Chapter 2
Charles refused. He gave me a long, hard look, and his voice was cold when he spoke. "When your dad cheated, he brought his mistress straight to your door and demanded a divorce. I'm not gonna parade her in front of you, so what's the problem?"
He stepped closer, and his grip on my arm tightened. "You're the only one I'll ever marry. Think about that."
He grabbed his coat and slammed the door behind him.
I stared at the red marks swelling on my wrist, and the tears came. I couldn't hold back the bitterness anymore.
When I was eighteen, my father cheated. Everyone thought he was the perfect husband, but they were wrong.
His mistress showed up pregnant and demanded that my mother divorce him so she could take her place.
My father, who used to worship my mother, stood by his mistress instead. The love in his eyes was gone, and only disgust remained.
The shock broke something in my mother. She refused to give him the divorce and told anyone who would listen that as long as they were married, that woman would always be the mistress and the baby would be illegitimate.
My father and his mistress kept coming by to cause scenes, but my mother wouldn't budge.
The neighbors turned us into their favorite joke.
The whole mess finally ended two years later when the court finalized the divorce.
After that, I stopped believing in love.
Even people who loved each other deeply would end up hating each other or becoming enemies.
But Charles changed my mind.
We were each other's first love. He said he saw me smile on the first day of college and couldn't get me out of his head after that.
He pursued me for all four years.
No matter how many girls threw themselves at him, he only had eyes for me.
I gave him the cold shoulder and never responded, but he never gave up.
One night, I finished my part-time shift and headed back to my dorm, but a group of thugs cornered me in an alley.
I thought I was done for, but then Charles showed up.
He threw himself into the fight without hesitation, but he was just one person against all of them, and they beat him down.
The thugs only scattered when police sirens wailed in the distance.
Afterwards, I stared at his bruised and swollen face, and something inside me shifted.
There may have been exceptions in this world.
Charles could be that exception.
I was wrong. I should never have hoped for something so impossibly rare.
I remembered the night I told Charles about my parents. He had pulled me into his arms and made me a promise, and his eyes were full of pain for me.
Charles said, "Emily, I'll never be like your father. You're the only wife I'll ever have."
For the first few years of our marriage, he kept that promise.
He brought me to every business dinner and introduced me to everyone as his wife.
When he traveled for work, he called me on video chat to check in.
The other wives all envied me and told me I had found a good husband.
But this perfect husband in everyone else's eyes had another home on the side, and he was keeping a twenty-year-old woman there.
If I hadn't stumbled across him that night when he claimed he was working overtime, I would still be in the dark. I watched him drive straight to an apartment complex instead of the office.
Even the way Charles spoke made it sound like I should be grateful to him.
Was I supposed to thank him for keeping his word and protecting my position so I wouldn't become a laughingstock?
But being his wife was never what I wanted in the first place, and I had no interest in that title anyway.
The doctor looked at the ultrasound screen and said, "Ms. Grant, the baby is developing well. I know you've been working hard to get pregnant. Are you sure you want to go through with the termination?" Her voice carried a sadness she didn't even try to hide.
I stared at the tiny shape on the screen and felt my throat close up completely.
I blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall and gave a firm nod.
The little life I had once dreamed of was finally here, but I couldn't give this baby a real home anymore.
And I refused to stay tied to Charles any longer.
The doctor let out a quiet sigh and scheduled the procedure.
It wasn't as painful as I expected. When it was over, I felt like I was waking up from a long dream.
After the nurse went over my aftercare instructions, I picked up my prescription and headed for the exit. That was when I saw them. Charles and his girlfriend Sophie Young were standing right there in the hospital lobby.