Pain kept stabbing through my chest, again and again. It hurt so much it felt like I was trapped in an endless hell.
When I opened my eyes, I was in the hospital, with a cold IV needle in my hand. My mother-in-law sat by my bed, tears streaming down her face.
“My poor child, I’m so sorry. You’ve suffered too much. Don’t worry, I’ll stand up for you. I’ll deal with that woman myself.”
For three years, I had taken care of her, staying by her side until she recovered. During those years, we had grown as close as real mother and daughter.
My nose stung and tears threatened to fall, but I forced a calm smile as I told her, “Since he has found his true love, I’ll just let him go.”
She grew anxious but quickly tried to comfort me. “You silly girl. Even if my son broke your heart, you still need to chase after his money and status.”
“I’ll take care of that shameless woman myself. Let’s see if she can still act so arrogant after I’m done with her!”
Before I could say anything, she stormed out in anger.
That afternoon, she sent me a video. In it, she had slapped Milena Sanders hard until her cheeks were swollen, warning her to stay away from Javier.
Just as I finished watching it, Javier burst into my hospital room with Milena right behind him, ready to confront me. Milena’s eyes were red, but her tone was cold as she challenged him.
“I’ll see how you handle this. You promised to stand up for me. Prove it.”
Javier turned furious. He grabbed me by the neck and shouted, “You think you can use my mom to control me? Saina, are you trying to mess with our marriage certificate now?”
I was too weak to fight back. I could only stare at him through my tears, wondering how this man had turned into this stranger I no longer knew.
Even if I told him I had nothing to do with what happened, he would never believe me.
Grinding his teeth, he ordered, “Slap yourself. Keep doing it until Milena is satisfied. That’ll be your apology.”
I used the last of my strength to slap him instead. “You love her, don’t you? Then she can have your precious ‘Mrs. Gayle’ title!”
For a moment, Javier froze, shocked by my words. Then his anger exploded.
He threatened, “If you don’t slap yourself. I’ll destroy your reputation completely!”
He pulled out his phone. On the screen was the picture of me surrounded by adult toys in that humiliating scene.
For any woman, that kind of shame was unbearable.
To defend his mistress, he didn’t just destroy my dignity. He also ruined his own.
Milena looked at him and said coldly, “I already posted it online. If you can’t bear to leave her, then don’t bother coming to me again.”
She then stormed off, leaving in fake anger. And just as she expected, Javier quickly ran out after her.
Within half an hour, people were whispering outside my hospital room.
“She’s that woman? Wow, who would’ve thought? She must have a crazy sex drive, buying all that stuff.”
“Tsk, tsk. Guess Javier couldn’t satisfy her. What a shameless woman.”
“She’s probably in the hospital because she overdid it. I bet she couldn’t even control herself anymore. What a disgrace to the Gayle Family.”
Online, it was even worse. People insulted me and urged Javier to divorce me.
An hour later, he came back, holding divorce papers. There was no anger in his face this time. He even leaned close to my forehead, his voice soft and gentle. “I'm sorry. I lost my temper earlier.”
“Milena just has a bad temper and likes to take control in our relationship. You’re more understanding than she is, so please just let her win this time. You both mean the same to me.”
“She’s hard to calm down. Let’s just get a divorce for now, okay? Once she feels better, we’ll get married again. Please?”
His eyes turned red as he pleaded, perhaps afraid I wouldn’t say yes.
