DIVORCE: HIS BIGGEST REGRET
When Patrick Banks discovers his wife, Valerie's, alleged infidelity with her co-star, he ends their marriage in an instant.
Valerie's desperate attempts to clear her name only led to a devastating revelation that made her give up on her marriage.
Years later, fate brings them face to face. Will they be able to forget, forgive, and rebuild, or will the wounds of betrayal prove too deep to heal?
Chapters
Share
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Valerie Will
~•~
I didn't have time to respond to Patrick's text, but throughout my time on set, my mind kept drifting back to what he had said to me.
Apparently, he was giving me the silent treatment because I had done something. But I had no idea what I had done recently that would make him behave differently towards me.
Why didn't he just communicate with me instead of shutting me out? I looked forward to the end of the day because I wanted to go back home and talk to him in person.
That was if he would even be at the house.
He had been staying away from the house recently, just to avoid me. I was wondering what the reason was, but now I understand everything.
But I was still lost about what I had done.
"You keep forgetting your lines, you have to keep your head in the game," Jamal whispered to me after we had tried shooting a scene for the third time.
He was right. I was being distracted.
The next few hours were hectic, I tried my best to stay focused until the end of the day. By the time we were done, I let out a relieved sigh.
"Are you ready to talk about it?" Jamal asked as he walked me to my car. "Something is bothering you, and you need to let it out."
I sighed, leaning my back against the car door. "I'm having trouble in my marriage. Patrick is upset at me because I did something, but he wouldn't talk to me about it."
Jamal raised a concerned brow at me. "What did you do?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "He didn't say anything yet. I can't remember doing anything, but I'm about to find out." The thought of everything made me a little bit nervous.
Jamal let out a wistful sigh. "Everything will be okay. Just talk to him." He pulled me into a warm hug before heading back to his car.
Just as I drove out to the streets, my phone started ringing. My expression soured at the sight of her name on the screen.
Why was my sister calling me?
We weren't exactly best friends, and most of our conversations often ended in disagreements.
Jessica wasn't my biggest fan, and she made it clear to me. I had no choice but to keep her in my life because she was the only sibling I had.
Our parents had always encouraged me to be a bigger person and tolerate her even though she was very annoying most of the time.
I hesitated for a while, wondering what she wanted this time. I already had a lot going on, and I wasn't prepared for her drama.
I decided to ignore the call and reach out to her later, but she was persistent. She didn't stop calling. Letting out a deep sigh, I answered the phone and put it on speaker.
"I'm driving. I was going to call you back." I explained before she got the chance to say anything. "Why are you blowing up my phone?" I asked with a hint of curiosity in my voice.
"I just wanted to check up on you."
That was clearly a lie.
"Okay, if you say so." I didn't want to press further and ask her about her true intentions. "Thank you for checking up on me. I'm doing well."
There was a brief silence, and for a second, I thought the line had disconnected. Suddenly, Jessica cleared her throat and continued.
"Are you sure that everything is okay?"
"What?" I asked, taken aback by her question. "Why are you asking me weird questions? Isn't everything meant to be okay?"
She responded with an awkward laugh. "I'm sorry." She tendered a lame apology. "I actually called you to help me do something."
My interest was piqued. "And what is that?"
Jessica exhaled sharply. "I've been thinking about a business plan, and I wanted you to help me set up a meeting with your husband. I want him to be an investor."
"You know you could have reached out to him and asked for a meeting by yourself."
"I know, but I just want you to do it. I mean, he loves you and would agree faster if you ask him on my behalf." Jessica replied.
I held back a scoff and decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.
"Fine, I'll talk to him."
Without giving her a chance to respond, I ended the call and focused on driving back to the house. Jessica was sneaky, and I didn't trust her.
But I didn't mind talking to Patrick about her business deal. Maybe she would finally have something for herself and stop being bankrolled by our parents.
Soon enough, I arrived at the house.
Patrick's car was parked in the garage, so I figured he was already at the house. I took a deep breath as I stepped out of the car and made my way into the house.
"I made dinner already, should I set the table?" The maid asked as I was about to climb the stairs.
I nodded. "Sure, I'll be having dinner with my husband."
We hadn't had dinner together in almost a week. But this time around, we would eat and talk about everything, even if I had to force it.
We needed to address our problems and stop living like we were strangers. I was tired of the silence and needed an explanation.
As I got upstairs to our room, I saw Patrick sitting in front of the desk. He didn't even turn around to look at me or acknowledge my presence.
I clenched my jaw in frustration. "Patrick Banks! I'm tired of living like this. You have to tell me what is going on right now. What did I do?" I asked, breathing heavily.
He turned around to look at me, his eyes filled with disappointment. "There's no point in talking to you about it. Let's get a divorce."
Before I could say anything, he opened the drawer and brought out a brown envelope.
My eyes grew wide in shock as I realized that he already had the divorce papers prepared without my consent. How did we get to this point?
You may also like
8.0
Elena never planned on marrying a stranger, especially not someone engaged to her sister. But when her sister disappears days before the wedding, Elena is forced into an arrangement she never agreed to, with a man she knew nothing about.
