Slicing Me Open

"Aren't there rumors in Altonvale saying Mr. Fuller adores his wife more than life itself? Why is he so cruel to her? Did we accidentally kidnap his mistress or something?"

I was beaten by my abductors until my head was covered in blood, yet the Quilton Fuller who once was so affectionate toward me now wished I'd just drop dead.

He wrapped his arms lovingly around the bride beside him, acting as if I were just a clingy nuisance who had just been dumped.

Back then, Quilton would have done everything he could to look for me. Even when I threw tantrums, he wouldn't have dared to let anything happen to me.

He was no longer the lover who would search the world just because he couldn't reach me.

He sneered. "Sally is my only bride, and she's the only one I love. Do you actually think you can get away with this pathetic act?"

Several kidnappers stood behind me. My fingernails had been pried off, and the pain shook me to the core.

These merciless devils originally intended to kill me. But then, they saw a photo by the bed that showed me with the CEO of Fuller Group.

That was the only reason I was still alive—for them to extort a higher ransom.

Quilton believed I staged the kidnapping just to appear pitiful, and that smug smile on his face only deepened at the sight of me.

Until two days ago, I had no idea that the husband who claimed to love me more than life itself had kept a mistress this whole time.

The heart-wrenching pain I felt when I first found out still tormented me to this day.

Because I was sensitive by nature and cautious with love, Quilton even transferred all of the Fuller family's assets to my name to reassure me.

If it hadn't been for the night before the wedding—when I caught him and Sally Yensen at home, tangled up on our bed—I would've truly believed he loved me to the bone.

To get revenge, I colluded with the doctor and lied that I had aborted our child.

In response, he said that I trampled on his ten years of love. Then, he turned around and decided to marry Sally.

If I hadn't witnessed their wedding with my own eyes, I might have thought that I had broken his heart, such that he would marry another woman.

But of course, I saw the wedding for myself.

As it turned out, this was the wedding I had been planning for a year.

Even during the early stages of my pregnancy, I was busy organizing that very wedding. In fact, I nearly miscarried from all the stress of planning that wedding.

To protect the baby, I had to take over a hundred heparin injections, and not once did Quilton ever try to stop me.

Meanwhile, my mysterious client only said, "My wife really likes your wedding planning style."

So, just because Sally liked it, Quilton kept rushing me to work even during my pregnancy—all to finish preparations for the grand wedding as soon as possible.

Then, in my second trimester, he brought Sally home. His intention was for me to catch them in the act, then I would naturally miscarry because of it. He would then use my miscarriage as an excuse to marry Sally without guilt.

What a beautifully scripted soap opera Quilton had planned out.

But in the end, I couldn't bear to give up the child who symbolized our ten-year love.

It was all fake—every last detail of it.

I had been played for a fool. And the most pathetic part was, even after I caught Quilton cheating—when he pointed at me and yelled like a madman—I still wondered if I should forgive him just one more time.

I was pathetically stupid. I still thought the man standing before me loved me as much as he did his own life.

When the abductors saw that Quilton didn't react, they hit me even harder. Each punch struck deep, and my body felt like it was being sliced apart.

But Quilton only held Sally in his arms, coaxing her gently, "Sally, don't be afraid. It's alright. It's all fake."

His indifference only pushed the abductors past their limit. They kept striking my five-months-pregnant belly again and again.

I wanted to scream for help, but all I saw were the two newlyweds kissing.

I was battered, bruised, and bleeding—yet not an ounce of sympathy crossed Quilton's face.

He only had eyes for the woman in his arms.

The pain I felt shattered every beautiful illusion I ever had.