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I Paid the Man Who Crippled My Husband
I Paid the Man Who Crippled My Husband
作者: Feather South

Chapter 1

作者: Feather South
"She's lost it! This woman's completely lost it!"

Everyone stared at me like I had lost my mind.

"What did she just say? She gave the wedding money to the driver who hit her fiance? Did the shock scramble her brain?"

"Who does something like that? Henry must have the worst luck alive. He lost his leg saving someone, and his fiancee handed the money to the person who caused the accident!"

Dad rushed onto the stage and slapped me across the face. The sharp crack echoed through the entire room.

My head snapped to the side, my cheek burning as the taste of blood spread across my tongue.

"You ungrateful wench! Have you lost your mind? What nonsense are you talking about?"

He pointed straight at me, his body shaking with anger.

Mom ran up and grabbed my arm, shaking me hard. "Winona, what's wrong with you? Did you hit your head or something? Apologize right now! Apologize to everyone, and to Henry's parents!"

As she spoke, she kept throwing frantic glances toward the Zanders in the audience, forcing an obsequious smile onto her face.

"Winona, don't forget. The baby you're carrying is a member of the Zander family! What are you going to do about the baby if you keep this up?"

To smooth things over, Mom blurted out my pregnancy in front of everyone without hesitation.

The crowd erupted once more.

"What? She's pregnant?"

"She's pregnant, so how could she treat her husband like this? Does she not have a conscience?"

"My God, what did the Zanders ever do to deserve this?"

My mother-in-law, Helen Basette, stopped crying and shouted at me, "Winona, I'm begging you! Even if you don't care about yourself, think about my grandson! You can't be this selfish!"

As soon as she finished, Henry's aunt, uncle, and the rest of his family all stood up, pointing fingers at me.

"Winona, you've completely let us down!"

"Henry's in the hospital, and instead of comforting him, you're making a scene!"

"Exactly! Take it back and go to the hospital to take care of him. Otherwise, we won't let this go!"

I ignored them. Instead, I raised the microphone and delivered my final words.

"Don't worry. I already scheduled an appointment with the OB-GYN first thing tomorrow morning. This baby isn't coming into this world. I'll make sure of that myself."
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  • I Paid the Man Who Crippled My Husband   Chapter 8

    I left that suffocating city behind.I sold the house I had owned before the marriage and refused the money my parents tried to give me out of guilt.I wanted a clean break from everything that had come before.With the savings I had built up over the years, I headed south and eventually settled in a small and cozy coastal town.I used part of the money to buy a house not far from the ocean, with a yard that was just the right size.Life gradually settled into a simple routine.I was no longer the Winona who poured everything she had into work and love. Instead, I started learning how to live for myself.I signed up for surfing lessons. Although I was knocked down over and over again in the beginning, I eventually learned how to stay on the board and ride the waves.The saltwater washed over me, and with it, it felt like the old wounds I had carried for so long were finally being worn away.I adopted an orange cat from a shelter and named him Mustard. That little one always ha

  • I Paid the Man Who Crippled My Husband   Chapter 7

    The entire incident had been livestreamed from beginning to end. By then, public opinion online had completely spiraled."Oh my God!""What did I just hear? Surrogacy? He was setting her up to get pregnant and then taking the baby?""This is insane. I've never heard anything this twisted in my life. How could a person be capable of doing something like that?""I take back everything I said. Winona, I'm sorry. I owe you an apology.""Now I get why she said what she did at the wedding. If I were in her shoes, I would've lost it way worse.""Ending that pregnancy was absolutely the right call. Carrying that monster's child to term would've been the real tragedy."The same people who had been flooding my social media with insults earlier were now frantically deleting their comments.My inbox, which had been filled with messages telling me to die, was suddenly overwhelmed with nothing but apologies.At the same time, Henry's profile, along with the mayor's official account that had

  • I Paid the Man Who Crippled My Husband   Chapter 6

    "Ms. Burke, I found what you were asking for," the investigator said."Read it," I said.The entire room went quiet as everyone listened with bated breath."Henry signed an agreement with a foreign healthcare consulting firm three and a half months ago. It was… a surrogacy contract."The moment the word "surrogacy" was uttered, gasps rippled through the crowd.If the earlier revelations of cheating and attempted murder had already shaken them, this crossed a line no one was prepared for.Henry's body stiffened, and the last bit of color drained from his face."The contract required Henry to provide a suitable candidate. Female, between 25 and 28 years old, at least 5 feet 4 inches tall, and a graduate of a top-tier university…"Henry's face turned a shade paler with every condition the private investigator revealed."The contract specified that the pregnancy must occur naturally, without the candidate's knowledge. Once the pregnancy was confirmed, the client would pay an advan

  • I Paid the Man Who Crippled My Husband   Chapter 5

    No one answered. The cameras moved frantically between Henry, Yvonne, and me."That's not true. That's not what it looks like!" Yvonne was the first to react, shaking her head as tears streamed down her face. "It's not like that. H-Henry and I are just friends!""Friends?" I let out a humorless laugh and lifted my phone again, pressing play.On the day of the wedding, Henry and Yvonne were in my car, lost in their own world. The sound of their tryst echoed throughout the room.When the audio ended, Helen's face had gone completely pale.Henry was shaking all over, his finger raised toward me, but no words came out."Everyone, this is the man you've been calling a hero," I said."No, that's not it!" Henry yelled. "I admit I made a mistake by getting involved with Yvonne. I betrayed Winona, but that has nothing to do with me saving someone!"Whispers began to ripple through the crowd."Look, he's a man. Mistakes happen, but the fact that he saved someone is real, isn't it?""

  • I Paid the Man Who Crippled My Husband   Chapter 4

    On the day of the awards ceremony, Henry sat in a wheelchair with a Medal of Honor pinned to his chest. The 50,000-dollar award from the mayor was resting in his hand.Yvonne Taylor stood behind him as a friend, her eyes red-rimmed.A reporter stepped forward and held a microphone out to him. Henry gave a weak smile toward the camera."Thank you. I appreciate everyone's concern. Honestly, I don't think I did anything extraordinary. I didn't even have time to think. I just reacted. I believe anyone with a conscience would've done the same thing in that moment."He spoke with calm conviction, and right on cue, Yvonne lifted a tissue and dabbed at the corner of her eye, looking too emotional to speak.The reporter instantly pressed, "Then what would you like to say about your fiancee, Ms. Winona Burke, and everything that happened at the wedding, as well as the public response since then?"Henry's smile faltered. He went quiet for a few seconds, and when he finally looked up again,

  • I Paid the Man Who Crippled My Husband   Chapter 3

    I went to the OB-GYN first and handed my appointment form to the nurse.I completed the registration, paid, and finished all the paperwork before sitting down on a cold bench in the hallway to wait for my name to be called.The doctor looked over my test results and frowned. "You're young and healthy. This is your first pregnancy. Are you sure about this? Have you talked it over with your family?"I looked at her and answered calmly, "We did. The father's dead."That was the truth. At least to me, Henry was already dead.By the time I came out of the operating room, my legs felt weak and unsteady, and a dull ache pulsed through my lower abdomen.I braced a hand against the wall and slowly made my way down the hall as I went by myself to the ICU viewing window.Inside lay the girl Henry had saved, Ariana Larson. Tubes covered her body, and her life hung by a thread. Her parents stood outside the room, their faces clouded with sorrow.I had barely stopped walking when Henry's par

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