The Message I Sent To Test Their Love

Chapter 3

I curled up on the couch, drifting in and out of consciousness as a fever burned through me.

Somewhere in the haze, I felt a blanket settle over my body. Someone gently wiped my palms with an alcohol pad.

I struggled to open my eyes and found Stanley staring back at me.

"You're awake?" Stanley said with a sigh.

"Sharon, you need to be a little more reasonable. Haven't I spent enough time taking care of you these past 3 years? Just be good, okay? Go back to Kingsford in the morning. Then everything can go back to the way it was."

I stared at him. My throat felt stuffed with wet cotton. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't force out a single word.

When I stayed silent, Stanley sighed again and headed into the kitchen to get me some medicine.

He had just walked back toward me with a glass in his hand when Nicole's panicked cry suddenly came from the bedroom.

"Stanley! Come here, quick!"

Stanley whipped around on instinct. His hand jerked violently.

Scalding water splashed out of the mug, most of it pouring directly onto my legs.

A scream tore from my throat as searing pain shot through my legs.

But Stanley acted like he hadn't heard me at all. He tossed the glass aside and rushed straight for the bedroom.

Less than 30 seconds later, he came hurrying back out with Nicole in his arms.

Her arms were covered in angry red welts. Her face was buried against Stanley's neck.

The moment she saw me, her tears fell even harder. "Sharon, I know you hate me, but you can't use my allergy against me like this. You know I'm severely allergic to peaches. You could've killed me."

"I didn't do anything." My voice came out hoarse as I braced one hand against the couch and tried to stand. "I didn't even touch you."

"Nicole has only been around you and me since we got back. If it wasn't you, then who was it?"

Stanley's brows pulled into a deep frown. The disappointment in his eyes cut straight through me.

"Sharon Howard, what happened to you? How did you become this kind of person?"

He didn't spare me another glance. He carried Nicole out the front door.

Cold air rushed in through the entryway, making my entire body shake.

The burns on my legs throbbed with pain. My head felt like it had been filled with lead.

I limped toward the front door. But the second I pulled it open, I came face to face with two police officers.

"Ms. Sharon Howard?" the officer in front asked, holding up his badge.

"The homeowner, Mr. Stanley Edwards reported that you entered his residence without permission and refused to leave. We're going to need you to come with us and answer a few questions."

I froze. "Stanley is my husband. We're married. I have our marriage certificate."

My hands shook as I pulled out my phone and opened the photo of our marriage certificate that I'd kept on my phone all these years.

The officer frowned as he looked at it. Then he pulled a photograph from the folder in his hands and held it out to me.

Stanley was wearing a suit. Nicole stood beside him in a white veil. They were smiling so brightly they looked like the happiest couple in the world.

Behind them stood the grand cathedral of Saint Aurelia, a tiny city-state notorious for making divorce nearly impossible.

"Mr. Edwards and Ms. Howard were legally married overseas three years ago. The certificate you have is fake."

I stumbled backward. My back slammed hard against the doorframe. In an instant, every drop of blood in my body seemed to turn to ice.

Then my phone rang.

Stanley.

I answered. His voice came through the speaker, cold and controlled.

"Sharon, I've let you get away with too much these past few years. That's why you thought you could hurt Nicole right in front of me and get away with it. This time, you need to learn a lesson. You need to understand what's acceptable and what isn't."

Something inside me shattered. I screamed into the phone. "Stanley! Why did you lie to me?!"

There was a second of silence. Then Stanley answered as if the explanation were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Sharon, we've stayed by your side for years. We've taken care of you. We've protected you. Wasn't that enough? What's so wrong with letting Nicole be the one I'm legally married to?"

Before I could answer, Tiffany's irritated voice came through from the other end.

"Sharon, haven't you caused enough trouble already? Nicole is still in the hospital because of her allergic reaction!"

Then Peter sighed. "We did everything we could to keep this from happening, and the second you saw Nicole again, you hurt her."

I wiped the tears from my face. Slowly, I straightened my back.

I didn't argue anymore. There was no point. I looked at the officers and gave a numb little nod.

"I'll go with you."

They led me away from the house. Behind me, the house glowed warmly against the darkness.

Someone else's home. Someone else's husband.

And me? I had nothing.