Todos los capítulos de I Bet My Life on a Faithless Man: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 9

The moment I found out Royce Drayton took Blythe Renner to my private stable, I floored it the whole way there and slammed straight into his car, leaving it totaled.Royce didn't even flinch. But when he noticed the bruise swelling on my arm from the impact, his expression darkened. "Does it hurt?""Why would you bring her here?" I shook off his hand, my voice trembling."Why?"The stable was his gift to me for our third wedding anniversary, and the last safe place I had left in Grayport. The tabloids in the city used to joke that Royce's women could be found anywhere, at galas, in shopping malls, on yachts, even in our own marital bed.This stable was the only place that was purely mine."It's just a stable. If you like it that much, I'll buy you another one."Royce said it like it was nothing, and from the look on his face, he probably didn't even remember where this one came from. He'd given me too many things over the years. Anniversary gifts, holiday gifts, make-up gifts, j

Ten years ago, Royce left Grayport under a false identity to prove himself up north. At a cocktail party, he noticed me, a complete stranger, drinking a glass of wine that had been spiked.He meant to rescue me, but instead walked in on me smashing the bottle over the creep's head. I'd dug the broken glass into my own thigh to keep myself conscious, and by the time it was over, my leg was a bloody mess.Royce told me he'd never met a woman as fierce as me, and that was why he pursued me. We hadn't been together long before he brought me back to Grayport, and that was the first time I realized the kind of old-money empires people saw on TV actually existed.Cutting ties with my parents was the Draytons' first condition for letting me into the family. They could barely stomach a daughter-in-law who wasn't up to their standards, and they certainly weren't going to tolerate my relatives showing up looking for handouts.Humiliating me was the least of what they did.That was the first

Entering a name into the Drayton family registry was a formal affair, complete with a public announcement and a ceremony. Royce asked for my opinion, and since I'd already decided to let go, I told him I had none. He was free to marry whoever he wanted.My answer was exactly what he'd been hoping for, but strangely, he didn't look pleased. "How come you're not even a little bit angry?"So, I turned the question back on him. "If I did object right now, would you call it off for me?"He didn't answer, but oddly enough, my words had a bite to them that seemed to improve his mood.I didn't understand. He was the one who lost focus in our marriage first, yet he couldn't stand the thought of me doing the same, of me pulling away from this twisted thing between us.That was when it finally hit me just how selfish Royce's love really was. He loved me, but he couldn't be faithful. And if I loved him, I was only allowed to love him.It struck me then that I should have left the very first

What I didn't know then was that Blythe was panicking. She'd assumed that once I was out of the picture, her path to the top would be clear, but she'd underestimated just how much I meant to Royce. Given his track record of serial cheating, she'd figured the bond between us had to be thin by now. She never expected that Royce wasn't just a playboy, but a devoted one.Luckily, she'd come prepared. Everything had been calculated from the start.She'd staged the director catching her in a compromising position right when Royce happened to walk in, stayed unfazed even after he threw 200 million dollars at her and kept grinding away at bit parts without complaint, and even planted the broke boyfriend. All of it was an act.She'd done her homework on Royce and me long before any of it began. Using his wandering heart and his love for me as a blueprint, she'd deliberately modeled herself after a younger version of me to catch his attention.Because what was more dangerous than the woman

When I landed up north, the air had a bite to it. I hadn't seen a cold autumn like this in years. I pulled my coat tighter and realized I had no idea where to go. I didn't have the nerve to go home, but I couldn't think of anywhere else in a city this big that would take me."Celia."Someone was calling my name. I thought my ears were playing tricks on me and shook my head, walking on."Celia Shaw!"I spun around, and when I saw who it was, the tears came flooding out."Mom! Dad!"All those years I'd been forced to cut ties with my family, it turned out Sylvia had been looking after my parents on my behalf, using my name. They didn't ask me if I'd been doing well. They just asked, "Are you hungry?"I nodded, and they smiled."What do you want to eat?"I rattled off a whole list of local comfort food I couldn't get in Grayport, and they laughed and told me they'd already prepared everything. I couldn't stop crying."I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."I'd been so stubborn and so selfis