Hey guys, how are you a doing? Well I am thinking of writing a new story. Here is an excerpt from my new book that I'm thinking of calling Attributes or Virtues. Please vote and leave comments and messages. I honestly read them all and greatly appreciate them. Well anyway here it is. Thank you and God bless.
-@maryash12.

Chapter 1: MERCY.

"Love you? Love you?!" she screeched at him. He couldn't be serious. He couldn't possibly think that she would still be in love with a man like him did he? She kept on looking at him like he was mad. Like he was neurotic, the man indeed lost his mind if he was asking her if she still loved him.

From the moment she had stepped into the mansion and walked up the stairs into the family's large living room she had known something bad was going to happen. Besides the unnerving feeling that 15 people were staring at her looking at her in pity and in guilt and in an emotion she did not have the strength or the mind to decipher.

Her mind and will power had already been used to get her in this room. She was dead tired. But right now anger and rage had infiltrated her mind. She was ready to have a full panic attack. She kept thinking to herself 'what more did he want from me? What else could he take? When would this pain stop, when would he deem her punishment enough? Wasn't it enough that he and his heartless family had taken everything, absolutely everything away from me? Wasn't it? I had nothing left, what else were they after, was he after?'

"Mel please -" he started to beg in a pitiful and strained voice. At this moment Zach would do whatever it took for him to get through the woman he loved. The woman he had meticulously and mechanically destroyed.

But to the woman a few feet from him that was not going to be so easy. If the situation was not so serious she would have pretended to faint as soon as he said the word please and started to beg. For Zachary Nigel Denison never ever admitted he was wrong let alone beg. 3 years ago that would have moved her right there and then, but right now it did nothing for her. Only established her resolve to hate him all the more.

He was willing to plead with his tongue, with his eyes and with his heart. Any thing it took to let her see how sorry and remorseful and guilty he felt and truly was.

"Don't you dare say that name to me ever again. You hear me ever again" she warned him with clenched teeth that revealed her uncontrollable anger and rage. To her he had no right, absolutely none to even dream to refer to her by that nickname when once upon the time would have brought a smile to her face.

"Melissa, I know I don't deserve your forgiveness. I don't even have the heart to begin to tell you how regretful I am. Just seeing you like this is killing me inside. I feel like crying g my eyes out. With everything that you hold sacred please I am begging you forgive me. Give me a chance to earn your forgiveness. Allow me to make it up to you. I will do anything absolutely anything to make it up to you, to earn your forgiveness. And one day to earn your trust once more. Please I am begging of you. Have mercy" he said as a broken and humbled man.

As soon as he had said his last words the laughter that she had kept down erupted from her. She started to laugh with absolutely no humor. She laughed so hard that she fell to the floor. When she finally stood back up and regained her composure dir she start to address him.

"Mercy? Mercy? You are asking me for mercy? You have the nerve to ask me for mercy when that was the one thing you never gave me. Do you even know the meaning of the word, Zach? Do you?"

He said nothing. How could he, she was right. He didn't know the meaning of the word. He was filled with so much regret and anger and disappointment at himself.

"Oh I'm serious, do you know the meaning?" she asked him again. She was slightly curious to know his response.

Knowing she was waiting for an answer he started to answer her "Please Melissa, I am begging you. I-"

But she interrupted him once again. Now not caring or even contemplating to listen to his pathetic and long winded speech.

"Of course you don't, how very stupid of me. How could you possibly understand the word when you are the parallel opposite of it. If you did have even a little bit of that virtue in you, half of what you did to me you wouldn't have done. Did you have mercy, when you literally threw me out of your house when it was raining like hell? With no coat, no umbrella, no money, no phone, no nothing. I had to walk 6 miles to my father's house barefoot mind you. I was so sick that it took me weeks to recover from and on top if that I was diagnosed with a mild form of pneumonia.

"You ask for mercy Zach but did you have mercy not even on me but on my father? Did you have mercy when you had my father fired and made sure that no one would ever hire him ever again? When you destroyed his reputation to the extent that all the banks and creditors wanted nothing to do with him? When he lost all his social security checks and retirement funds because of you? When you bought the house I grew up in, where he raised me, where he bought out of love for my mother and then proceeded to charge us double for the mortgage that was almost paid off?" She screamed at him. She was mad. She was pissed.

