Saw His Cheat Video, I Wait for Answers

Chapter 4

That weekend, I brought Lucas over to my mom's house.

When we walked through the door, Mom was boiling water on the stove, coughing so hard her whole body shook.

Panic shot through me, and I darted over to steady her. "Mom, why has this cough of yours not gotten any better?"

Mom shook her head, waving me off. "It is nothing, just one of my old persistent issues."

Ever since Dad passed, Mom had lived all alone in the old family house, and years of that had left her with a whole list of chronic ailments. She always brushed them off as minor problems that were not worth worrying about.

But right then, staring at her sallow, drawn face, I frowned and pressed, "Shouldn't you go to the hospital to get this checked?"

"What is the point of going? They just hand you more pills. I still had a whole bottle left from last time. I am just getting on in years, that is all. Oh, wait. Why did you come by today, anyway?"

I helped Mom to the living room sofa, got her a glass of warm water to soothe her raw throat and calm her coughing fit, and only then told her that Leo had cheated on me.

Mom froze solid. She stared blankly at me for a whole long minute before she slowly worked up the nerve to ask what I planned to do about it.

In her view, men straying was fairly common. If you could forgive them, life could just go on as normal.

But I was not willing to do that. Not to mention, he never even cared about me in the first place.

Dragging the topic out with Mom would not change anything, so I just cut to the chase. I had already made up my mind to divorce him.

"Divorce? What are you going to do after that? You are a housewife, you have a child to raise..."

"Mom, I have already decided. I will go out and find a job. I studied finance back in the day. Even if I have been out of the workforce for a few years, I can brush up on my skills and get back up to speed easily enough."

Besides, anyone can make it on their own when they leave someone, right?

Naturally, Mom was furious. She was choked up with frustration and completely unable to accept my choice.

Before Mom could say another word, a sharp shriek rang out from the kitchen.

The same terrible thought hit both of us at once, and we snapped our heads toward the door in the same instant.

Somehow, Lucas had wandered into the kitchen, and boiling water from the stove poured straight onto him.

"Lucas!" I sprinted over as fast as my legs could carry me.

I immediately held him under cool running water to soothe the burn, then rushed him straight to the hospital.

Thankfully, we got there in time. His burns were not life-threatening.

Even so, a huge swath of his entire arm was covered in blistering scalds. He lay in the hospital bed, hooked up to an IV, his little face as pale as a sheet.

My heart ached so badly I could barely stand it. Mom cried too, racked with guilt, and swore she would never use that old kettle again.

Staring at my little boy lying sick in the hospital bed, my thoughts were a tangled, chaotic mess.

I dragged in several deep, steadying breaths, then called Leo, telling him to get to the hospital right away.

But the person who picked up was a soft, high-pitched female voice, one I would know anywhere. It was that young girl who worked at his company.

"Hi, Mr. Gray is not available right now."

"Put him on the phone right now!" I snapped the words loud enough that everyone in the hospital waiting area turned to stare at me.

The girl paused for a beat, then said, "He is taking a shower."

"He is taking a shower? What the hell are you doing in his room, then?"

Just the thought of it—my child lying hurt in the hospital while he was out there fooling around with another woman—made me see red. I was already half out of my mind. I could have torn him apart with my bare hands.

She answered carefully, her words tight and perfectly polished to leave no room for argument.

"I am his assistant, after all. Mr. Gray always brings me along to help pack his clothes when he travels."

I almost laughed out loud at that obvious lie. "Do not act like that. Do you really think I have no idea what is going on between you two?"

There was a beat of silence on the other end of the line, and then she laughed.

"So you already know, dear. Thank you so much for never blowing our cover. It does not matter if I tell you now anyway. We broke up before he married you, but now we are back together..."

"I do not care a single thing about whatever you two have going on. Our child is hurt; he got scalded badly. Just tell Leo to get his ass over here right now!"

She froze for a second, and before she could say another word, I slammed the phone down.

I pressed my back against the cold hospital wall, gasping for air, my chest crushed under a thousand tons of rock.

"Honey, calm down. Do not wear yourself out over a man like that."

Mom tried to soothe me, but her breath caught in her throat. She stumbled forward, wracked with another fit of coughing.

"Mom!" I lunged forward to catch her. She coughed for what felt like forever before she stopped, and I saw blood streaked all across her teeth.

I shrieked in alarm. "Mom, why are you coughing up blood?"

She squeezed my hand to still me and shook her head.

"I'm fine. Let's handle your problem first."

My child was in the hospital bed right there, my own mother was this sick and hurting, and yet my husband was off somewhere cozying up to another woman...

My chest twisted sharply, whether from sheer exhaustion or agony, I could not tell.

I was ready to collapse right there, but I ground my teeth together and forced myself to stay upright. I could not fall apart. Not now.

I stayed by Lucas's side the entire night.

Leo never showed up.

But through that long sleepless night, one thing finally clicked for me.

No matter how big a fool I had been, no matter how dead our relationship was, I could not lose myself.

If Leo was going to be this cruel and unjust to me, I owed him no more mercy.