes. Her hands moved mechanically, but her eyes were far away, swollen from tears that had not stopped since yesterday.
Ayisha, on the other hand, was moving with purpose. She zipped one suitcase, dragged another closer, opened drawers, and shoved clothes into them without a second thought. Her energy filled the room, brisk and determined.
“Tessa,” Ayisha said finally, her tone edged with impatience, “are you going to help me or just sit there drowning in your tears? We don’t have time to waste. We’re leaving today.”
Tessa blinked, as if waking from a trance. Her lips trembled. “I’m trying,” she whispered hoarsely. “But every shirt I fold, every dress I pack…it feels like I’m walking away from them. My babies. My heart.”
Ayisha’s expression softened just a fraction, though her hands never stilled. “You’re not walking away, Tessa. You’re walking towards something. Towards a chance to fight back. Towards power. Stop thinking like a weakling and think like a mother.”
The words stabbed, but in some twisted way they grounded Tessa. She forced her trembling hands to fold the blouse properly this time, laying it into the suitcase. Her tears blurred the fabric, but at least her body was moving.
As they packed, silence hung again, only broken by the zipping of bags and the dull thud of drawers closing. Tessa’s mind whirled with memories—her babies’ first cries, their tiny fingers curling around hers, the way their eyes had followed her around the room as if she were their whole world. Now those eyes looked up at another woman. At Chloe.
She shut her eyes, clutching the edge of the bed, when suddenly a knock came at the door.
Both women froze.
Ayisha exchanged a quick glance with Tessa before striding to the door. She pulled it open without hesitation.
Standing there was Chloe.
Elegant, calm, poised in her designer dress, she looked like she had stepped out of another world—untouchable, untouchably beautiful. But her eyes, cool and assessing, locked onto Tessa immediately.
Tessa gasped. The air seemed to vanish from her lungs. For a heartbeat she simply stared, her mind struggling to reconcile Chloe’s presence here. Then, before she even realized what she was doing, Tessa stumbled forward and dropped to her knees.
“Chloe…” Her voice broke. Tears spilled fresh down her cheeks. She clasped her hands together desperately. “Please—I’m begging you. I’m not angry you married Ares. I’m not angry you took that place. I don’t care about titles, about being his wife. I only want my children. Please, just… give me my babies back.”
Her voice cracked on the last word. The sound of it echoed in the small apartment like something shattered.
Ayisha’s face tightened, but she said nothing. She simply folded her arms, watching with narrowed eyes.
Chloe, however, stood utterly still. Her lips pressed into a thin line, her eyes glittering like polished glass. She didn’t reach down to lift Tessa, didn’t offer comfort, didn’t even blink. When she finally spoke, her words fell like stones.
“How much?”
The silence that followed was deafening.
Tessa’s tearful gaze lifted slowly, confusion flickering across her features. “W-what?”
Chloe tilted her head slightly, her voice calm, almost casual. “How much do you want to leave? To walk away and never come near them again. Everyone has a price.”
Tessa reeled as if she’d been slapped. Her mouth opened, closed, no sound coming out. The words didn’t make sense—how could she put a price on her children? On her blood?
Ayisha, however, stepped forward smoothly, her expression unreadable. “Ten million,” she said flatly. “Each.”
Tessa’s head whipped toward her in shock. “Ayisha!” she gasped, horrified.
But Ayisha didn’t flinch. Her eyes stayed locked on Chloe, calculating. “Ten million for Tessa, ten million for me. Twenty total. If you want us gone, that’s the price.”
Chloe didn’t hesitate. She pulled out her phone, tapped a few times, and within moments the buzz of confirmation came through. Two wire transfers. Two accounts.
Done.
She slid her phone back into her purse and adjusted the strap, her movements graceful, unbothered. Without another word, she turned and walked away, her heels clicking against the hallway floor.
The door shut softly behind her, but the silence that remained felt like a scream.
Tessa collapsed fully to the floor, her sobs tearing out of her throat. She pressed her hands to her face, shaking violently. “Why? Why is life so cruel? What did I do wrong? Why am I being punished like this? Why?”
Her cries filled the apartment, raw and broken.
Ayisha crouched down, grabbing Tessa’s arms. “Enough,” she snapped, though her own eyes shone faintly with suppressed emotion. “Do you think tears will bring them back? Do you think pity will win you your children? Stop crying, Tessa. Stop wasting energy.”
Tessa shook her head wildly. “I can’t…I can’t do this…Ayisha, I can’t! They were inside me! I carried them—I bled for them—I… I loved them. And now they’re calling someone else mother. Someone else is kissing them goodnight.”
Her voice cracked into a scream. “Why?!”
Ayisha didn’t answer. She yanked Tessa up by the arm, pulling her toward the door where their suitcases already waited. “Because life isn’t fair. But we don’t surrender. We adapt. We fight smarter. That money Chloe just gave us? That’s not blood money—it’s war money. We’ll use it to build strength, to fight back. But first, we leave this place. Now.”
Tessa struggled weakly, her tears blinding her. “I don’t want the money! I want my babies!”
“I know.” Ayisha’s voice was hard, but there was a tremor beneath it. “And you’ll get them. But not today. Not by kneeling. Trust me, Tessa. Just trust me.”
With that, she shoved the last suitcase out the door, practically dragging Tessa behind her.
The hallway was long, suffocating. Tessa’s sobs echoed against the walls, each step heavy with despair. Down the stairs, out the entrance, into the harsh light of day where their truck waited.
Ayisha opened the back door and pushed Tessa inside.
Tessa crumpled into the seat, covering her face with both hands as the sobs tore out of her again. Her body shook, her voice hoarse from crying, but she couldn’t stop. She couldn’t breathe past the grief clawing her chest.
Ayisha slammed the door, walked around, and climbed into the driver’s seat. She turned the key, the engine roaring to life. For a moment, she sat there, gripping the wheel tightly, her jaw clenched.
Then she glanced at Tessa, broken and weeping beside her, and something flickered in her eyes. A softness she didn’t allow to surface often.
“You’ll get them back,” she said quietly, almost to herself. “Even if I have to burn the whole city down, you’ll get them back.”
She pressed her foot to the accelerator, and the truck rolled forward, carrying them toward their new house—away from everything they had known, and yet deeper into the storm that awaited them.