"No don't look away, look at me you sorry son of a bitch! You asked me for my mercy, so I am now asking you for  your mercy to listen to what I have to say" she screamed at him when he attempted to turn his face in shame.

At this everyone gasped at her. This was shocking, this was unbelievable. Melissa never cursed. She rarely ever raised her voice, especially not at Zach. Not even when he did abominable things to her. And Zach was just as shocked as they were. Who was this woman in front of him. It couldn't be his Melissa.

"Did you have mercy when I came to you on my hands and knees asking and begging for just $20,000 that were like peanuts to you, for a surgery that my needed to save his life. Save his life!" I screamed at him.

He had to look away at this. He couldn't help it. He was so ashamed and so embarrassed and disappointed with himself.  He could say nothing. How could he when he knew that they were all true. When he had done that and so much more to her. He had done so much evil that he couldn't even remember them all. But she did. She remembered and lived through them to this very day. And she was here to remind him of his sins. He had stirred the pot and it was only fitting that he eat from it too

"You laughed at me and refused. And then had me escorted out of your property like a common criminal. denied him that. You want to know where my father is? Huh, do you, why he is not here with me? Because, he is six feet in the ground! My father is dead! And it's all because of you!" She screamed so loud that the glasses shock as hot tears streamed down her face. But they were more tears of anger than tears of grief. For Melissa Tay had wept long enough over her father.

At this gasps were heard across the room. People stared at the broken woman in horror. It couldn't be possible. The joyous, crazy and sociable and hilarious Louis Tay could not be dead. Their words and actions could not have killed him? They all noticed his absence in the room and wondered where he could be, Louis never missed a get together. And he was always right down in the middle serving and helping everyone. Upon hearing this their hearts broke.

And the man who was and is known as Melissa Tay's husband felt his heart drop. And then he fell to his knees in grief.

'No no, God please no. Let this be a mistake' he kept thinking to himself. Louis couldn't be dead. His anger and rage couldn't have led him to kill an innocent man. Especially, the man who was his wife's father. If he ever dreamed of a reconciliation that was dead now, if she held him responsible for the man who killed her father in cold blood. He had noticed his absence and had been hoping all through out the week that he would show up. Louis had always been a strong supporter of him and Melissa. When he didn't show up with her he had assumed that he was still in hiding. Last he heard, he had high-speed it out of town because the IRS were on his tail. The IRS he had sent after him. 

"You killed him! You killed my father, you killed my dad. The one person I had left. The one person who had not turned his back on me. My hero, the only man I could trust and you killed him, you and your whole family. He was so sick and we had so little money. Even then he refused treatment because he was still thinking about me. No hospital would take him in all because they were so mesmerized and glued to your back. You purposefully made sure that everyone knew of his past and rendered him as a danger to society. Yet you know he was not. You knew it! He raised you Zach! You and your brother and sisters when your own parents were too busy for their own children. He was like a father to you and that was how you all repaid him" looking in the eyes of Zach and his siblings who were shedding tears of sorrow for the man who had indeed raised them like his own. Their parents were social butterflies and were always flying to one event or another at the detriment of their kids. Louis had been there for them, looked after them, gone to every play, sports game and had even given the once over to the girls dates during prom. And how had they repaid him for all he had done and sacrificed for them. They didn't have to think hard, Melissa was going to tell them,

"By stabbing him in the back. He came home one day with tears in his eyes and blood gushing from his head. Your mercy had started tongues wagging and rumours running all because idiots wanted to kiss the all so powerful Zach Densons feet.
Through that they pushed a good man to an early grave. News had travelled around town that my father, my dad was a pedophile. That broke him. You had pushed people and you yourself had started so many rumors Zach that it had gotten to the extent where they accusing him of being a pedophile. He couldn't go out anymore, and was left locked up in his room. Do you know how it feels like to hear your dad crying. Each night people would come and throw stones through our windows or light our front yard on fire. We were sacred out of our minds but couldn't go to the police because they were all siding with you. My own brother disowned my father publicly because of you. My sister didn't want to be near him or be recognized as his child she even changed her last name. They didn't even show up at his funeral. Are you happy Zach? Are you happy that you destroyed my family? That you let a dying man go to his grave in grief and sadness. And what is worse us that I am just at guilty of killing him. Oh it's true, I just as well killed him for I married you. I married you and my father was taken away from me" she cried.

