"What the hell?!"
The scent of alcohol permeated the room as everyone stared at the girl. Glass shards scattered across the floor, and even though the music was still loud and roaring, all Amelia could hear was the sound of her blood roaring in her veins.
"Amelia Kentwood, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Nigel hissed, his face turning as red as a tomato after having lost his cool, but Amelia paid him no heed. Her head was bent low as tears filled her eyes, Caleb's hurtful words playing like a haunting melody in her head.
'She's nothing more than a loyal dog.'
A choked sob escaped her lips. Her husband, the man she would willingly walk on hot coals for, the man she had worked herself to the bone to support, had played her for a fool, treating her like an animal.
A broken wine bottle was the least of her worries. She listlessly watched the wine spread all over the hard floor, reminiscent of the bleeding wound that was her heart.
Nigel continued to scream, his anger rising when Amelia refused to apologize or clean up her mess. All she did was remain kneeling in silence. She was utterly pathetic, and if she caused him to lose the patronage of such an exclusive clientele, Nigel would personally beat her black and blue before the day was out.
"Are you out of your damn mind?! Do you even know how much this wine costs? You won't be able to pay it back even if you sold that lousy body of yours!" Nigel raged, rolling up his sleeves. "Now get the fuck up and clean this mess before I send you out on the streets!"
"What a dumb bitch," one of Caleb's friends, a woman, exclaimed in outrage.
"Nigel, what is the meaning of this? We didn't pay for such haphazard service!" Another woman complained.
"Maybe we should take our gatherings elsewhere," a man chimed in mockingly. "I'm sure there are other bars with less clumsy servers."
"Come on, let's not yell at the poor server like this. The bottle isn't that expensive. I'll pay for it."
Amelia's heart raced as she heard Caleb's voice. Perhaps this was simply a bad dream, and she would wake up in his loving arms as they woke up to face the day. Caleb loved her, and he was always kind. That was one of the reasons she had been drawn to him, despite his poverty.
The Caleb she knew would never have been capable of such cruelty. Amelia's mind simply could not make sense of it. It was as though she had tripped and fell into an alternate dimension. This was simply a nightmare.
However, Caleb's next words dashed her fragile hopes. "Only if she licks it up with her tongue like a dog!" Caleb added, and his friends burst out into hoots and hollers.
"Caleb, you naughty boy!"
"I knew you weren't that nice!"
Amelia froze. Nigel gripped her hair tight enough to hurt and leaned down so that he was glaring straight into her teary eyes.
"If you have no better plans, you better start licking," Nigel hissed out. "I'm not paying for your mistakes."
With that final statement, he flung her head back down, the force of his blow causing her hands to fall on the shattered glass shards. Amelia winced in pain, but that paled in comparison to the upheaval her heart just went through.
Caleb wanted her to lick up wine with her tongue?
Impossible. She shook her head and steadily got up to her feet.
"I won't do it," she said, her voice trembling. "You can't make me."
Jeers greeted her weak pronouncement, and she felt Nigel stiffen beside her.
"Guess you'll have to pay for it some other way then. Hey Caleb, maybe you should get her to entertain you! Her body isn't bad!"
Amelia shuddered as she felt their appraising eyes leer all over her body.
While her uniform covered her from neck to toe, it was skin-tight, stretching across her breasts and thighs while faithfully hugging the curve of her waist to ensure customers got some eye candy.
"Kinda sexy, truth be told. I think she's even hotter than your wife!" the man continued. If Amelia were not so devastated, she would have laughed at the irony of that statement.
"That's not hard," Caleb snorted. "That woman isn't anything to look at."
Amelia's heart gave another painful lurch. How could Caleb say such cruel things to her after kissing her good morning with his mouth?
Was everything they had just a lie?
It couldn't be, right?
Amelia raised her head and stared straight into Caleb's eyes. Caleb's eyes widened as he realized the woman he was cheerfully humiliating with his friends happened to be his wife. How he hadn't realized it was her even though Nigel had been screaming her name to the high heavens, Amelia wasn't sure.
And frankly, she couldn't be arsed to care either. Caleb clearly didn't have her in his heart.
"Caleb… How could you do this to me?" Amelia cried out, her words escaping in wretched sobs. "I love you!"
Gasps echoed throughout the room as his friends realized who they had been slinging insults at. After all, they had never met Caleb's mysterious wife since Caleb was pretending to be poor. Twisted mutterings echoed throughout the room as they eyed her the same way vultures would eye a dying animal.
"This is who Caleb married?"
"No wonder he never introduced her to us."
"She must be good in bed, to get him with that face of hers."
But she had no eyes for anyone else but Caleb. Caleb, who used to gaze at her with such love and affection, now only had a viscous cruelty in his eyes. It took him only a small beat to recover from his initial shock, and the smile on his face turned sinister rather than the usual warm one Amelia was familiar with.
"What good is your love, Amelia?" He smirked up at her forlorn demeanor.
Amelia stumbled back as if she was struck dumb by his words.
Poor Amelia― she was a good toy while it lasted, but Caleb knew he was meant for greater things.
"Since the cat's out of the bag, I might as well end this charade now," Caleb said, his voice casually cheerful. "Amelia Kentwood, I'm divorcing you."