“Clara, what are you doing?!” Gwen screamed, trying to pry the woman’s grip from her hair. Her head ached as if her scalp were being torn from her skull.
The maids who had once respected her now helped Clara and held her down, letting her take every blow Clara landed.
“I saw you last night! You were seducing my husband in this very room, weren’t you? You took advantage of my kindness in letting you stay here and crawled into his bed!” Clara screamed hysterically, mercilessly striking Gwen’s face. “I gave you clothes, gave you and your child a place to live, and you repay me by stealing my man?”
Darius rushed in after hearing the commotion. Seeing the scene, he froze. Instead of defending his wife, he panicked at the sight of Clara, who had begun to sob while clutching her stomach.
“Clara! Calm down!” Darius immediately embraced Clara without glancing at Gwen, who was sitting on the floor with a bruised and injured face.
“Kick her out, Darius! She’s defiling our marriage!” Clara burst into tears.
Gwen stood up, her body trembling and in pain, “This is my home… I won’t leave. She’s the one who should leave—”
“Gwen!” Darius snapped, cutting her off with the coldest stare Gwen had ever seen. “Get out of here! Now!”
“Darius… are you serious?”
Darius snapped in overflowing impatience. “Just leave, okay? Before I actually drag you out!”
Gwen froze, her eyes burning until tears streamed down her face.
Why was she the one who had to leave her own home like a mistress caught cheating?
Seeing that Gwen wouldn’t budge, Darius ordered the maids to drag her out. She was roughly shoved out the front door. Her belongings were thrown onto the ground.
Not only her, but her daughter, who was still running a fever, was woken from her bed and forced out.
Laina cried, her face flushed from the rising fever, and was handed over to her.
Gwen’s heart trembled with anger and pain as she hugged her daughter tightly. A maid stood before her to announce Darius’s orders.
“Mrs. Gwen, Mr. Reeds says you must find temporary lodging. He will contact you again once Mrs. Clara’s condition stabilizes. You are not permitted to return to this house.”
Yet this was the home she had built with Darius from the very beginning of their marriage.
But now, her husband had kicked her and her daughter out for the sake of another woman.
Gwen bit her lower lip so hard it bled. Only Laina’s crying kept her from exploding and running inside to fight with Darius to defend her place in her own home.
She would only lose against Darius and end up hurting herself and her daughter if she stayed in that house.
Gwen had given up on her marriage. She was tired of pretending to satisfy her husband’s desire for redemption—a desire that only hurt her and her daughter. All she wanted now was a divorce and full custody of her daughter.
“I understand, I’ll leave and won’t show my face in this house again,” she said sarcastically to the maid, gazing at the house one last time before turning to leave with Laina in her arms.
Gwen finally found a temporary place to stay in a rented house.
Seeing her daughter, who was so vulnerable and running a high fever, constantly muttering “Daddy” was heartbreaking for Gwen to witness.
She paused for a moment before finally picking up her phone and calling an agency that helped her create a new identity.
“Hello, Mr. Smith, this is Gweneth Romano. I need help getting a fake ID and a plane ticket.”
[“Alright, Ms. Romano, I’ll get everything you need ready. We’ll call you back once everything is set.”]
“Thank you so much.”
Gwen ended the call.
Her eyes closed as memories from years ago flooded her mind. She was sobbing uncontrollably—pregnant hormones making her emotional—while watching a drama about infidelity. Darius sat beside her, massaging Gwen’s swollen feet on his lap. He sighed and handed her a tissue.
“What a heartless man!”
“Honey, stop crying. It’s just a drama.”
Influenced by the movie, Gwen asked a question. “If you ever betray me, I’ll leave you forever and take our child with me. You’ll never see us again.”
Darius chuckled, kissing her stomach. “How could I let you two go? I’m the last person who would ever betray you. And even if that happened, I’d kneel before you and beg you to come back. Even if you disappeared, I’d chase after you to the ends of the earth. Because you and Laina are my world. I can’t breathe without you.”
Gwen sneered softly, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes.
Darius, I want to see if you’ll truly regret it if Laina and I disappear from your life.
Gwen wearily climbed into bed and hugged her daughter. “Sweetheart, you’re all I have now.”
Laina shifted in her arms, her tiny hands wrapping around Gwen’s neck as she patted her mother’s back as if she understood. Her small gesture tugged at Gwen’s heart. She hid her tears in the pillow as she hugged her daughter tightly.
A few days later, Gwen sent her resignation letter to the university.
Darius hadn’t contacted her at all since the expulsion.
After Laina had fully recovered from her high fever, Gwen took her daughter to the city park to lift her spirits after the little girl realized they weren’t in a home that felt familiar to her.
Laina was wearing her favorite white dress. Around her neck was a silver necklace with an angel wing pendant—a birthday gift from Darius a year ago. The necklace was a custom piece that Darius had designed himself as a symbol of his love, long before that nonsense turned his best friend into a husband and father to another family.
“Mom, look! Laina can climb up by herself!” the little girl shouted as she scaled the slide with a laugh that hadn’t been heard in a long time.
Gwen smiled slightly as she waved at her daughter, while her other hand held her phone, reading a message notification from her lawyer.
[Ms. Romano, your lawsuit is being processed. You are expected to wait for a one-month grace period.]
She was about to end the call when she noticed a black car she recognized well. The car stopped abruptly, screeching its tires near the park entrance, drawing her attention away from her phone.
Clara got out of the car. Her face was deathly pale, her eyes red and wild, as if she had just woken up from a nightmare.
“So this is where you’ve been hiding?” Clara stepped closer, ignoring the questioning stares from the people around the park. “Darius said you’d left town, but it turns out you’re still here, plotting something with this bastard!”
Gwen immediately stood in front of the slide, shielding Laina. “Clara, please stop this. We’re in a public place. Don’t drag a little girl into your delusions!”
Clara’s eyes were fixed on Laina’s neck. The silver glint from the pendant triggered an explosion in her head. “That necklace… It’s the same design as the ring my husband prepared for our baby! Did you steal it? Or did you seduce my husband into giving it to you?”
“I didn’t steal anything from you,” Gwen hissed sharply. “This necklace was given to me by Laina’s father—”
“She’s a thief! This bastard child has no right to wear my baby’s necklace!” Clara’s scream broke into hysteria. She lunged forward, shoving Gwen aside with unexpected strength for a pregnant woman.