Zach could not take it anymore. He knew he had messed yo but never to this extent. He didn't think that Louis would ever get this hurt or mistreated because of his words and actions. What had he done, what in God's name had he done?

Melissa continued to talk her voice just above a whisper "Yes my father had demons but he had overcome them. He was a changed man. He had changed for me, for me. And yet, he was still paying for his past sins. You punished me through him. You are coward. An emotionless coward Zach. Where was your mercy when he needed you the most? You punished an innocent man for a crime you yourself have come to realize that I had no part of. I was innocent yet my father had to pay the price.
But what did I expect from "the man who has done everything"?" She asked turning around as she said this, referring to what the media and the business world nicknamed him.

"Hey, guess what Zach you can now add murderer to the list of your accomplishments" she joked darkly. But as expected no one laughed. They were all in shock.

"You know what is sad? Even when he was dying in my arms he still spoke fondly of you and your family but especially you. He spoke with so much love even after everything you had done to him" she cried. It was do unfair.

He could not bear to answer her back. The pain was far too great. His blindness and rage and jealousy had led to all this. His greed had brought hurt on one person he loved and still continues to love. He felt like filth in front of her. He felt worthless in front of her. All because of his damned pride and recklessness. All because of mistrust. All because of a misunderstanding. All because of an accident that he had been the cause of.

"Well moving on in our exploration of mercy. Did you have mercy when you practically sexually abused me" she asked him coolly and collected.

"No no Melissa that is not true! I would never. I never did and never could" he cried out protesting and appalled that she would even think that he could do that.

"Please. Have you forgotten the night when you allowed your friends to watch as we were having sex, or did the accident take  part of your memory too? Well, if it did allow me to refresh your memory. We were having sex and half way through it your friends burst into our- no I'm sorry your bedroom and start jeering and mocking me. Some were even taking pictures. And others were laughing at the most humiliating and embarrassing experience I have ever had in my life.  They laughed at my naivete of accepting you back despite everything you had done to me. You used me like a common whore, threw me away like trash and watched in sick, sick satisfaction as they laughed and pointed and threw food and drinks at me, calling me piggy, laughed at my nakedness and they spit on me! Yet you did nothing. You enjoyed it. You loved that I was getting humiliated. Remember when I tried to grab my clothes crying and who was it, o how could I forget Laura grabbed them and threw them in the fire you laughed at that. And then you had your friend throw me out of your house again but this time stark naked. Whores don't and shouldn't get treated like that. But you did that to me; your wife. If it was not for a maid who had pity on me I don't know how I would have been able to get home. What is that if not sexual abuse?" she looked at him smiling a sinister.

He looked away in shame. He had even forgotten he had done that. All of those from that night were in this room. Ready to join him on his knees to plead for her forgiveness.

"You want to know what hurts me the most? Besides the death of my beloved father and all the things you did to me and I have not even been through half of them. It is the day when my baby died. The day when the doctor came to me and said the words that I had miscarried that was when my life had ended. That was when I wouldn't and couldn't go on. And that was also because of you. The callousness of your actions led to the death of another innocent person" as she talked she started to break down herself. As memories kept flooding her mind.

"You asked me for mercy Zach yet you didn't give me any when I was carrying the most precious thing. You want to know what last week was?"

She asked him. But he was silent for Zach knew he could not hear another word. He started pleading internally and with his eyes for her to stop. He couldn't take anymore. This was one memory he forced himself never to think about. Because if he did he would go raving mad. But Melissa did not care for his feelings. When he didn't reply she continued.

"Last week would have marked my child's 5th birthday. It was supposed to be a happy day, but instead it is day filled with anger and rage at myself and at you. I lost my baby. My baby. At this very moment I am supposed to be holding her or him telling him how much I loved him, but instead I am here looking at a disgusting piece of earth's crap" she snorted at him.

"The lies you told everyone to set them against me led to the death of my baby. I would be walking along the street when random strangers would walk up to me and pour drinks and juice on me all because they claimed I deserved it for what I supposedly did to you. I was pregnant for crying out loud. Pregnant! You knew that but you still let the abuse go on. Where was your mercy then?" She asked him.

