Chapter 4

Jacob kept repeating those two words under his breath. As he said them again and again, he suddenly began to laugh.

At first, the laugh was quiet, almost strangled. But it quickly grew louder, with something unmistakably unhinged beneath it.

"Haha... Hahahaha..."

Amanda recoiled at the deranged look on his face and instinctively took a step back. "Jacob, you've lost your mind!"

Jacob's laughter cut off abruptly. He jerked his head up, his eyes bloodshot. "Amanda, you're damn right I've lost my mind!"

The madness and agony in his gaze made Amanda falter.

"You're the one who drove me to this! Amanda, what gives you the right to call me inferior? Just because he has more money than I do? Just because he's a consultant at your company who makes nearly 200,000 dollars a year?"

Jacob advanced on her step by step. Two years of suppressed rage erupted all at once, and the force of his anger left Amanda struggling to breathe.

"Amanda, open your eyes and take a good look at me! I don't have your money. I don't have your family's power. But in these five years, when have I ever failed you?

"Your stomach was weak, so I learned to make soups to help you recover. When your period cramps hit, I ran across the entire city in the middle of the night to buy you specialized herbal remedies. Your work kept you busy, so I took care of every last chore in this house.

"I treated you like you were my everything! I thought we loved each other as equals! And how did you treat me in return?"

Jacob's voice rose with every word. He had held all of this back for far too long.

"Ever since Dorian saved you, have you even remembered that you're a married woman? Have you remembered that you're my wife, Jacob Cooper's wife?

"You say I'm jealous of him? Why would I be jealous of him? Because he plays the victim to win your sympathy? Because he's as shameless as some cheap flirt?

"Amanda, ask yourself honestly. Don't you know what Dorian really thinks of you?"

Amanda's face went pale. She stared at him in disbelief. She wanted to argue, to tell him she was only repaying a debt and that there was nothing improper between her and Dorian.

But the moment she opened her mouth, Jacob cut her off. "Fine. I'll admit it. I don't have money. I'm just a broke woodworker who barely earns anything. I eat off you. I live off you. I'm a man who lives off his wife."

His voice dripped with self-mockery, but his eyes were cold. "But don't you forget, Amanda! You were the one who cried and begged me to give up my chance to build a career in Aurumont and stay here for you!

"You were the one who said you didn't care whether I had money. You said all you wanted was to see me when you came home every day.

"So what? Do you regret it now? Do you think I'm not good enough for you anymore? You think I embarrass you, is that it? Then why the hell didn't you say so back then?"

His gaze sent a shiver through Amanda. Her lips moved as if she wanted to argue, but she could not get a single word out.

After all, everything Jacob had said was true.

Back then, she really had been the one who couldn't bear to let him go.

When Jacob saw that she had nothing to say, the mockery in his eyes deepened. "Why aren't you talking now? Did I hit a nerve?

"Amanda, let me tell you something. I can live without money. I can live with people looking down on me. But I damn well have my own backbone and my own dignity!"

His words forced Amanda back another step, but she still made herself speak. "Whatever the reason, you injured him and ruined his whole life. That's a fact!"

Once again, she steered the conversation back to Dorian's injury. She clung to it as justification and planted herself firmly on the moral high ground.

Jacob took a deep breath and stared at the wife in front of him, who simply refused to see reason. "Fine. That's a good one. 'Ruined his whole life. You spend every damn day thinking about another man. Have you ever once thought about how I feel? Does he really matter more to you than I do?"

Amanda froze for a moment before she sneered, "Dorian saved my life. Is it so wrong for me to be good to him? As my husband, shouldn't you support me?

"But you? All you do is act jealous, petty, and small-minded. What kind of man does that?"

Jacob nearly laughed from sheer fury.

He stared at her and spoke slowly, one word at a time. "Support you? How exactly do you want me to support you? Support you sleeping with him? Or support him sleeping with you? Are you out of your mind?

"You're an idiot. He’s playing you, and you’re eating it up. You don't even deserve to be understood by anyone with a functioning brain."

Amanda stared at him in disbelief before letting out a shriek. "What did you just say? Jacob, how dare you curse at me?"

Jacob laughed coldly. "Curse at you? I want to hit you too. Five years of marriage. I treated you like a princess, and you treated me like a servant.

"You slapped me and humiliated me in front of everyone, all for another man. What gives you the right? What the hell do you think you are?"

Amanda stood stunned for a moment. Then fury overtook her.

Without a second thought, she raised her hand and swung at Jacob's face again. "Shut your mouth!"

This time, Jacob refused to let her have her way.

He watched that familiar palm hurtle toward him, and the slap from the birthday party flashed through his mind. She had struck him in front of everyone.

No matter how hard he tried, he could never forget that humiliation.

He had been too gentle and too weak all these years. That was exactly why Amanda had felt free to go this far and trample on his dignity without the slightest restraint.

Just before Amanda's palm could strike his face, Jacob suddenly raised his own hand.

A crisp, sharp slap rang out.

Jacob's palm struck Amanda's face a split second before hers could reach him.

The blow sent her stumbling backward. Her ears rang, and her mind went blank. Her raised hand dropped limply to her side. Her left cheek turned red and began to swell almost at once as a burning pain spread across it.

She covered her face and stared at the man before her in disbelief.

Jacob had actually hit her?

In five years of marriage, he had never raised a hand to her. He had hardly even spoken a harsh word to her.

How dare he?

"Jacob, you... You dare hit me?" Amanda screamed, her voice trembling with both pain and fury.

Jacob shook out his hand. Not a trace of guilt or regret crossed his face.

He stepped closer and shot back, "Why wouldn't I dare? When you slapped me in front of that whole crowd at your father's birthday, did you ever once think about how I felt? When you hit me in public for another man, did you ever stop to think that I might feel pain too?

"Amanda, the moment you slapped me in front of everyone, I should've slapped you right back! I was a fool to hold on to any hope for you!"

He stared at her coldly. A trace of violence had entered his eyes, and even Amanda found it unsettling.

The man standing before her felt like a complete stranger.