Footsteps Toward New Beginnings By Ryan Chaprter 1

Footsteps Toward New Beginnings By Ryan Chaprter 1 Summary

 

Christina Martell spends a day in prayer at the abbey, desperately hoping for protection over Kenneth Gilford, who is bedridden after a car accident. However, her world shatters when she unexpectedly sees Kenneth embracing a visibly pregnant woman named Alice, a sight that deeply wounds her. Kenneth’s parents’ warm acceptance of Alice only intensifies Christina’s confusion and heartbreak, reminding her painfully of the love and sacrifices Kenneth once showed her despite their families’ rivalry.

 

Returning home, Christina finds Alice introduced as a relative of Kenneth’s late best friend, someone Kenneth’s mother is helping because she is about to have a baby and is alone. Christina recalls Alice as a former arrogant intern she had fired, now realizing that Kenneth and Alice have a secret past and a child together. Unable to confront them openly, Christina retreats upstairs, overwhelmed by the cruel reality of her marriage.

 

Later, Christina overhears Kenneth and Alice in the study, their passionate and intimate exchange revealing a relationship far more intense than anything she had experienced with Kenneth. Kenneth admits to feeling guilt and emotional detachment toward Christina, confessing that memories of her bravery haunt him, preventing genuine love. Alice challenges Kenneth’s feelings, but he remains conflicted and resigned, deepening Christina’s pain.

 

Heartbroken and disillusioned, Christina recognizes that her marriage has been a painful illusion. She decides to act on a prenuptial agreement Kenneth had signed, which allows her to end their marriage if he ever cheated. After signing the papers and contacting her lawyer, Christina quietly resolves that in two weeks, her painful chapter with Kenneth will come to an end.

Chapter 1

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From dawn until dusk, Christina Martell remained inside the quiet abbey, her hands clasped tightly in prayer. She sought solace and strength, pleading fervently for a set of protective prayer beads to shield Kenneth Gilford, who was confined to his bed after a devastating car accident. The solemn silence of the abbey seemed to echo her desperation.

As she made her way home, a shocking scene caught her off guard. Kenneth—who was supposed to be resting in his hospital room—stood with his arms wrapped tenderly around a visibly pregnant woman. The sight struck Christina like a blow to the chest.

Before she could process what she saw, Kenneth’s parents appeared from a distance, approaching the woman with warm smiles that only deepened Christina’s confusion and pain.

“Allie, don’t worry,” Kenneth’s mother said reassuringly, “Once you’ve had the baby, we’ll make sure that other woman is out of the picture for good.”

Kenneth’s face tightened with a furrowed brow, his hold on the pregnant woman growing firmer. He remained silent, neither confirming nor denying a single word.

Christina’s legs gave way beneath her, and she stumbled backward, collapsing onto the cold pavement. Tears blurred her vision, and her mind drifted involuntarily to the Kenneth she once knew.

At eighteen, Kenneth had been a notorious troublemaker, a boy with a reckless streak. Yet, when Christina was tormented by students from a rival school, he had stood up for her without hesitation. He had taken a brutal beating from a dozen boys just to protect her.

The Martell and Gilford families had long been bitter rivals. When their relationship became known, Kenneth’s mother, Farrah Gilford, locked him away in the attic as punishment.

But Kenneth’s love had been fierce and unyielding. Determined to see Christina, he smashed a window and leapt from the fourth floor, risking his life just to be by her side.

Back then, Christina had been the center of Kenneth’s universe.

Now, the boy who once defied his family and risked everything for her had shifted his affections to another woman entirely.

Her phone buzzed, interrupting the flood of painful memories.

She glanced at the screen. It was a message from Kenneth.

“Babe, my secretary said you came home early. I’ve been feeling better these last two days. Let’s talk when you get back.”

Christina walked home in a daze, her mind numb.

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Before she even crossed the threshold, lively voices floated through the air. Her eyes landed on the pregnant woman standing close to Kenneth.

A bitter smile curled Christina’s lips—he had even brought that woman into their home.

Kenneth hurried over, taking her luggage from her hands with a gentle smile.

“Babe, if it weren’t for the accident, you wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble.”

Christina ignored his words and fixed her gaze on the woman.

“Who is she?”

Immediately, others stepped in, blocking Christina’s view as if she were an intruder.

“Alice is Mom’s late best friend’s daughter,” someone explained. “Her husband died in a car accident a while ago. She’s lived overseas most of her life. She’s about to have a baby, and Mom’s worried she’ll be alone.”

Christina found their excuses absurd, almost laughable.

Yet, she chose not to confront them openly.

Her eyes lingered on Alice Schirmer for a moment, and then it clicked—why Alice looked so familiar.

Two years ago, a brash heiress had interned at Christina’s company, showing no respect for anyone and offending even their partners.

Christina had fired her, and Alice’s cold, venomous glare had left an unforgettable impression.

She never imagined that Alice and Kenneth had been secretly involved all along—and now even had a child together.

“I’m tired. I’m going upstairs to rest,” Christina said quietly.

In the bedroom, she looked up at the wedding photo hanging on the wall. It felt like a cruel joke.

Pain twisted inside her chest, tightening with every heartbeat until she could no longer bear it. She bolted from the room.

A woman’s muffled moans echoed down the empty hallway.

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Step by step, Christina approached the study, its door left slightly open. The sight inside shattered her even more.

Kenneth had always been a consummate professional, never mixing his personal life with work. He would never have allowed such intimacy in his office.

Yet now, he was holding the pregnant Alice, their passion raw and undeniable.

Alice sat perched on the desk, catching Christina’s gaze. Her eyes were glazed, but a flicker of provocation danced there, as if daring Christina to overhear every word.

Her fingers tangled in Kenneth’s hair as she demanded, “Between me and your wife, who do you love more?”

Caught in the moment, Kenneth couldn’t help himself. Over and over, he whispered, “I love you! I love you! I love you!”

That kind of passion—Christina had never witnessed it before.

Even their last encounter, three months prior, had been a drunken mistake, lacking this intensity.

Outside the door, Christina stood frozen, torturing herself with every second.

When the noises finally ceased, voices drifted into the hallway.

“Seriously, I’m nine months pregnant, and you still can’t control yourself? What, your wife doesn’t satisfy you?”

There was a pause before Kenneth’s voice came, hoarse and resigned.

“Don’t mention her.”

He neither denied nor defended.

Those three words cut into Christina’s heart like sharp knives.

Alice pressed on, relentless.

“Why not? Tell me! Even with a baby inside me, I excite you more than she ever could, right?”

“Allie!” Kenneth interrupted, irritation lacing his tone.

But seeing the hurt in Alice’s eyes, he sighed, helpless and indulgent.

“Every time I’m close to her, I remember how she took a knife for me. All I feel is guilt—and how cowardly I was back then. I just can’t bring myself to feel anything.”

Christina couldn’t bear to listen any longer. She retreated to her room, her heart breaking into pieces.

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So this so-called happy marriage had been nothing but her own illusion. In Kenneth’s eyes, she had always been someone to pity.

After the storm of pain passed, a cold stillness settled over her.

She pulled out Kenneth’s signed prenuptial agreement from the safe.

When he had proposed, he’d said, “If I ever cheat, you can sign this whenever you want, and I promise I’ll let you go.”

Without hesitation, Christina signed her name and called her lawyer.

The lawyer informed her there would be a two-week cooling-off period before the agreement took effect.

“Understood,” Christina replied quietly.

After hanging up, she stared once more at the wedding photo on the wall and whispered, “Kenneth, in two weeks, it will all be over.”