He Cheated, I Made Him Penniless

Chapter 2

Snapping back to the present, my breath caught in my throat. "It's nothing."

I turned around, leaving him with nothing but my back.

My voice came out rough and hoarse in the dark.

"Jude, tomorrow is the anniversary of my grandmother Hazel's passing. Come home with me to visit her grave."

Everything between him and me had started with Hazel as our witness, so it's only right it ends with her watching too.

I clenched my fists tight, waiting for his answer.

A thick, endless silence settled over us. He didn't say a single word the entire time.

It hit me all of a sudden—he hadn't come home with me to visit Hazel's grave for three whole years.

The first year, Zora's cat went missing.

He'd said, "I have to stay here and help her look for it."

The second year, Zora cut her finger while cooking.

He'd said, "I can't leave Zora alone in the hospital."

The third year, he didn't even bother making up an excuse.

He'd tossed out a lazy "Zora can't get by without me" before heading off to a candlelit dinner with her.

Three years, three snubs. Every single time, it was because of Zora.

I sighed. I never should have asked.

I tugged at the corner of my mouth, about to tell him to forget it, when a warm, solid body pressed up against my back from behind.

His low voice drifted from behind me, rough and gravelly with leftover drowsiness.

"Alright. Whatever you want."

I stared down at my feet, frozen in place.

Jude had a whole trunk full of offerings ready bright and early the next morning.

Pastries, fresh fruit, incense, candles—he had everything, all neatly arranged with perfect care.

I pushed down the tangled mess of emotions churning in my chest and headed back to my hometown with him.

The cemetery was quiet and solemn. I'd just finished setting out the offerings and turned around.

All I could hear was the soft rustle of wind through the pine trees. Jude was gone.

My heart sank slow and heavy in my chest. I lit the last stick of incense alone.

When I bent down to pick up the scattered paper bags under the altar, a faint, shaky sob drifted into my ears.

"I can't take it anymore..." The words came out as a barely audible, trembling whimper.

I leaned forward to see what was going on, and my heart slammed to a full stop.

Zora was curled up on the ground, half her clothes slipping off her shoulders.

Jude had his eyes half-lidded, his hands rubbing all over her body. When he looked up and met my gaze, there wasn't a single trace of guilt on his face.

"Zora had another attack. I had to bring her here."

Fury exploded through every inch of my body. I reared my hand back and slapped him hard across the face, the sharp c***k ringing out loud in the quiet air.

"You bastard!"

Jude turned his head to the side, pressing his fingers lightly to the stinging red mark on his cheek.

"I came to worship your Hazel like you asked, didn't I? What are you making such a fuss about? Besides, you know exactly what Zora's condition is like."

He was about to say more, but when his gaze landed on my red, tear-pricked eyes, he swallowed his words halfway.

"Alright, you've had your slap and your outburst. Tone down that nasty attitude of yours from now on. Couldn't you learn even a tiny bit of Zora's gentleness? I'm not forcing you to put up with any of this. You can always choose to get a divorce."

This whole mess started three years earlier, when he'd been set up by Rory Ford. Badly injured, he'd stumbled and fallen into the river.

Hazel was the one who pulled him out.

Back in her younger days, Hazel was the best fisherwoman on these mudflats. She'd pulled more people out of trouble than the number of fish she'd hauled in over her whole career.

But that rescue left her choking on half a lung of filthy river water, and she never fully recovered. The root of her long illness started right then.

I stayed by his side day and night, changing his bandages, wiping his body, tending to his every need. We grew close through those long days of care, and affection bloomed between us.

When Hazel was gravely ill, he knelt in front of her bed and swore an oath, his voice heavy with solemnity.

"For as long as I live, I'll never let her go through even the smallest bit of hardship."

A measly three years later, he'd tossed that promise to the wind. Worse, he'd brought Zora here to desecrate Hazel's final resting place.

I curled my fingers into fists so tight my nails dug into my palms, forcing myself to swallow the "fine" that was already burning on the tip of my tongue.

No. Not yet. The time wasn't right.

I would wait. I'd wait until he'd crossed the line for the hundredth time. I'd wait until he was at the absolute peak of his success, riding high and feeling invincible.

Then I'd make sure he got kicked out with absolutely nothing, not a single penny to his name.