"Mr. Bernadi, Laura and I are the rightful husband and wife. So, hurry up and please leave now.”
At our tenth wedding anniversary celebration, my wife’s assistant from the sports college shoved a bright red marriage certificate in my face as he looked at me with disdain.
Everyone turned to me in shock, then looked at Laura, my wife, who was standing arm-in-arm with Doyle Bell.
Doyle swept a proud glance around the room.
"Antonio Bernadi," he said smugly. "Back then, Laura only married you to stop her family from pressuring her to settle down. I was just studying in high school, so she needed someone to act as her temporary husband to buy her time. Now that I’ve made something of myself, it’s time you knew the truth. Laura and I are the ones who truly love each other.”
I stared in disbelief at the marriage certificate, then turned to Laura Savas. “Didn’t you tell me you two were just like siblings. Tell me he’s lying. Tell me this isn’t real.”
However, in a flash, Laura snapped at me brusquely, "What else could I do? You don’t have the looks or the stamina. Is that so wrong that I just wanted good genes for my child?”
——
I did not know how I left the hotel. A moment later, my good friend called. He said, "Antonio, I had your marriage certificate checked … It turns out it’s fake. The official seal was forged.”
I took a deep breath as I tried to keep my voice from shaking when I said, "What about Doyle? Who's listed as his wife?"
My friend answered, "It's Laura. They're legally married."
My hand curled into a tight fist as my body nearly gave out. If there were two illusions in the beginning, they were now destroyed in an instant.
Ten years of what I thought was a perfect affectionate strong marriage turned out to be nothing but a lie.
I threw the fake certificate away and went home. My heart felt numb and defeated.
As I sat on the couch, I cracked open bottles one after another and chugged down the wine.
I couldn’t wrap my head around it. The girl who once treated me like her whole world … how could she change so completely? Probably she actually never changed. Maybe all she did was just a performance.
All those years ago, I was so determined and stubbornly went against my parents' wishes. I even cut ties with them just to marry into the Savas Family. Now I finally saw that … it was all part of her plan.
All the confusion and suspicion in the past finally made sense.
On the day of the wedding, Laura insisted that we stay child-free until the company had stable.
However, once her business settled down, she “adopted” a poor student and sponsored him all the way through college.
After he graduated, instead of letting him become a fitness trainer, she bent the rules and made him her executive assistant.
Then, to help him gain credibility for Doyle Bell, she even transferred the sales deals I brought in under his name.
All he had to do was chat and keep Laura company, then somehow, he became the company’s top performer, the so-called “golden boy.”
When Laura got home that night, I was already sitting on the floor in a drunk state and teary-eyed.
She gently knelt and assisted me to get up with a guilty expression. A strong smell of cologne clung to her body.
She got me water, wiped my face delicately, helped me drink water and patted my back gently.
For a moment, it felt like I was back to ten years ago, to the time we were truly in love.
Back then, I had just secured my position in the Bernadi Family’s business and even pulled off a miracle of three consecutive jumps in the stock market.
However, the Savas Family’s finances had collapsed and they were almost bankrupt. Her father was so devastated and ended up in the hospital.
Laura clung to me while sobbing, "Antonio, what am I going to do? What should I do?”
Without hesitation, I resigned and joined the Savas Family's company. I proposed to her and, at her father’s insistence, agreed to marry into the Savas Family.
My father was furious and threatened to sever the father-son relationship as long as I joined the Savas Family and he would never allow me to return to the Bernadi Family.
I did not resute him, since by doing so, I would step legally into the Savas Group and save it.
Back then, I truly believed our twenty-plus years as childhood sweethearts meant something to Laura and I was so sure she must feel the same happiness.
However, looking back … it could be she figured I was the one who took advantage of her while she was down.
For years, I worked myself to the bone for the Savas Group. I was out late every night schmoozing clients and drank so much that I had three bleeding ulcers in a month. My blood pressure and cholesterol were already out of control even though I was still in my thirties.
