Love That Came Too Late Is Empty のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 10

I slumped down in the corner. Behind the wall that stood between my husband, Gerald Brown, and me, tears streamed down my face.The pain in my chest made breathing difficult. To survive, I turned and fled to the guest bedroom.The tiny guest room had no heating, yet Gerald had forced me to live there throughout the entirety of winter.I frantically poured pills from the bottle and shoved them into my mouth. Fortunately, Gerald had only substituted my original pills with weaker heart medication. Otherwise, I would not have survived the night.I had just returned from the hospital. My injuries still throbbed with dull pain.Tears welled up when my fingers brushed against my flat stomach.I still remembered the vicious oath he had sworn when he defied all gossip to marry me. “Hailey, you’re the only one for me. If I ever betray you, may I die a wretched death.”Yet he brought his first love into our home.The cold wind stung, but not as much as this heart-wrenching pain.For a mo

When I finally met Gerald, he ignored all the gossip and even turned against his own family to give me a home.I gave him everything.I gave him my time, my youth, and my love.Years ago, when he faced bankruptcy, I was the one who accompanied him day and night to networking events. I drank until I vomited blood just to help save his company.Yet despite everything, we still ended up unable to bear the sight of each other.Perhaps the saying, “Some endings were simply unavoidable,” had truth in it, after all.But I never imagined that after all these years, from childhood to girlhood to where I am now, someone would still cry over my suffering.At this thought, Penny suddenly hugged me. Her sobs grew louder.“Hailey, stop overthinking! You matter a great deal to me!“After my parents died in that crash years ago, I stayed to take care of you. But really, you’ve taken care of me far more. You’ve always been like a sister to me.“So even if it’s just for me, take care of yourse

Aileen’s voice echoed through the hallway. She said, “Gerrie, stop blaming Hailey because of me. This is all my fault.”Uncharacteristically, Gerald ignored her. His piercing gaze remained fixed on me. “Hailey, explain yourself. How could you have had a miscarriage? Weren’t you infertile?”I met his eyes with a cold laugh. “You want to know how I miscarried? Ask your precious Aileen over there.”Aileen’s face froze at my words. She shrank back nervously when Gerald turned to her.“What miscarriage? Gerrie, don’t listen to her lies! She must be feeling guilty for killing our baby, so she’s making up stories to save herself!”Gerald paused. Then his expression hardened again. “You’re lying! The doctor just said you were never pregnant in the first place! He said you’ve been taking birth control! Aileen! How could I believe anything that you say?!”Aileen seemed caught off guard. Shock flashed across her face before she could hide it.In a flash, she burst into theatrical tears and

It did not matter anymore. I had only half a month left to live. Once Aileen brought back the confidential documents from the rival company and the contract was signed, he could easily comfort her then.After all, I was still his legal wife and the daughter-in-law of the Brown family. The maids would not dare to truly mistreat me.At first, the maids hesitated to assign me heavy work. They just handed me a rag for window-cleaning as a perfunctory task.That changed when Aileen arrived with her maids. They dumped the trash from her room onto me and splashed dirty toilet water across the floor.The other maids grew visibly uneasy. One of Aileen’s lackeys, who was flaunting her borrowed power, sneered, “What’re you staring at? This is an order from Mr. Brown. He said our young mistress demands spotlessness; not a single speck of dirt is allowed. So, get cleaning, Mrs. Brown.”Aileen forced Penny to watch me be humiliated. Penny yelled, “Clean? Please! Your precious mistress doesn’t m

At twenty years old, Aileen returned to the country without hesitation after Gerald said, “Ailey, the company is going bankrupt. I don’t know what to do.” She infiltrated their rival company as a spy and stayed there for five years.Instead of receiving news that Gerald would bring her out of the company, she received an invitation to his wedding.No matter how many times she confronted him, he only ever replied, “Grandpa adores Hailey. I had no choice.”Yet during countless sleepless nights, when he deluded himself into using Hailey as a substitute, his feelings started to become real.Aileen recognized the tenderness in his eyes when he looked at me. She knew that look all too well.But everything had changed.As she watched him wallow in grief over me, Aileen screamed hysterically, “Gerald, how could you do this to me?”He only murmured, “Elly, I was wrong. I failed you.” His calmness made her seem like the mad one.... Gerald arranged an extravagant funeral for me. Th