Chapter 4
I spent most of the day at the hospital, and by the time I left, the swelling on my face had finally gone down.
I unlocked my phone to check the time, only to find my phone blowing up with messages.
[Helen, what's going on? Weren't you supposed to marry Mr. Foster? How did Sierra suddenly become his fiancée?]
[Damn, those two actually made it official. They're not even hiding it anymore.]
Curious, I opened James's social media and saw he'd posted a photo just an hour ago.
In the photo, he and Sierra were locked in a tight embrace, with the caption: [Turns out the best person has been right by my side all the time.]
Sierra, playing the perfect partner, commented right below: [As long as you're the one I end up with, I don't care how hard it gets.]
They really moved fast. They must've been planning this all along.
Edward peeked over at my phone.
"The window behind her is photoshopped crooked," he said.
I couldn't help but laugh.
He always picked up on the strangest stuff.
Before I deleted James for good, I left a comment: [Bitch and brat, a perfect match. May you two be together forever.]
James called me right away. "Helen, what the hell do you think you're doing? If you apologize to me and post an apology to Sierra on your social media, I might think about forgiving you."
I laughed. "Are you crazy? You already went public with Sierra, and you still expect me to marry you? What, you think I enjoy being the fool here? Get lost!"
James was so furious that he could barely think straight. "What do you mean? Think about it. Who else would ever want you? You've been with me for ten years. You're just leftovers now!"
That was it. All the love and everything we once had ended with that one insult.
I stared blankly at my phone screen, his filthy insults ringing in my ears.
I'd been with James since I was seventeen, and now I was twenty-seven.
The car, the house—none of it was ever really mine. After all that, all I got was a reputation as his leftovers.
My eyes were brimming with tears. I took a deep breath, ready to hang up the call.
Edward, sitting right beside me, suddenly reached over and grabbed the phone out of my hand.
He said, "Sorry, but while you had Helen for ten years, I've been waiting for her for twenty years.
"Helen, will you let me have a shot?"
I looked at Edward, stunned. But when I caught that hopeful shine in his eyes, I nodded before I even realized it.
"Okay," I said.
On the way back, we were both silent.
Everything happened so fast that I still couldn't wrap my head around it.
I hadn't even managed to ask Edward what he meant by "twenty years".
We arrived downstairs at the office, and things felt a little awkward between us.
"I... I'm going to head up and hand in my resignation," I said.
Ten years with James had left our lives tangled up in all sorts of ways.
Walking away from my job was the first step to finally cutting those ties.
But Edward just kept smiling at me, not slowing down at all.
"Helen, so you can't take it anymore and are here to beg for my forgiveness, huh?" James sneered.
I turned around and saw James watching me with a cold, mocking smile.
Seriously, he just wouldn't leave me alone.
With him looking all smug, I showed off my hand, and the diamond ring was so bright that it could practically blind him.
"Sorry, I'm engaged now," I said.
The smile on James's face vanished in an instant.
"Helen, seriously, you'll go to any lengths just to piss me off, huh? You expect me to believe that?" he sneered.
Seeing him acting all smug, I just felt sick to my stomach.
"Believe it or not, that's your business. Now step aside. You're blocking me and my fiancé," I said.
James knew I never messed around like this.
No other man had ever been in the picture.
As he remembered all my recent behavior, panic hit him out of nowhere.
"Are you insane? You two barely know each other and you're already getting engaged? Is this really what you think is best for you?" James snapped.
Seeing him so indignant, I couldn't help but laugh.
I yanked out a document I'd just gotten today and shoved it right in his face.
"Not best for me? So, knocking up Sierra is what you think is best for me?" I snapped.
James's eyes flickered with panic as he frantically snatched up the document from the floor.
As soon as he saw the words on the page, his hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
"Who... Who gave this to you?" he blurted out.
He didn't even bother denying it. I could tell he'd known about Sierra's pregnancy all along. He was just planning to hide it from me.
If I hadn't gotten this document, I would've been left in the dark for the rest of my life.
I couldn't even begin to imagine how shattered I'd be if, years from now, Sierra turned up on my doorstep with their illegitimate child.