If I hadn't seen his tenderness for another woman with my own eyes, I might have believed he was just a cold man by nature.
His words echoed in my mind, the memories of the past five years a gut-wrenching roller coaster. I felt like a fool.
I had been so naive, thinking that if I was just devoted enough, one day he would love me back.
The more I thought, the more my heart ached. I collapsed onto a bench in Central Park and sobbed.
I don't know how long I cried. My body trembled, and my voice was too raw to make a sound.
Just then, my phone chimed.
It was a text from Jackson.
"I'll be with Chloe for the next few days. Get the first draft of the design done in three days. She needs it for a competition."
I didn't reply.
The acceptance was a crushing weight. I was unloved.
Suddenly, I felt a faint flutter in my abdomen.
Wiping away my tears, I gently touched my belly. "That's right. I still have you, my baby."
Jackson didn't come home for a week.
But he texted me every day, hounding me about the design.
A week later, he returned.
I'd done a lot of thinking while he was gone.
Perhaps it was time for me to walk away.
But the child...
"You look terrible. Have you even looked in a mirror? You should learn a thing or two from Chloe..."
His words tore my heart to shreds.
The word "pregnant" was a shard of glass I'd swallowed, lodged in my throat.
I stared at him blankly for a few seconds. "Okay."
That night, I went to bed early.
I slowly opened my eyes to the reek of alcohol mixed with a strange perfume on him. The next second, his mouth crashed down on mine. Before I could resist, he had me pinned.
He took from me ravenously, until a sharp pain shot through my body.
"Chloe, Chloe..."
As he slurred her name, he collapsed on top of me and went still.
A single, hot tear slid from the corner of my eye.
And that unfamiliar perfume on him was so piercing.
I felt filthy.
The thought was nauseating: I was sharing my husband with another woman.
I scrambled out of bed and into the bathroom, letting the scalding spray wash away every trace of his touch.
My mind was chaos. I had to get out. Now.
