Elena smiled and told the driver to go to her penthouse again and when she tried to pay him at the end he told her it was not necessary.

Elena must have looked extremely confused as the driver explained that Serena's agent had paid for her limo already. Elena nodded and hurried back inside to her penthouse with her purple glittery pen in her hand.

As Elena unlocked her door and stepped inside, she dropped her purse on the table near her couch and grabbed a few sheets of paper. As she thought about what she was going to write, she found that her thoughts quickly strayed from her divorce and she began to think about Damon, the lawyer who had told her that she could write him a letter to explain her situation.

Elena had liked how his eyes hadn't strayed down to her breasts and how he had been respectful and not pushy or bossy. Elena had also loved the way that Damon hadn't been cocky about being one of the best lawyers in NYC; she had never found it attractive when men had bragged about their accomplishments excessively. And, Damon had just met her, but had made time for her and talked to her about her divorce even though his friend was asking him to bring over some beer. Elena had always appreciated it when people made time for her…

A few moments after, Elena shook herself out of thinking about Damon and began to write the letter to Damon so that she could explain her story about why she wanted a divorce. Elena pulled a fresh sheet of paper from the stack and began to write:

Dear Mr. Salvatore,

I am requesting your help-

Elena shook her head quickly, nope, her letter sounded weird and too formal. Elena crumpled the page into a ball and threw it at her garbage can. She pulled out a new sheet of paper and began to write again:

Hello Mr. Salvatore,

I'm writing this letter to let you know the story on why I want a divorce from my husband, Matt Donovan.

When my marriage began with Matt, we were both very happy with our love life and where our careers were going. Our family and friends wholeheartedly supported us and we both succeeded greatly in the careers that we wished to pursue.

When Matt got on his baseball team, he slowly started spending less time with me- but I didn't think much of it because I just thought he was trying to focus more on his job, so in turn, I became a bit more serious with my acting job as well. I had gotten a role in the movie " The Last Call," and I was extremely excited. The filming for the movie was during the baseball season, so when Matt found out that he would be away playing for his baseball team- I would be filming and he was ecstatic that we were both pursuing our careers.

At that point in time, he seemed to be the same guy I thought he was- a happy, caring guy who loved to enjoy life. Matt thought it was so "cool" that he and I would both be working at the same time. So, I went off to Hawaii to film the movie and he went on his baseball tour with his team.

We talked on the phone and on Skype very often and we had met up during our mutual breaks. After the filming for my movie was over, his baseball team had already won the finals of their league and Matt and I were celebrating at his apartment one day. Matt then asked me if I would marry him and he told me that the time apart from me had made him realise that I was too precious for him to lose and that he wanted to marry me.

I said yes.

The next few months were fun and blissful, our honeymoon was enjoyable and we were having a great time together. When we got back to NYC, he began to go to several business meetings and began to come back very late at night. I figured that he was just having a fun time with his friends and I didn't want to interfere but I realised that he was coming back home drunk and over-controlling. A few days later, he asked me if I would attend a baseball party thrown by his team's manager and I agreed. Matt got very drunk at the party and his teammates and manager were throwing inappropriate comments at me and were trying to feel me up. When I told Matt about this, he just rolled his eyes and supported his teammates and manager's actions. I called a friend to pick me up and I left, feeling extremely upset.

The next morning, Matt showed up at my apartment with flowers and apologized profusely. He said that the next time he invited me to one of his baseball parties, he would stay sober and make sure that his teammates and managers would treat me like a lady and not some stripper that they had hired for the night. I forgave him thinking that the alcohol had blurred his decision making and I figured if he said sorry, it wouldn't happen again. A few weeks later, Matt invited me to another party and this time he stayed sober but when his manager backed me into a supply closet- Matt insisted that his manager could feel me up whenever he wanted as his manager was making sure that he got a promotion within the next few weeks.

I was extremely upset and left the party again, a few of my friends and family member were beginning to tell me that I should leave Matt. I wanted to believe that he was just having a tough time adjusting to his life on the baseball team and I wanted to support him more as he was giving me the impression that he needed more support. I told my agent to refuse all my movie, interviews, commercial, and television show requests for the next 3 months and attended every single one of Matt's parties and autograph signings but I made sure that I would attend the party with a few of my female friends so that Matt's manager couldn't do anything to me.

