Share

Chapter 5

Author: Clear Spring
The anesthesia hadn't fully worn off when Mom's call came through.

"Where have you run off to? Giselle was just discharged from the hospital. Everyone's waiting for you at your home."

She didn't ask how I was feeling. She only warned me not to disappear again and make Giselle feel guilty.

My passport and important documents were all at the house. Bracing myself against the cold hospital wall, I slowly made my way outside.

When I got home, my abdomen was still cramping.

Hector was sitting beside Giselle, while my parents fussed over her.

Duncan glanced at me with undisguised disgust. "Finally showing up, huh? You made the entire family wait around for you. You really think you're something special, don't you?"

No one noticed how pale I was. No one asked why I smelled of disinfectant.

Hector gestured for me to sit down, as though he were about to announce some great act of generosity.

"I've made my decision. We'll stay married, and we'll keep the baby. You get to continue being Mrs. Greene, but I refuse to live apart from Giselle."

Mom immediately agreed. "This is the best arrangement. Once the baby is born, Giselle can move in to help take care of you."

Dad told me to be more gracious and understanding.

"Don't use your pregnancy as an excuse to push your luck," Duncan added with a scoff. "Giselle has given up more than enough things for you. It's time you return at least half of Hector to her."

Hector didn't object to what Duncan said.

Giselle approached me with red-rimmed eyes and gently placed her hand on my lower abdomen. Her hands were as warm as ever.

When we were children, those same hands had wiped away my tears. Now, resting on the place where nothing remained, she softly tried to comfort me by saying, "The baby is innocent. Even if you end up hating me, I'll still love the baby and consider it my own."

My abdomen throbbed as though the wound had been torn open all over again, but I got the urge to laugh.

These people had betrayed me, lied to me, and driven me to the operating table. Now they acted as if they were extremely magnanimous, graciously allowing me to keep the empty title of a wife and give birth to a child who would preserve their respectable family image.

Hector looked at me. "As long as you behave yourself and give birth to the baby, you'll always be Mrs. Greene. However, Giselle has been making compromises for you for far too long. This time, it's your turn to take a step back for her."

I raised my head and calmly nodded. "Got it."

Everyone immediately let out a sigh of relief. They assumed I'd resigned myself to this fate. Only I knew what I'd actually agreed to—to leave altogether.

While they accompanied Giselle back to her apartment to pack her things, I took my documents out of the safe and packed a few changes of clothes.

I didn't touch the jewelry Hector had given me, the hand-me-downs Mom had tossed over to me, or the invoices Duncan dumped on me. The houses, mortgages, and endless financial holes that could never be filled were no longer my concern.

I laid the signed divorce papers, the abortion report, and a declaration that I was cutting all ties with the Lloyd family side by side on the living room table.

My wedding ring went right on top, serving as the paperweight.

Then, I compiled all the lies they'd fed me over the past few years, along with everything they'd said today, into a post scheduled for publication.

Just as I zipped up my suitcase, Hector sent me a message.

"I'll be home early today. Giselle is knitting a pair of socks for the baby. It's time you stop upsetting her."

I didn't answer.

When the boarding announcement sounded, I turned off my phone and walked through the boarding gate.

There was no one left in this city worth staying for.

I was saying goodbye to Hector, Giselle, and the Lloyd family for good.

Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App

Latest chapter

  • My Family Traded My Marriage Away   Chapter 22

    A year later, I founded a legal aid organization. My first client was Naomi Stiles, a young woman who had just turned 20 years old.Her parents had been consistently withdrawing large sums of money from the life insurance payout her grandma had left her for years, all the while telling her that every cent of the family's money had gone toward supporting her.Naomi sat across from me, clutching the hem of her shirt. "Will they abandon me if I ask for that money back?"It was a question I'd asked myself countless times, too. I slid the documents I'd prepared across the desk toward her."People who truly love you won't ask you to give up everything just to prove you're a good daughter."She sat in silence for a long time before finally signing her name on the letter of engagement.After seeing her out, I stood by the office window.On my desk sat the old candy tin Grandpa had left me. Isaac had eventually helped me track down the emerald pendant Janice had sold. It'd cracked at som

