### Chapter 4
It was Albert, the old butler who had served the Delgado family for forty years.
He had watched Dustin grow up and witnessed every twist and turn between us along the way.
Albert walked closer, shaking his head. "Ma'am, why won't you explain? You sacrificed so much for him back then."
I smiled at him. "Do you really think explaining would change anything? He and I should have ended seven years ago."
Albert's brow furrowed deeply.
"I'm afraid, ma'am, that one day he'll regret this."
"He has nothing to regret. The family empire, the woman he loves. He has everything he ever wanted."
I gave a faint smile.
Back then, I'd had no choice. For Dustin's sake, I could only agree to an engagement with Marvin, who was infatuated with me.
I never expected to piece things back together with Dustin after that.
But the moment he clawed his way to the top of the Delgado empire and personally came to bring me back, hope bloomed in my chest despite everything.
I told myself that the love we'd shared since we were eighteen could conquer anything. That even if misunderstanding carved a chasm between us, our feelings could bridge it.
But Dustin never once gave me the chance to explain.
I went back to the bedroom and dug out the old photo album I'd kept hidden away.
Every page was filled with us, young and in love.
Him smiling at me in the sunlight. Sneaking his hand into mine. Draping his jacket over my shoulders when I fell asleep.
I took the wedding portrait down from the wall.
Two weeks ago, I'd been smiling beside him, radiant, convinced I had the whole world.
I tossed the album and the portrait into the trash together.
Ten years of misplaced devotion. Time to let it go.
Footsteps sounded behind me. Gabriella walked in.
Her gaze drifted to the trash can, and a smile she couldn't quite hide tugged at the corner of her lips.
"Delia, I told Dustin I'm afraid of the dark, and he said your room is the biggest and brightest in the house. He wants me to move in here." She tilted her head. "So could you hurry up and pack? I need the space."
This sun-drenched suite held so many traces of my life with Dustin.
I had believed I would bear his children here, that I would never leave.
I looked at the smugness written all over Gabriella's face and lowered my eyes.
"Fine. It's all yours."
I packed quickly.
I didn't take a single thing Dustin had ever given me. Everything I owned fit into one suitcase.
I moved into the storage room closest to the front door. Easier to leave when the time came.
The moment I pushed the door open, dust billowed into my face and sent me into a coughing fit. The room was a cluttered mess, the bed in the corner buried under piles of junk.
But I could manage for one night.
One night was all I had left.
Sometime past four in the morning, the temperature plunged to freezing. Bitter wind howled outside like something wailing in the dark.
Dustin came home carrying the cold on his skin.
Albert approached him and bowed slightly. "Sir, the madam moved to the storage room. Her health isn't well. Perhaps you could..."
Dustin's expression turned black.
He strode to the storage room and kicked the door open.
I was sitting on the edge of the bed, taking my stomach medication. He stood in the doorway, jaw clenched, eyes burning with a fury that could devour. "Delia Sullivan, what the hell is this act for? Who are you performing for now?"
I looked at him, genuinely confused. "Didn't you tell me to move out?"
"Gabriella said she wanted the master bedroom. She didn't tell you to crawl into a dump like this. Are you trying to make everyone think I abuse you?"
I smiled, perfectly calm. "It doesn't matter where I sleep."
He seized my wrist, snatched the medicine from my hand, and shoved me down onto the dusty, broken bed. Before I could react, his mouth was on mine.
I couldn't dodge, so I bit down hard on his tongue.
Dustin flinched and released me. I scrubbed at my lips frantically.
That mouth of his disgusted me now.
His gaze turned razor-sharp, murderous, as if he wanted to tear me apart. "Don't you dare wipe that off. Who do you think you are to be disgusted by me? I haven't even said a word about you being used goods."
The words drove through my chest like a blade.
He always knew exactly where to cut deepest.
As I struggled, he wrenched my clothes open, exposing the jagged scar across my lower abdomen.
I'd gotten it before he left, when I threw myself in the path of a car to protect him and our unborn child.
The crash shattered two of my ribs and ripped my five-month baby from my body. I nearly bled out on the operating table.
Dustin stared at the scar. Something that might have been regret flickered in the depths of his eyes, but it vanished just as quickly, swallowed by venom.
"You keep this scar on display all the time. Is that your way of reminding me I owe you?"
"Delia Sullivan, I don't owe you a damn thing. The most despicable person in this world is you. Don't you dare forget the filthy things you did back then."
I held back my tears and laughed out loud.
"You're right. I'm despicable. I've never seen it so clearly before, just how rotten I am, right down to the bone."