Matt's emotions towards me improved slightly but he was still much bossier than he was before and he started to yell at me more for things that weren't even my fault. He began to yell about how when he got home from a baseball practice that he wanted to have dinner on the table and that I wasn't satisfying him in the bedroom anymore. I thought that maybe the stress from baseball was having a larger impact on him then I thought and I started to do everything he asked perfectly.

When he left for baseball practice in the morning, I would leave to the gym and then come back and make sure that his favourite dinner was cooked every single night even though he had a personal chef. When he told me I couldn't wear my favouring dresses and ballgowns to his parties anymore, I let him pick out my dresses. Matt kept insisting that I wasn't up to his standards, even though I had literally given up everything for him. I grew a backbone at my friend's encouragement and told him one day that I had stopped my career for a few months for him and was doing everything he wanted, I told him that this was not what I wanted in a marriage. I told him that the way he was manhandling me and letting his manager say dirty things to me was not okay anymore and I told him that I was done handling his childish temper tantrums.

Matt didn't believe me and began to smack me around for a few months and I started to completely recede from my social life. I stayed at home the whole day and became very self-conscious, I called my agent and told her to cancel all of my events for the rest of the year and she was very surprised but did as I asked. As a result of Matt continuously putting me down and physically and verbally abusing me I developed bulimia and started having frequent panic attacks. I refused to have sex with him and after I saw a therapist who helped me with my panic attacks and saw a doctor who helped me overcome my bulimia- I asked him for a divorce. I was sick of giving him so many second chances when he clearly didn't deserve them.

After I asked him for a divorce, he began to yell things at me and called me a stupid bitch and whore. He then forced himself on me even though I asked him to stop and then left to go back to his apartment. I asked for a divorce 3 weeks ago, I have not had any contact with him since and have not reported anything to the police.

I want a divorce from him. I want everybody to know what he did to me and I want him to pay for his mistakes.

Thank you, Mr .Salvatore, for offering me the suggestion of writing you a letter. I don't feel like I could have done this in person in one shot.

Sincerely,

Elena Gilbert

As Elena scrawled her name across the bottom of the paper, she congratulated herself for writing in all without breaking down into tears. She wasn't completely sure why, but after all the crying she had done in the past few weeks- a cold and numb anger had settled into her as she re-read the letter she wrote describing her terrible marriage to Matt. Matt had ruined Elena's life. He had made her quit the thing she loved the most, he made her forget about her acting career so she could support him and he couldn't even spend a day without putting her down.

As Elena quickly sealed the letter inside an envelope, she wrote the address from Damon's card and dropped it in her mailbox. Elena knew the doorman would pick it up the next morning and send it.

As Elena slowly walked over to her full length mirror and pulled her clothes down. As she looked down at her naked body, she cringed.

The blemished spots on Elena's skin where her bruises used to be where fading quickly but her stomach seemed to have shrunken in from when she was sick with bulimia.

Elena sat down, her naked back pressing against the cool mirror and let a few tears leak out of her tightly closed eyes. Elena had always hated the feeling of sliding her own finger down her throat so that she could throw up the cookie she had just ate because Matt would sneer and say "Are you sure you want to eat that?" or how she would hate the feeling of waking up in the middle of the night because she felt so unsafe and threatened.

Elena never wanted to feel those feelings again and she never wanted any other woman to feel those feelings either. Elena knew that the media had absolutely no idea about her disaster of a marriage to Matt, they were still reporting on our "blissful" honeymoon. Elena decided that when Damon and she got the whole divorce thing on the road with Matt, that she wanted to set up a charity for women who had suffered abuse. Elena didn't want people to go through the same torture that she did and wanted to use her fame, power, and money for a good cause.

Elena figured that after Damon draws up the divorce agreement with Matt, the media will know about their rocky marriage and she wouldn't care. After Elena was divorced from Matt, she was going to get her acting career back and never ever sacrifice so much for a man that didn't deserve it.

A/N- Wow, what a long chapter to write haha:) I have updated all of my M-rated stories at least once within the last week with the exception of two of them and I will try and update them tomorrow or on the weekend. I am so grateful to you guys, even though I have not been updating my stories for months, I still got several kind people reviewing on my updated stories and telling me how much they missed me. THANK YOU! You guys are really what I love about fanfiction, I think that it is so great how you guys are all so kind and supportive. I really appreciate it! So yeah, have a good night ( or day;p) guys and thanks again:)