Chapter One

"Where have you been?" Erica's sharp tone cut through Matthew's ears as he walked through the door.

Not this again he thought to himself taking his shoes off at the corner.

"Are you deaf?" Erica's voice graced his ears once more, he parted his lips to speak but was forced to shut up when her palm fell on his cheek harshly, leaving behind a burning sensation. Matthew blinked back, not surprised, this was nothing out of the ordinary, just his everyday reality.

Her palm slowly left his face but he held her back, Erica parted her lips to protest, probably hurling insults at him when a small black box was presented before her.

"Take it." He urged and she did.

"What's inside?" Her tone softened but Mathew did not give a reply and walked away.

A few days ago Erica lost her diamond necklace that was worth thousands putting her in a bad mood. Mathew did not see her smile once in those days and thought to himself that he had to do something. He went through hoops running around all day trying to raise the necklace's worth. Finally he was able to purchase the item and couldn't wait to surprise her, who knew that he would be welcomed home with a slap.

Erica was not to be blamed though, she had a bipolar disorder that had her switching back and forth between angel and devil every five seconds. In the past Matthew's business suffered a huge blow and was at the brink of falling apart when Diana approached him with a proposal to marry her daughter in exchange for the money he needed to save his dying company.

At first he smelled a rat, Erica and her mother were no small persons. They came from a long chain of old monies and offered him thousands of dollars in exchange for marriage. To Matthew it made no sense, he knew he wasn't worth that much but there was no time to snoop around and play detective, he signed the papers the next day.

It was after that his worst biggest nightmare began, though Matthew's life was sometimes a fairytale, it usually did not last long. Erica was more aggressive than nice but those five minutes of pure affection from her were enough to make him heads over heels in love with her. He swore to spend the rest of his days by her side no matter how bad she treated him, she'd always come around after a short while and that was all that mattered.

"Do you think by doing this she will fall in love with you?" Diana blocked his path, she was the same person that scouted him and yet the biggest opponent against their union.

"It does not matter." Matthew said to the woman who was determined to break him apart. His reply angered her even more, if it wasn't for the fact that her father was on his deathbed and asked to see Erica's husband before he'd will his entire property to her she would have never allowed her one and only precious daughter get married to a man who couldn't even run a business properly.

With her goal achieved, it was time for Matthew to go but the man refused to budge and stuck to her daughter's side like glue, looking for ways to make her happy everyday despite how bad she treated him. The longer he stuck around the harder it was for her to control her daughter's resources, Matthew was a smart man and would be able to tell if something was amiss. Erica however was mentally ill and always throwing tantrums, the two did not see eye to eye.

"Don't worry," she assured, "it will when you see your bags getting thrown outside."

Judging from her tone Matthew could tell she was anxious inside and said, "seriously, you can't even get Erica to sign the divorce papers. Why bother?" Diana pushed for a divorce however, her daughter refused to obey.

Diana's rage threatened to consume her and her vision turned blood red. "How dare you!" She screamed, rushing Matthew with several slaps all at once. He stumbled back and his bag left his hold but Diana did not cease her attack on him.

"Have you forgotten that if it wasn't for me you would just be another broke man with a failed business living in some run down basement with leaking roofs." Her angry voice boomed across the corridors.

Two maids walked by, coming to pause, they giggled upon seeing Matthew getting beat up. They did not bother to hide their ridicule. Who in the mansion did not know that his rank was lower than that of a maid's, even the dog fluffy received better treatment than he did.

She halted her slaps on him and the girls quickly hurried off. "Even lowly maids mock you, tell me do you enjoy being maltreated? Is it some kind of yours?"

Matthew swooped his bag off the floor adjusting his coat like nothing happened. "I will not be signing the divorce agreement." He said with a straight face.

Diana was lost for words and could do nothing but let him pass. She watched him walk away with his shoulders held high.

Never in her life had she encountered a man so stubborn, every of her effort to get him to agree to a divorce proved abortive and believe it there was nothing she had not tried, she turned him into a punching bag and humiliated him in public several times, even spread nasty rumours about him damaging his reputation, but like ice nothing melted through. Time was ticking, and Diana was beginning to grow impatient. She knew she had to do something. If the ice won't melt, I'll smash it to pieces, she thought.

Immediately she headed for her room to find her phone.

"It's been a while madam," a man said from the other side of the line.

"Yes it has." Diana agreed.

"I need you to do something for me."