Chapter 4

Jasper laughed, his voice dripping with contempt. "So what if she hears us? She scalded you. Consider this her punishment."

Thunder rolled, and lightning split the sky outside. I held my son and did not sleep at all that night.

I had just started to drift off when the bedroom door was kicked open. Fiona stood in the doorway with a taunting grin. "Tessa, get up and make breakfast. Jasper's waiting."

When I did not answer, she moved closer on purpose, letting the red marks scattered across her skin speak for themselves. She leaned in and whispered against my ear, "Jasper told me last night that just looking at you makes him sick. He said you smell sour all the time and that it makes him want to gag."

I ignored her completely and walked toward the bathroom.

Then, my son started screaming.

My blood ran cold. Fiona's fingernails had left deep crescent marks on the soft skin of his arm.

Touching my child was the one line nobody could cross. Every protective instinct I had ignited at once. I grabbed a fistful of Fiona's hair and was about to drag her down when Jasper kicked me to the floor.

"Are you ever going to stop?" he shouted. "You're acting like a lunatic."

He grabbed the glass from the nightstand and smashed it over my head.

The world tilted. Blood ran down my forehead in a warm, steady stream, dripping onto the white floor one drop at a time. Whatever was left inside me died in that moment.

When Jasper saw the blood running down the side of my face, his gaze lingered for just a second. However, Fiona whimpered, "Jasper, it hurts so much."

Whatever flicker of concern that had been there vanished instantly. He turned back to me, his voice flat and cold. "The baby's one-month celebration is tomorrow. Don't be late. As long as you stop making scenes, your place in this family is secure."

Then, he picked Fiona up and walked out, slamming the door behind him without a single backward glance.

Jasper had always assumed that what I cared about was the title, the status of being his wife. However, all of that had stopped meaning anything to me a long time ago.

Fighting through the throbbing pain in my head, I called the host who had been hired for the celebration.

"Tomorrow, at my son's party, could you play a video for me? It's a surprise I put together for my husband."

I had compiled every photo of Jasper and Fiona from their trips together, as well as every hotel check-in, into a single montage. The highlight was the video Fiona herself had sent me, the one of the two of them that left nothing to the imagination.

After the call, I packed everything I needed and opened the safe to retrieve the will that Jasper's grandfather had left before he passed. It was a property transfer agreement.

The old man had been worried about me until the very end, and he had put 60% of his personal assets in a trust for my unborn child. On the day of the baby's one-month celebration, I would officially inherit controlling shares in the Wynn family's company and become its largest shareholder.

Once everything was in order, I gathered every gift Jasper had ever given me and burned them all.

Under cover of darkness, I took my son in my arms and boarded the next flight out of the country.

The following day, the banquet hall was full of guests who were here for the celebration, but there was no sign of me anywhere. Jasper called my phone over and over again, but every call went straight to voicemail.

Panic crept in. Something felt very wrong.

He raced home but found nothing on the nightstand but a single note.

'The Gamma homeworld has summoned me back to my planet. I'm taking the kid and ditching the dad. Don't miss me. Don't wait up.'

He crumpled the note and hurled it to the floor.

A second later, his phone rang. His friend was barely able to get the words out. "Jasper, you need to get back here right now. The party's a disaster."