Chapter 6
I grabbed his head and shook it like crazy.
"I seriously can't accept this," I said.
Clifford clutched his head, his face as pale as a ghost.
He couldn't stop defending himself.
"I'm sorry, Brynn. But Ashlyn has already gotten a divorce for me. I can't hurt her again," he said.
"And the baby she's carrying is innocent," he added.
Clifford even shed a few crocodile tears.
"I'm the one who cheated, so I'm willing to give you half of my assets," he said.
I couldn't help but sneer inside.
What a hypocrite he was.
Half of his property? Please.
Even if he hadn't cheated on me, I would still be entitled to half of our marital property in a divorce settlement.
How come now that he did something wrong, he begged for a divorce from me and was only willing to hand over half of his assets to me?
I wiped away my tears.
I said, "Honey, I just can't let you go.
"I love you too much. This is all so sudden. Can you just give me a little time to wrap my head around it, please?"
Nothing boosted a man's ego more than words like these.
He patted my shoulder.
"Brynn, I hope you can come to terms with this soon," he said.
I dragged myself off the sofa like a walking corpse and stumbled toward the bathroom to wash my face.
Clifford's phone started ringing.
His voice was soft, tinged with a trace of self-satisfaction.
He said, "Ashlyn, you need to give Brynn some time.
"Relax, it's still early in the pregnancy. There's no need to rush."
He had no idea things were actually way more urgent than he thought.
With all the drinking and me roughing him up these past couple days, he was running out of time even faster now.
Clifford complained that Ashlyn was too impatient.
He was wracked with guilt over me.
There I was, the poor wife, still head over heels for him,
I was the wife who could do nothing but cry helplessly after finding out he had cheated.
How could he not feel guilty?
He even found himself blaming Ashlyn a little.
But what could he do? She was carrying his baby.
He couldn't bring himself to get mad at a pregnant woman.
So when she barged into our home with my parents in tow, he could only let out a helpless sigh.
I said, "Mom, Dad, I'm sorry.
"If you want to yell at me or even hit me today, go ahead. I deserve it."
Ashlyn, rubbing her still-flat belly, dropped to her knees in front of my dad.
"I'm so sorry. I really didn't want things to turn out like this," she said to my dad.
My dad clenched his fist in anguish, his face full of heartbreak.
"Ashlyn, how could you do something like this?" he sighed.
"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done this," Ashlyn sobbed, her voice choked with tears.
"But the baby I'm carrying is so innocent. He'll be branded a bastard the moment he's born," she cried.
"Could you really stand to see your own grandchild treated like that?" she pleaded.
Ashlyn clung to my dad's leg, bawling her eyes out.
To anyone watching, it would have looked like she was his own daughter, not his niece.
Meanwhile, I, the real victim in this entire mess, sat quietly on the sofa, watching the entire scene unfold with a calm and detached expression on my face.
Smack!
A sharp slap landed right on Ashlyn's cheek.
"You bitch! You think you're the victim here? What about my daughter?" my mom yelled.