When I got home, I came face to face with Stanley. There was a softness in his voice.
"Cindy, don't take the talk online to heart. It's only temporary."
"Did you watch the video?" I cut straight to it.
His eyes flickered. He tried to change the subject. "Stop going after Sam from now on. She's a new artist my company signed. She's going to make me a fortune. Once she's earning, I can buy you anything you like."
"I asked you a question. The video I sent you, did you watch it?" My face was blank as I pressed him.
I already knew the answer in my heart, but I still wanted to hear him admit it with his own mouth.
"No." Stanley let out a helpless sigh. "It's already happened. There's no undoing it. Why do you have to keep clinging to it?"
By the end, a thread of resentment had crept into his voice.
My throat went bitter, as if a wad of wet cotton were jammed tight against it, and I couldn't force out a single sound.
In that moment my heart cramped with pain, and it felt like all the blood in my body had frozen solid.
Seeing me say nothing, Stanley assumed I'd taken it in. Relieved, he said, "There. Go apologize to Sam, and this whole thing blows over."
I dodged the hand he reached toward me and bit back my temper as I demanded, "Why was the villa's keypad code changed? Why won't you admit Sammy was your son? Why would you rather believe a stranger than believe me?"
"Stanley, we've known each other eight years. Don't you understand me at all by now?"
He met my questions with a flat gaze, his brow knitting faintly. "Cindy, stop making a scene."
"I don't know where you got these absurd conclusions, but you are not to touch Sam. Understand?"
"Stanley, can you live with yourself? I kept our marriage a secret for you, I went through everything to bring our child into the world for you, for you I—"
I hadn't finished when Stanley cut me off, his voice low. "Did I tell you to do any of that?"
His tone turned glacial. "Wasn't all of it your own choice? Did I force you to have the child? Did I force you to spend your life with me?"
"Cindy, don't act like I owe you something. Sam came into my life when I needed her most, and that was the moment I realized who it was I really loved. But I still have a conscience. I didn't divorce you."
"You should count yourself lucky, Cindy. Don't keep testing my patience. Be good and go apologize to Sam. Otherwise... I can't promise where your son's ashes might end up scattered."
It was as though a pair of merciless hands had torn my heart wide open. The violent pain left me unable to come back to myself for the longest time.
I didn't even notice when Stanley left.
By the time I came around, my body had gone numb, my limbs cold to the point that I couldn't move.
For Samantha, Stanley could actually stoop this low.
I gave a bitter, mocking laugh inside.
There was a time when some fool with no sense tried to harass me, and Stanley threw himself into a fight without a word. Afterward he pulled strings and had the man locked up.
I remembered how, covered in bruises, he'd said, "You're mine. No one gets to touch you. Now that you're with me, I will never let you be wronged."
But every bit of bitterness and grief I carried now had come from Stanley himself.
For the sake of Sammy's ashes, I still chose to go to the hospital. Before that, I took a shower and changed into clean clothes.
When I arrived, I took the VIP entrance and didn't run into anyone irrational.
The moment I pushed the door open, I saw Stanley feeding Samantha rabbit-shaped apple slices with his own hand.
My expression froze for a beat. Then, after a moment, I let it go.
So Stanley's tenderness could be handed to anyone, anytime.
His love really was cheap.