Nathaniel Sinclair, billionaire heir with his dreamy looks and charming attitude is just as unenthusiastic about the situation as she is. Their marriage begins with distance, awkward silences and the quiet understanding that neither of them asked for this.
But as days turn into weeks and forced proximity becomes a regular thing, Elena starts to wonder: what happens when two people trapped in an arrangement begin to fall for each other?
It was never meant to be love. But love has a way of rewriting the rules.
7.3
A Collection of hot, short, romantic & Erotic Stories
Warning: This book contains mature content (18+ only) - graphic sexual scenes, explicit language, steamy kinks, and themes that will leave you breathless and craving more. Not suitable for minors. Read at your own risk.
Dive into a scorching anthology that awakens your deepest, most forbidden desires. From possessive CEOs claiming what's theirs, to intense contemporary encounters dripping with seduction, each short story delivers raw passion, explicit heat, and unapologetic sensuality.
Click the "Read" button if you dare!😈
8.1
One wardrobe malfunction.
Two people who don't belong together.
Three awful "Be my wife."
Everyone else is at this party to marry the host.
I'm only here until I can get a ride home.
When my dress rips in the world's worst-timed wardrobe malfunction,
I go find somewhere quiet to fix it.
So I'm standing there in nothing but my heels when,
As my luck would have it, the door opens...
And the man of the hour walks in.
I wish I could say I played it cool.
But it's been a looong time since anyone has seen me in my birthday suit...
Much less the hottest man I've ever laid eyes on.
All I want to do is fix my dress, click my heels three times, and be back on my couch in fuzzy slippers.
But Ivan has other ideas.
He's decided who he's taking to the altar...
And I don't have a choice but to say "I do."
9.7
My Chanel suit was ruined, stained with road dirt and torn at the sleeve, while the hospital bodyguards stood like stone walls to keep me away from my husband’s room.
Inside that room, Ashely Berger was being treated for "multiple fractures" after allegedly lunging into the path of my car—a car I know she threw herself into on purpose.
The press swarmed me, flashing cameras in my face and hurling accusations of attempted murder, while my husband, Corbin, marched past me without a single glance, his eyes filled with nothing but cold, lethal disgust.
He didn't ask if I was hurt; he didn't care about the truth. He only cared about the woman behind the door, whispering gentle promises to her while treating me like a piece of filth that had somehow contaminated his life.
I stood there, hollowed out, as he demanded a divorce and threatened to strip me of everything, branding me a monster in front of the entire world to protect his precious reputation and his mistress.
The injustice burned, but as he turned his back on me to comfort her, I realized the game had changed. I wasn't going to let him ruin me for a crime I didn't commit, and I certainly wouldn't let her steal my life without a fight.
I walked into the room, locked the door, and looked at the woman playing the victim. She wanted to play the role of the tragic, broken angel? Fine. I was ready to show her exactly how a real Mcgowan fights back.
7.5
I run my family's political dynasty with an iron fist. From my father’s Senate votes to my own calculated engagement, every move is mine to control.
Then, in a single evening, my ambitious stepmother made her play. She used our housekeeper as a spy and orchestrated a scandal involving my fiancé and stepsister, designed to shatter my reputation and power.
They thought they could break me. Within twelve hours, the spy was dead on the marble floor of my foyer. My fiancé’s family was blackmailed into silence. My stepsister was exiled to a Swiss boarding school, and I stripped my own father of his authority for his weakness.
As for my stepmother, Bronte, I had her declared mentally unstable and forcibly taken to a remote facility in Montana, completely cut off from the world.
Everyone saw a cold-hearted coup, but they didn't know the secret I held. I had proof that Bronte had systematically orchestrated my brother’s death years ago, all to position her own son to inherit everything. This wasn't about power; it was vengeance.
But winning the war at home has put me on a much deadlier board. Now, I'm preparing for a dinner with Eldridge Marsh—the most dangerous man in Washington—who wants to decide if I'm a player he can use, or a threat he needs to destroy.
7.7
Rory stood on the witness stand, forced by her father into an impossible choice: secure her dying mother's medical funding, or save her innocent boyfriend.
She looked Corbin right in his trusting eyes and lied to the court, testifying that he was the one driving the car during the fatal hit-and-run, sending him to a maximum-security prison for ten years.
The betrayal destroyed him. Corbin's father died of a heart attack upon hearing the guilty verdict. Six years later, Corbin returned as a ruthless billionaire and systematically blacklisted Rory from every job in the city. He cornered her into singing at his private club, humiliating her by forcing her to drink scotch—knowing she was severely allergic—and making her throw away his promise ring just to earn a stack of cash.
"Remember this moment. This is only the beginning."
She endured his cruel revenge because she was hiding a desperate secret: she was raising his five-year-old daughter, Willa. But when Willa's congenital heart defect suddenly worsened, requiring an impossible one-million-dollar surgery, Rory realized Corbin's calculated blockade had left her completely trapped with no way to save their child.
Staring at the sterile hospital walls, the last shred of her guilt burned away, replaced by a cold, hard resolve. He had destroyed her career and backed her into a corner, but he was the only one with the money. Wiping her tears, Rory turned and headed straight for Vance Tower.