You win
1215 Words
Reed
The sound of metal crushing will haunt me for the rest of my life.
By the time I reached her car, smoke was rising from the hood and shattered glass glittering on the road like fallen stars.
The truck driver was shouting something but I couldn’t hear him.
All I could see was Wendy.
Unconscious. Blood at her temple.
“Wendy…” My voice broke as I pulled the door open.
I did not care about the metal cutting my hands as I pulled her out of the smoking wreckage.
As I carried her on my arms, her head lolled weakly to the side.
For the first time in five years, fear truly hollowed me out.
Not the fear of losing her love. Not the fear of losing the family. But the fear of losing her.
Now, the only sound was the agonizing beep... beep... beep... of the hospital heart monitor.
I sat in the cold, sterile hospital room.
My eyes were burning with hot, heavy tears.
I looked at my beautiful wife lying in the narrow hospital bed.
She was completely still.
Doctors said she was in coma.
Her beautiful face was covered in small scratches and white bandages. Her normally flushed skin was as pale as the snow outside the frosted window.
My hands trembled as I reached out and gently took her cold, lifeless hand in mine.
A single tear escaped my eye, sliding down my cheek and dripping onto her skin.
“I am so sorry,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “God, Wendy. I am so sorry.”
All these years, she believed I bought her. That I forced her father’s hand. That I destroyed her chance at love.
If she knew that Eren begged me… If she knew that I paid off the debts quietly to protect her pride… If she knew that every cold stare, every cruel word, every humiliation… I endured willingly… Would it matter? Or would she still choose Logan?
Six Years Ago
I remembered the first time I realized I loved her.
I had rushed to the meeting with Eren to discuss a corporate merger and accidentally grabbed the worst possible tie from my closet.
It was a hideous, striped silk thing that completely clashed with my expensive tailored suit.
I was inside his study, trying to fix the knot in the reflection of a glass cabinet when the doors suddenly opened.
Wendy walked into the study without knocking.
She looked absolutely breathtaking in a yellow sundress with her hair flawlessly flowing across her shoulders.
She stopped in her tracks when she saw me standing. Her ocean blue eyes scanned me from head to toe. Then she frowned. “That tie is awful.” She said bluntly.
I blinked, suddenly feeling like an awkward teenager instead of a billionaire heir.
"It is a limited edition silk." I cleared my throat, trying to defend myself.
"It clashes horribly with your suit." She declared confidently as she walked right up to me and stepped perfectly into my personal space.
She smelled like warm vanilla and expensive jasmine.
My heart nearly stopped when her soft fingers brushed my collar.
I looked down as she expertly began to untie the ugly tie, her brow furrowing in deep concentration.
I watched the way her dark, long eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks. I watched the soft, pink of her skin and the way her lower lip caught slightly between her teeth as she focused.
After she was done, she turned to her father's desk, grabbed a dark silver tie from a gift box and turned back to me.
She looped the new silk around my neck.
The back of her warm fingers gently grazed the skin of my throat.
A violent shiver ran down my spine.
I didn't care about the millions of dollars I was supposed to be discussing with her father. I didn't care about my family's legacy or the files sitting on the desk.
All I cared about was the beautiful, infuriating girl standing right in front of me.
Every time she pulled the silk of the tie tight, it felt like she was tying a knot directly around my heart.
“There.” She smoothed it flat against my chest and finally looked into my eyes, tilting her head up. “Much better.” She said with a soft, rare smile.
In that single, perfect moment, I fell hopelessly and permanently in love with her.
Months later, Eren called me back. He gave me an address of a hospital and told me to go alone.
When I visited him, he looked thinner. Weaker.
That was the day I learned the terrible truth. Her father’s empire wasn't just failing. He was dying of a terminal illness and he only had months to live.
He made me promise to not tell her the truth.
I remembered clenching my jaw. “Why not tell her the truth?”
“Because she will throw away her life to sit by my bedside.” He replied. “She will stop living.”
Eren had planned everything.
He told me he would announce that he was relocating overseas for treatment. He would arrange for someone discreet to impersonate him from a distance. Occasional calls. Letters. Enough to keep Wendy at peace.
“She deserves six happy years.” He said. “Without grief.”
Then he held my hand and looked at me in a way that made my chest tighten.
“Marry her.”
I was stunned into silence.
“Take care of her.” He begged. “When I am gone, she will need someone powerful enough to protect her. Someone steady. Someone who loves her.”
I had been terrified. "She doesn't love me, Eren." I had argued, knowing she was already infatuated with Logan. "She will hate me for forcing this marriage on her."
But Eren had just shaken his head. "She is too young to know who she should love. Logan is greedy. He will ruin her. You are the only man strong enough to protect her, Reed. Be the bad guy. Let her hate you, as long as she is safe."
So, I did. I let her hate me. I swallowed my pride and let her treat me like a monster, all to protect her from the devastating truth that her father was already gone.
Present…
I looked back down at Wendy’s pale face in the hospital bed.
My chest ached so badly I could barely breathe. I thought I was protecting her by forcing her into this marriage. But all I did was push her away until she crashed her car trying to escape me.
I brought her cold fingers to my lips and kissed them softly, letting my tears fall freely onto her skin.
"Just open your eyes." I begged her softly. "Just wake up."
I made the hardest decision of my entire life right then and there.
"When you wake up, I will tell you everything." I promised her. "I will tell you the truth about your father, and the contract. I will tell you everything."
I took a painful breath, feeling my heart shatter into a million tiny pieces. "And then... I will sign the divorce papers and set you free."
- Writer