But he said nothing. Tears continued to steam down his face. The room was filled with tears shed by mostly everyone in the room old and young alike.

"You are the reason why I  am not holding my son today. Your own sister slapped me and pushed me in a pool knowing full well that I was pregnant with her niece or nephew isn't that right Jessica?" She asked the pretty blond who looked down in shame and guilt. She couldn't even meet her eyes. There was no excuse for what she had done. She had done even worse, but she did it out of love for her brother. How wrong she had been.

"You know if you Denisons had waited for seven or six months I would be dead by now just like you wanted" she said nonchalantly like an everyday thing she always said.

Zach looked at her in horror. He never wanted her dead. Never. Maybe to suffer. But not to be dead.

"My child was growing in my fallopian tube. Had the time come I would have sacrificed my life for his or hers. Fate is sure one cruel sick joke and did not even allow me that. He died. And lying in the hospital crying and thinking of suicide you rolled yourself into my room and mocked me. You mocked me and jeered me for my loss. Your exact words were "Even that fetus you were carrying would rather die than be your son" Oh you mocked me so bad that I wanted to die right there and then. Even when I pleaded for you to stop no begged you to stop you continued to laugh at my pain. And here you are asking for my mercy?"

"You don't deserve it. And you never will. What is worse that is that I am still married to you, to you the scum of the earth. I want the divorce and ill sign it with my own blood if I have to just to get away from you"

"No Melissa please no" he pleaded desperately. He couldn't lose her. Not again. Now he full out started to cry.

"But I am a tad bit curious why you summoned me here. We both know you could have sent one of the lackeys to get me to sign. Why am I here and why won't you give me a divorce?" she asked him calmly.

He had no choice but to go with the truth.  "Because Melissa, I still lo-"

SMACK.

The room was silent no one moved as they watched in horror as Melissa slapped Zach across the cheek before he could even finish his sentence. The mark could clearly be seen forming on his face. Good thing he was kneeling down otherwise she could never have managed to reach his 6ft4 inches frame.

He shut his eyes in pain. Not from the slap but what the slap signified. Melissa always said that she didn't believe in slapping men. As men shouldn't and couldn't hut women then she wouldn't and couldn't disrespect them by slapping them either. Unless the man had angered her beyond belief and she no longer held one iota of respect for him she would never slap a guy.  So no matter what happened she never slapped a man. Until now.

SMACK

Came another one. She knew that he knew what that slapped represented and the message it conveyed. And for Zack he had truly lost the woman he used to consider his.

Looking him on the eye "don't you ever, ever tell me or speak those words to me. Understand?" She spoke in uncontrollable anger.

Finally the lawyer sauntered into the room ignoring the tense atmosphere. He had been warned.

"Are you the lawyer?" She asked. And he nodded his head in response.

"Good let's get this over with"

Humans always think they can control everything. But as Melissa and Zach will soon learn they cannot. It is going to be one hell of a ride. Some will get off and others will be thrown off and some will not make it. But that was the beauty of life the unexpected.

'.....................................................................................................

The lawyer started to read "I, Naomi Theresa Denison, as the sole and oldest living heir of the Denison and Upfold empire, hereby transfer all of Zachary Nigel Densons shares of my family's wealth and his inheritance to Mrs. Melissa Denison. His shares in the company, the houses, islands given to him and every car and house he ever bought using the family money, are now under the complete ownership of Melissa Denison. Effective immediately she will be the new owner of the companies.

Zachary effective immediately is now fired and can only be rehired by Mrs. Melissa. He is allowed a monthly allowance that is to be worked out between Melissa and himself. All the houses are to be taken away from him and are now in the hands of Mrs Melissa. Mrs. Melissa can do whatever she chooses with her inheritance but for two years at least they must live together in the family house as with the rest of the family. Failure to do so all the assets will be liquidated and given to charities. Everything else is to be worked out by him and Melissa"

The lawyer went on and on. But I could not pay attention. I was shocked. I was now the owner of my estranged husband's company. What was the old bird thinking?

But the more I thought of it the more I smiled. That means Zach was at my complete mercy.

I had to smile an evil smile at him. He he looked up at me expectantly, looking confused. Oh if he only knew  what I had planned for him. What I had in store for him. I was going to make him hurt like had made me hurt. Life was looking up. Because as of right now,

I owned him.