From Fake Wife to Final Goodbye

Chad pulled me to my feet. "Come on. I'll take you home."

The whole drive, I kept scrolling through the chat history with Doug, over and over, desperate to find some proof that he hadn't fallen out of love with me.

But the further back I went, the clearer it became. The earlier the messages, the more he loved me.

By the time we reached the villa we had lived in together for eight years, it finally hit me. I answered Chad a beat too late.

"This isn't my home. It wasn't before. It won't be in the future, either."

Chad simply said, "I'm giving you three days to clean up your mess. After that, I'll come back and take you."

The butler came up to me, trying too hard to sound casual. "Ms. Sowle's been kidnapped again. Mr. Graham is already on his way to rescue her."

A laugh slipped out of me before I could stop it. "I know."

The staff all looked at me differently. Some with mockery, some with pity. Everyone could see it for what it was.

Everyone except me, clinging to that last scrap of love, blind to everything else.

The butler handed me a map, his tone firm, leaving no room to refuse.

"Go wipe out the Chandlers' operations on Moonfall Island. Go alone."

My whole body tensed. The Chandlers had been working with the Grahams. Why turn on them all of a sudden?

I took the map back to my room, and only then realized that the files from the jobs I had handled for Doug over the past three months were stacked nearly three feet high.

My body was worse. Old injuries were layered over new ones, one on top of another.

I dug through the pile until I found the marriage certificate I had been holding onto like it was the only thing keeping me standing.

The dark ink used to feel sacred. Now, it just looked like a joke.

I would help him this one last time. Consider it as buying out the last eight years of my life.

It was time to wake up.

I tossed and turned all night. Just as I was finally drifting off, my bedroom door opened.

It was Doug.

My whole body went rigid. His lips brushed down against me, soft and familiar, his breath warm and close.

"Why are you shaking?"

His voice was gentle, as if the impatient and distracted man who was cheating on me a few hours ago didn't exist.

I had always been like this. One moment of tenderness, and I would forget everything else. Until reality came crashing down again.

I pushed Doug away without thinking. "The maid's room is freezing."

He froze for a second, then rushed to explain.

"If I treat you too well, people will get suspicious. I didn't want you getting kidnapped by those people, so I had you stay in the maid's room. We can warm up pretty quick if we just..."

His lips pressed in again, lingering, but the faint scent of Lindsey's perfume clinging to him hit me all at once. I couldn't hold it back and gagged.

I couldn't understand how a man juggling two women could pretend this well.

Doug went pale right away. "Are you pregnant again? We need to check right now!"

The moment he mentioned the baby, it felt like a blade drove straight through my chest all over again.