The Day I Died, My Husband Went Crazy

By her tenth year with Julian, his investment had failed, and he had lost everything. Vivian Vance tore up her late-stage cancer test results, sold off all her property, and moved into a rental with her daughter. To beg a rival company for funding, she sat in a bar and forced down one glass of high-proof vodka after another. "Please. Hawke Holdings really needs this money." Her head swam. She propped herself up on one side, forcing herself to stay upright as she pleaded. The men on the sofa snickered. Fingers tapped against a bottle of red wine that had just been opened. "You're not done drinking yet. Why are you making requests?" Before the words even settled, she lunged for the bottle and tipped her head back, drinking as if her life depended on it. A searing pain surged through her throat. Vivian covered her mouth and rushed out. When she came back, voices drifted from inside the private room. "Jules, that's enough. If this really ends with someone dead, none of us will be able to clean it up." Vivian froze where she stood. The cold, familiar voice on the phone hit her like a bolt of lightning. "It's fine. I'll take care of it. Don't let her know Sandy has returned." Someone seemed unable to keep listening and hesitated. "Dolly is still young..." Julian cut him off, irritation clear in his tone. "There was no marriage. Who knows who she had the child with?" The others hurried to smooth things over, circling Julian Hawke and flattering him. "This woman is devoted enough and cheap enough. To get us to invest, there's nothing she won't do." "The first time, we took her bungee jumping. The moment she jumped, the instructor told her the rope was about to snap. When she came back up, there was no color in her face, and her eyes were completely blank." "The second time, we dumped her in a slum full of vagrants. She was so scared she lost her heels and ran until the soles of her feet were torn open." "The third time, we had someone knock her out and throw her into an underground casino. The way she looked on the surveillance feed, scared out of her mind, nearly made me laugh to death." One incident after another. Only then did Vivian understand. From beginning to end, Julian had never gone bankrupt. The man who had been calling recently, slashing prices while buying property, was a friend of Julian's. This merciless, step-by-step revenge had all been carried out under Julian's instruction. "If she hadn't used the pregnancy to force the situation back then, Sandy wouldn't have been heartbroken and left for ten years. All this pain, I'll make her repay it a hundred times over. As for that bastard child, break the arms and legs and sell her off to the mountains." ****** Hearing those disgusting, cold-blooded words, Vivian felt icy all over. She turned and hurried out. When she reached the rental, toys were scattered across the floor. In that instant, she lost all reason. He was truly that heartless. Dolly had called him Dad for five years, and he had actually gone through with it. In her ears, she seemed to hear her daughter crying in pain. When she imagined her soft, fragile child with broken legs, Vivian wanted nothing more than to grab a kitchen knife and drag him down with her. He had ruined ten years of her life and then reached his filthy hands toward her daughter. 'That animal.' Vivian pulled out her phone. Her hands shook so badly that she pressed the wrong numbers several times before the call finally went through. The ringtone sounded for a long time, cut off again and again. At last, the call connected. The last thread of her reason was about to snap. "Where is Dolly? Where is Dolly?" Her voice was hoarse, and she forced it to stay calm. She was moments away from blurting out that she already knew every scheme Julian had planned when a small hand tugged at her clothes. "Mom, why are you crying?"