Chapter 2
953 Words
In my past life, every time I asked him "How’s the police investigation going?", at first he always replied, "Almost done, almost done."
Later, he lost his patience and snapped that the case had already been closed.
But the gossip spreading around me only became more and more vicious. They called me dirty, a bad-luck wife who cursed her husband, a promiscuous woman.
Judgmental stares followed me everywhere, pressing down on me until I could barely breathe. Every night, I had to swallow handfuls of sleeping pills just to get any rest at all.
Later, when I discovered Ezekiel was cheating and confronted him, everyone turned on me at once.
They wore those self-righteous "I told you so" expressions, and said "Looks like she still hasn’t gotten over the trauma."
"She’s gone crazy! She’s making things up now!"
"Her husband hasn’t even abandoned her; what more does she want? Is she going to drive everyone insane before she’s satisfied?"
Ezekiel then forced me into a psychiatric institution and had me locked away.
Searing electric currents tore through my entire body. I screamed and cried every night, so broken that I even lost control of my bladder.
But instead of sympathizing with me, everyone pitied Ezekiel and pressured him to divorce me.
Ezekiel only put on a long-suffering expression, stepped in front of me, and declared grandly, "She is my wife. As long as I draw breath, I will never abandon her!"
With that speech, he completely won everyone over.
Only later, did I learn the ugly truth that he never kept me around because he loved me. He simply wanted a free maid to take care of our young son and his partially paralyzed mother.
He drained every last bit of usefulness from me, and then he let me die.
My thoughts snapped back to the present. I lifted my bloodshot eyes and was about to speak.
When Ezekiel's phone suddenly rang.
It was Vivienne Ashcroft, his first love, calling. Ezekiel froze for a split second, then glanced at me.
He turned off the speaker before answering. But the very next second, his expression completely changed.
"She’s sick? Pull over! I need to get out now!"
Our son hurried after him in a panic, but after a few steps, he turned back, his expression guilty.
"Mom, Aunt Vivienne has always been really kind to me. I should go check on her."
My mother’s face darkened with anger, and my father’s temper flared. "Your mother just barely survived death, and you two—"
Before my father could finish, I raised a hand to stop him, then looked at my husband and son calmly.
"Go ahead."
In an instant, every eye in the car was fixed on me.
A strange unease crept into Ezekiel’s chest as he sensed that something about me was different now.
But before he could think further, I stepped on the gas and drove off, leaving them behind.
Vivienne had always been Ezekiel’s one that got away, and she never lacked men chasing after her, either.
After he caught her in a hotel room with another man for the ninth time, Ezekiel finally lost all hope and settled for me by agreeing to a blind date.
But not long after we married, Vivienne changed her mind and came running back to him.
From that day on, Ezekiel hated me. He believed I was the one who ruined his perfect life.
In my past life, after Ezekiel staged that fake k********g, I was a complete wreck, my mind never fully clear.
At first, he still tried to hide his affair from me.
But it wasn’t long before he grew bolder, openly flirting and exchanging messages with Vivienne right in front of me.
He even brought her into our home and slept with her there. I completely broke down and confronted him.
Ezekiel slapped me across the face and sent me crashing to the floor.
He grabbed my hair and threatened me, "If you dare touch her, even a finger, I’ll send you back to the psychiatric ward! No one will ever believe a word you say!"
Broken and desperate, I begged our son for help, but he only sighed. "Mom, Dad pays my tuition. Can’t you just look the other way?"
In that exact moment, my heart shattered completely.
This was the child I had risked my life to bring into the world.
Blood rose in my throat, burning upward. I forced a shaky breath and swallowed it down.
When we returned to my parents’ house, my parents went with me to file a police report.
The moment they heard it was a k********g case, the police took it seriously and immediately opened an investigation.
When we returned home afterward, Ezekiel and our son were already waiting for me.
Soft, satisfied smiles lingered on their faces. They had spent the entire afternoon at a cosmetics counter with Vivienne, helping her try on makeup, and neither of them looked the slightest bit concerned the entire time.
This was a man whose wife had just survived a life-threatening k********g, yet he showed no worry.
This was a son whose mother had just escaped death, yet he showed no concern.
The only reason they came back was to force me to return home and continue serving the family.
When we entered, Ezekiel looked up and asked with a confused frown, "Where did you two go?"
- Writer
