Chapter 2

Katrina's and my lavish wedding had been the event of the year. The media had called us the city's golden couple.

But despite how deeply we'd once loved each other, I discovered she was seeing someone else only a month into our marriage.

The night she had stayed out until dawn, she had someone lock me inside our bedroom.

She'd only called me to deliver a cold warning. "Felix, I love you, but I hope you'll be sensible. Don't let that ridiculous little thing called love ruin the family we have now. When I've had enough fun, I'll naturally come back to you."

...

Sitting there freezing from head to toe, I found it all so very absurd.

I said, "Let's get a divorce, Katrina. If you refuse to divorce me, there'll be a second and many more times like this episode. The moment you walk out that door, I'll find another woman."

Our marriage had already fallen apart beyond repair. I didn't want to waste another second trying to hold it together.

She grabbed me by the throat in a fit of rage. My vision began to darken. Only after I stopped struggling did she finally let go.

She watched me cough and gasp for breath, then laughed in fury. "Fine, Felix. If you don't know how to appreciate what you have, I'll give you what you want."

Ten minutes later, her assistant, Mandy Foster, walked in with a divorce agreement.

Katrina threw it down right in front of me. "Go ahead and sign it if you have the guts! Didn't you say you wanted a divorce?"

The terms were brutally one-sided. I would be walking away with practically nothing. Katrina didn't even look at me before turning and leaving. She was certain that I wouldn't sign.

I didn't even bother reading the terms. Without hesitation, I grabbed the pen and signed my name at the bottom. I handed the signed agreement to the flustered Mandy. For the first time in years, I felt completely at ease.

Mandy looked troubled as she tried to talk me out of divorce. "Mr. Jaeger, why are you letting your anger get the better of you? Ms. Salt still loves you. Just now, she even told me to bring you some clean clothes while she was downstairs..."

I waved her off.

My body was still freezing, and I couldn't stop shivering. But for the first time, I felt free.

I could have endured the vicious cycle of tolerating Katrina's endless affairs and making up with her afterward for the rest of my life. But of all the things she could have done, she should never have slept with Eason.

When I was 16, Eason's mother had seduced my father. I'd never forgotten how the gentle, refined man I'd once known had started beating my mother nearly half to death every day just to force her into a divorce.

After more than a decade together, my parents had suddenly become enemies who could no longer stand the sight of each other.

From the very first day Eason transferred to our high school, he turned all our classmates against me. He scribbled all over my books, and then acted innocent whenever the teachers were around. Behind their backs, he did countless other things to me.

He had been the nightmare that haunted my entire adolescence.

I'd told Katrina about those years, about what it had been like to live as if I were trapped in hell. She had held me close, kissing my eyes again and again as she swore she would get revenge for me.

She had promised, "Felix, I'll make sure you see Eason kneel in front of you and beg for mercy one day."

Ironically, my worst nightmare became one of her many lovers lying beside her at night. As if that was not bad enough, she had even planned to throw Eason a lavish wedding celebration on my birthday.

This was all so she could force me to back down and surrender. She wanted to make me understand that she was the only person I could ever depend on. The thrill she got from controlling me seemed to matter more to her than any love she'd ever claimed to feel for me.

I hadn't even had time to go home and change out of my clothes that were soaked from the ice water when my neighbor, Pamela Zahn, called me.

"Felix, please come quick! Something happened to your mother!"

I felt the world spin instantly.

By the time I reached the hospital, Mom had already been rushed into the emergency room. Pamela grabbed my arm. Wiping away tears, she told me what had happened.

That afternoon, a group of vicious-looking men had barged into my home. When she finally worked up the courage to open her door and check on us, she found my front door wide open and Mom lying unconscious on the floor.

My heart sank to my stomach as a chill shot from the soles of my feet straight to the top of my head.

It had to be Eason. Besides him, I couldn't think of anyone else doing such a thing.

The emergency room doors suddenly opened, and an exhausted doctor walked out.