  • My Family Traded My Marriage Away   Chapter 21

    The day the divorce was finalized, the sky was exceptionally clear. Hector arrived half an hour before our scheduled appointment. We hadn't seen each other in months, and he'd lost a lot of weight.Following the internal investigation, he hadn't been held primarily legally responsible for the misappropriated funds from the trust, but he'd lost his senior position within Greene Corporation.The man who had once been unfailingly composed and confident now sat on a bench in the lobby of the courthouse, his fingers clenched around something in his pocket.The proceedings went smoothly. When the clerk confirmed that we both wished to proceed, Hector stared at me and asked, "Is there really no chance of salvaging our relationship?""None whatsoever."He lowered his head and signed the paperwork at last.After we walked out of the courthouse, he called after me. Sunlight fell across the steps as he took the wedding ring from his pocket. It was the same ring I'd left on top of the divorc

  • My Family Traded My Marriage Away   Chapter 20

    Three months later, the first batch of trust assets was returned.After a corporate restructuring, Ronald lost his position and all his shares in Lloyd Corporation. The court sold off the villa as well.He and Janice moved into a two-bedroom apartment. The living room was so cramped that she couldn't even find a suitable place to hang the family portrait.Ronald spent most of his time running around, trying to get in touch with his former business partners. Unfortunately for him, all those people who used to greet him with smiles refused to even take his calls now.Duncan sold his sports car and apartment, but he was still left with debts from the failed project to shoulder on his own.He refused to live with Ronald and Janice. He firmly believed that if Ronald hadn't given so much money to Giselle, his company wouldn't have gone under.Giselle also moved out of the house that had been purchased with the trust proceeds. She tried to move back in with Ronald and Janice, only to di

  • My Family Traded My Marriage Away   Chapter 19

    When Duncan arrived at the law firm with the financial records, he'd lost a considerable amount of weight.His project had come to a complete standstill. Investors were demanding their money back, and all the people who used to flock around him, sucking up to him, had disappeared.He placed a flash drive in front of me. "This contains all of Dad's financial records from the past several years. I'm willing to testify in court."I didn't touch the drive. "What are your terms?"He lowered his head and said, "I want you to drop the part of the claim against me. Dad made those transfers. I didn't know where the money came from."Isaac flipped open several documents. They all bore Duncan's signature. When he said he hadn't known about it, what he really meant was that he'd never bothered to ask where the money came from.He'd always assumed that everything belonging to the Lloyds was rightfully his anyway."Evelina, you're my sister."It was the first time he'd ever called me that. I

  • My Family Traded My Marriage Away   Chapter 18

    Before the court seized her property, Giselle reached out to the media. She made her chat history with Hector public, and the messages went back several years.She wanted to prove that he had always been the one pursuing her.In their messages, Hector had promised to protect her. He had also said that he'd married me only because he couldn't bear to see me fall apart.Crying in front of the cameras, Giselle said, "I admit I was wrong, but he's the one who betrayed his marriage. I was a victim of his deceit, too."She thought this would allow her to salvage what little dignity she had left, but among the records she released was a screenshot of a funding approval.The approved project was part of a supply chain venture jointly operated by Greene Corporation and Lloyd Corporation.During that same period, Ronald had been using the project to disguise trust proceeds as legitimate profits before transferring the money to Giselle's company.Isaac immediately secured the evidence, and

  • My Family Traded My Marriage Away   Chapter 17

    Hector refused to give up. He moved out of the marital home and got rid of everything Giselle had used. Everything from the house slippers in the shoe cabinet, the clothes she'd left in the guest room, and even the cup she always used was tossed out.He sent me photos, as if to prove that he'd erased every trace of his mistake. However, some things don't disappear just because a few old things were thrown out.A week later, I returned to the city to finalize the divorce. Hector insisted that I stop by our old marital home."You left some of your things here."I opened the door to find that the house looked almost exactly as it had before I left. My favorite flowers sat on the dining table. The kitchen had been stocked with fresh ingredients. He'd even bought a new pair of slippers identical to my old ones."See? Giselle's gone. No one else will be moving in from now on," he said.I headed to the nursery without bothering to change out of my shoes.The starry wallpaper was still

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status