The Wedding He Stole From Me

Chapter 2 Shattered Trust

That night, Christina never closed her eyes. She sat on the living room sofa, waiting for Hector to come home.

Instead, only a single text arrived.

Hector: Darling, my parents asked me to stay for dinner tonight. I'll be back late, so go ahead and sleep.

After that, he went completely silent.

She did not need to guess. She already knew he was probably with the Larson family right now, sharing the joy of becoming a father, and had not spared her a single thought.

But just then, the front door swung open, and Hector walked in. The moment he saw her on the sofa, he froze for a second.

"Darling, why are you still up?"

Christina frowned and signed quickly, "Don't call me darling."

He paused, then crossed the room and pulled her into his arms, his voice low and soothing. "Are you mad because I came home so late? You know how it is with my sister. Her depression can flare up at any second. I had to wait until she was sound asleep before I could slip away. I swear I didn't mean to keep you waiting."

From the very day Hector married Bianca, he had kept the same unbreakable routine: he waited until Bianca was asleep, then came to Christina. To make sure Bianca never interrupted their stolen time, he even slipped sleeping pills into the warm milk she drank every night, then returned to his wife the next morning.

Afraid Christina would feel insecure, he called her from Larson Manor every single time he was there, describing exactly what he was doing and promising he had not been intimate with Bianca.

Two years earlier, Bianca had been so desperate for his touch that she drugged his drink. Hector fought his way out of the manor and ran straight to Christina. They spent the entire day and night wrapped in each other, lost in desperate love.

Bianca could not bear the blow and slit her wrists. Blood filled the entire bathtub. If Bianca's father, Rhett Larson, had not found her in time and rushed her to the hospital, she would have died.

His parents exploded with rage. They whipped Hector's back until the skin split open and blood poured down, yet he never uttered a single cry of pain.

Christina's heart ached for him. Bianca's illness had nothing to do with him, yet everyone kept laying her life on his shoulders.

Every time it happened, Hector would turn around and smile at her instead. "It's okay, Christina. Just hold on for three more years, and I'll be free. Then we'll fly far away together and never look back."

Christina had believed him back then. She truly believed that Hector loved her so deeply that he would rather endure beatings and humiliation than submit to Bianca.

But somewhere along the way, without her knowing, Bianca's shadow had slowly crept into Hector's heart.

She did not blame him. She simply no longer wanted to keep living this twisted lie. So she pushed him away and signed. "Let's end this."

At that exact moment, his phone rang. He glanced at the screen, and his face turned grave. Without even reading her signs, he answered and walked toward the door. "Bianca just woke up. I have to go back, darling. Lock the doors and windows while you're home alone, and don't open the door for anyone."

The door clicked shut behind him.

Christina stared at the closed door, a cold emptiness spreading through her chest.

Then her own phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number.

Bianca: Christina, you cheap little slut. I don't think I know you've been sneaking around trying to steal my husband. Hector belongs to me and only me. You will never take him away. Do you honestly still believe he puts you first like he used to? On your birthday, he wasn't locked up by his father at all. He was in bed with me the whole night, making love.

Christina's whole body trembled. The phone nearly slipped from her fingers.

So the lies had started three months ago.

On her birthday, Hector had promised to spend the evening with her. She waited all night, but he never came. The next afternoon, he finally showed up and told her his father had locked him in the room because he refused to bathe Bianca.

She had believed every word, her heart full of pity and guilt. If not for her, he would not have had to suffer so much.

Now it felt as if someone had reached inside her chest and twisted her heart until it could barely beat.

After a long time, her fingers shaking, she typed out a reply.

Christina: You can relax. I'll be gone very soon.