Chapter 2
Kevin and I had been married for years, yet he had always been tangled up with Helen.
No matter how often I told him to keep his distance from her, he insisted Helen was his good friend, and that she only saw him as her male bestie.
Male bestie.
Even as a woman, that phrase made my skin crawl. It was a prettier name for shameless flirtation, yet somehow I was supposed to accept an inappropriate third person wedged right into my marriage.
For my daughter's sake, I kept choosing to endure it. I didn't want her childhood filled with her parents' fights, so no matter what happened between us, it always ended with me lowering my head and apologizing.
That lasted until one day I came home from work and saw Helen lying in our marital bed wearing my pajamas. I threw her out, but Kevin rushed out of the study the moment he heard the commotion.
He accused me of having a filthy mind. "Helen came over to help me clean the place. That should've been your job. Not only are you not thanking her, you're throwing her out?
"She worked up a sweat, and her clothes were in the wash, so she borrowed your pajamas. What's the big deal? Are you seriously making a fuss over that? If you keep this up, we'll get divorced."
He was using divorce to force me to back down again.
But this time, I stood my ground and had a full-blown fight with him. He stormed out, slammed the door behind him, and never came home again after that.
Even when our daughter cried and called for Daddy, all he'd do was toss her a video call like it was some kind of favor, and even those were rare. Remembering all of it, I suddenly felt like a complete idiot.
When I got to Helen's place, I pounded on the door like I had lost my mind. The second it opened, a hard slap landed across my face.
It was Kevin, his eyes full of irritation and anger. "Janet, what the hell is wrong with you? You came all the way here to act crazy?"
His brows were tightly drawn in disgust, and when I stayed silent, his tone turned outright commanding. "Since you're here, go carry Helen's luggage. We're heading out on a trip."
I noticed the side wall of her house was covered in ugly messages demanding repayment.
My daughter was suffering in a hospital bed, yet he was busy taking his childhood sweetheart on vacation, or maybe helping her run from debt.
I stared him straight in the eyes, hoping to see a flicker of guilt. "Isn't she in debt? Then why is she going on a trip?"
But all I saw was impatience.
He shot me a glare. "None of your damn business. Do what I said. Why do you always have so much crap to say?"
I clenched my teeth. "You took the money I raised to pay off her debt?"
"You've got the nerve to bring up money?" his eyes widened. "If those bastards hadn't been hounding Helen so hard and she hadn't needed that money right away, I wouldn't let you get away with making dirty money off our daughter."
He turned to go back inside, but I grabbed his arm, my voice breaking with desperation. "Our daughter really needs money for surgery. If you don't believe me, come to the hospital with me and see for yourself..."
Smack.
He slapped me so hard I dropped straight to the ground. Kevin's eyes were full of fury and warning. "Do you have no shame? For money, you made our daughter pretend to be sick and scam our relatives?
"What are people supposed to think of me? I bust my ass every day for this family. Do you think that's easy? What, borrowing from relatives wasn't enough, so you started calling my coworkers too? Are you trying to get me fired?"
Looking smugly self-righteous, he said, "I'm telling you right now, I won't let what you've done ruin our daughter's future. If I find out you're borrowing money again, I'll kill you myself."