Chapter 4

Nathan cut her off with a sharp, thunderous bark.

"Shut up!"

A violent tremor tore through my entire body.

That night, three years ago, was the darkest nightmare I had spent years trying to erase from my memory.

I had blamed myself thousands of times. If only I hadn't gotten out of bed in the dark to get a glass of water, I wouldn't have slipped. I wouldn't have lost the child I had prayed for over seven agonizing years.

I still vividly remembered sitting alone on the cold hardwood floor, paralyzed with terror as warm blood soaked through my clothes.

I had tried desperately to call Nathan, only to remember he had flown overseas for an urgent business trip a week prior.

Now, the sickening truth finally clicked.

He wasn't on a business trip. He was overseas, holding Vivian's hand in the delivery room.

My chest seized with unbearable agony, my hands shaking uncontrollably.

Nathan looked at me with sudden guilt, stepping forward to pull me into a hug, but I recoiled as if his touch were poison.

Just as I was on the verge of breaking down, my phone rang. A deep, rich, magnetic voice came through the speaker.

"I'm almost there, sweetheart."

An overwhelming sense of safety washed over me. I quickly whispered, "I'm waiting for you," and hung up.

"Who was that?!" Nathan hissed, having caught the end of the call, his eyes flashing with sudden suspicion and rage.

"None of your business," I said coldly.

Vivian let out a soft, theatrical chuckle behind her hand. Then, with practiced perfection, her eyes rimmed with red, playing the concerned sister.

"Natalie, I know you hate me, but you can't drag the Reed family name through the mud like this! How could you just sneak around and commit adultery with some random man..."

She stopped herself just in time, but the venomous insinuation was already loud and clear.

Before she could finish her sentence, I stepped forward and cracked my palm across her face.

Slap!

"Is your mouth incapable of doing anything other than spitting lies?!"

Vivian clutched her red cheek, bursting into tears and throwing herself into Nathan's arms to complain.

Nathan glared at me with pure fury. But a second later, a mocking sneer spread across his lips, as if he had just seen through some pathetic charade.

"And here I thought you actually had some dignity left."

He raked his eyes over me with condescending contempt.

"Did you deliberately hire an actor just to make me jealous?"

"Take a good look at yourself in the mirror."

"Aren't you afraid of scaring the guy to death in bed? To be completely honest with you, every single time I rolled over and saw your tired, worn-out face at night, I felt disgusted."

Swallowing the bitter lump in my throat, I forced the corners of my lips into a cold, steady smile.

"You don't need to lose sleep over my life anymore."

"Nathan, let's get a divorce."

Nathan scoffed, clearly convinced I was bluffing.

"Stop making ridiculous jokes, Natalie."

He paused, his voice dripping with arrogance.

"Where could you possibly go after a divorce? Who in their right mind would want a washed-up, penniless older woman dragging a baby behind her? Besides..."

A smug, conceited smirk stretched across his face.

"You love me too much. You'll never bear to leave me."

It was true that ten years of devotion weren't easy to erase in a single day. But staying here to be sickened by their existence was a fate worse than death.

The moment I learned Vivian had lurked inside my marriage from day one, that they had a three-year-old child together, and that my own parents had happily sided with her, I discarded every lingering shred of love I had left.

I made the wrong choice ten years ago. I was not going to make the same mistake for the next ten years.

My voice was completely devoid of emotion. "Believe whatever lets you sleep at night."

I turned toward the household staff I had hired and instructed them to carry down the packed luggage.