The vow still burned in my ears.
The man standing before me was a stranger now.
All at once, I felt bone-tired.
I remembered how I'd cried and begged my father, who'd been dead set against this marriage, to give me one chance to prove Zane Swanson was worth it.
To prove he wasn't some good-for-nothing pauper, that he'd never love me and leave me the way my father warned he would.
In the end, the only thing I proved was my own stupidity.
Maybe a small, stubborn part of me still couldn't let it go.
So I made myself ask. "She gave you seven years, so you owe her. And what about the twelve years I gave you, fighting for everything you have?"
Zane crossed his arms and let out a contemptuous snort.
"That was your choice. Nobody forced you."
I couldn't hold it back anymore. I bolted into the bathroom and retched until there was nothing left.
Zane panicked and reached for me on instinct.
His broad palm spread across my back, pulling me into his chest.
"Is it your stomach acting up again?"
Back when I'd helped him chase deals to build his company, I'd downed bottle after bottle of liquor and wrecked my stomach for good.
For years afterward, the sudden cramps would twist through me until death seemed kinder than living.
The smell of antiseptic in the hospital, and the sight of Zane's back as he rushed to take a number in line.
In that hazy moment, it all blurred together with a memory from twelve years ago.
Back then he didn't even own a car. He'd carried me on his back, running three blocks in the dead of night.
My hand drifted to the swell of my belly without thinking.
If the father of this little one knew he existed...
But in the next second, someone shoved me hard from behind.
My whole body slammed into the cold, hard wall, and the pain shot through me as if every bone had shattered.
Cara stood in front of me, tears welling, fury and grievance pouring out of her voice.
"You knew we were married, so why are you still throwing yourself at my husband?"
The words dropped, and in an instant every pair of eyes in the room swung toward me.
The whispers came at me thick and fast, hammering from all sides.
"Look at her, all sweet and innocent, and she knows she's the other woman. Shameless!"
"They've already signed the papers and she's still clinging on. She'd better watch out, or karma will leave her babies bald as eggs!"
The pain left me weak all over, and my back slid down the icy wall.
People came and went around me, but not one of them reached out to help.
Every last one of them saw me as the homewrecker tearing apart someone else's marriage.
A flicker of triumph crossed Cara's eyes, and she raised her hand to strike my face.
Forcing down the pain ripping through me, I caught her wrist.
My eyes had gone cold as ice.
"Whether I'm the other woman, you know perfectly well in your heart!"
Cara flinched on instinct, a trace of unease passing over her face.
Then, in the very next breath, the tears poured down. She clutched her belly and cringed back, her face a mask of terror.
The picture-perfect victim, beaten down by my cruelty.
"Let me go, don't hurt my baby, my stomach hurts so much..."
Zane had just finished getting his number in line, and he came tearing over almost at a sprint.
One look at the scene before him, and without a single word, he drew his arm back wide.
A sharp, ringing slap cracked across my face.
He hit me hard. My head snapped sideways, half my cheek instantly swelling, raw and stinging, my ear ringing in a long, dull buzz.
My whole body staggered and crumpled to the freezing floor.
I lifted my eyes to Zane, unable to believe it.
He stared at the angry red mark blazing on my face, his fingertips trembling faintly, something like panic flashing through his eyes for a heartbeat.
But only for a heartbeat. Then he wrapped himself tight around the tear-streaked Cara, shielding her like some precious, fragile jewel.
He turned back to me, grinding the words out through clenched teeth.
"Crystal Donaldson, when did you turn this vicious?"
