Across the gloomy sky, streaks of lighting appeared and a heavy rain fell, making the silent prison cell even more sinister.
Half asleep, Rachelle woke up and looked outside, weary as she heard someone approaching.
"You have a visitor," the prison guard declared and she took Rachelle out of her cell to walk her to the meeting room.
Rachelle, who had thought that the visitor was her mother, who cared the most about her, instead saw her sister, Heidi, through the glass.
In contrast to the other visitors, who cried while looking at their loved ones behind bars, Heidi was smiling, though her smile didn't reach her eyes.
"Rachelle, I'm here to see you," she said. Heidi'd always known that her sister was very beautiful, with her long black hair and her lovely brown eyes, and she'd always been jealous of her smile that, for some reason, made her uneasy.
On top of that, Rachelle, who had been locked up for many days and was wearing prison clothes, still looked beautiful. Her demeanor was still the same and even now that she was behind bars, there was hope in her bright dove-like eyes.
"Why didn't Mom come?" Rachelle asked, and her voice made Heidi come back to reality.
"Mom has been very busy nowadays," she replied. "She wanted to come see you, but she couldn't get away from her previous engagements."
"Don't lie to me," Rachelle retorted. "Mom wouldn't do something like that to me." She tightly held the phone, which was used for communicating through the thick glass, and grabbed one of the bars. She didn't want to go back to that horrible cell again. "Did she find any evidence? I didn't do anything wrong! I was set up!"
If her mother couldn't find any evidence, Rachelle would be locked in that terrible cell for a long time after the trial. Feeling frustrated and terrified, she lowered her head and sighed. She didn't want to go back to that awful place.
In front of her, Heidi kept her cool and her smile didn't leave her face. "Don't be so impatient," she said. "We're working hard to help you and get you out of here. How can we give up on you? You're the little daughter of the family."
Throughout her life, Rachelle had heard this sentence countless times, except now it sounded like a reproach. Could her sister be against her as well? This thought sent shivers down Rachelle's spine.
Unfortunately, the visit time was soon going to be over. "Does Mom know I'm pregnant?" Rachelle asked, feeling anxious. "Please tell her that I don't feel safe here and that I won't act like a spoiled brat from now on. I have so much to regret..."
She felt so devastated that she couldn't help but feel her eyes fill with tears. She was so ill at ease that she had started to shiver, feeling like there wasn't any hope left. Why had she gone after a man who didn't love her and who only hurt her and the child that she was carrying in her stomach?
"Pregnant?" Heidi asked with a somewhat somber expression. "Benjamin's nephew has admitted that your baby is his," she said. "I shouldn't tell you this, but I don't think the Arnett family will accept that baby as one of their own."
That was the last blow that sent Rachelle over the edge. It was as if someone had slapped her right in the face. Unable to control herself, she stood up and banged her fists on the table. "What are you talking about?" She demanded. "You know better than anyone else that I have nothing to do with Samuel! I only love my husband! How can someone else be the father of my baby? How can you spout such nonsense? I'm your sister! This is impossible!"
Just thinking about her mother-in-law's cold words and the way she and her daughter-in-law had treated her made her so angry that she could feel her nails dig into her skin, as she clenched her fists. From the get-go, the only person from the Arnett family who had been on her side had been Samuel, Benjamin's nephew. And now they were claiming he was the father of her child? Rachelle couldn't believe what she was hearing.
However, instead of noticing how unfair it all was for her sister, Rachelle looked at her as if she were looking at a crazy person. "Rachelle, calm down," she said. "I know you're in a bad mood after what I just told you, but your husband has already signed the divorce papers."
When she heard this, Rachelle frowned.
Her husband had long gone on a trip abroad and no matter what Rachelle had done, he hadn't replied to any of her texts or answered any of her calls. How come he had been available to sign the divorce papers?
Now she felt worse than when she had been arrested and sent to prison. Benjamin often left her alone in his family house, claiming he had too much work. He rarely spent time with his own wife. But he had had time to read and sign the divorce papers? This was so unfair and infuriating that Rachelle felt like she had fallen in a dark pit, without a way out.
"You can't do this to me..." she said, feeling utterly wretched.
Heidi noticed that all the hope in her sister's eyes had disappeared and that she looked pale, but she didn't want to spend another minute at this awful prison so she quickly grabbed her bag and took the divorce papers out so Rachelle could see she wasn't lying.
At the bottom of the document, Benjamin's sign was visible through the glass.
Rachelle recognized his handwriting. It was over.