My Husband Hid His Son from Me

Chapter 2

Wesley heard the sound of retching, and a strange feeling stirred in his gut. He had just picked up the little boy and was about to step forward when rapid, heavy footsteps barreled toward him from behind.

"Wesley!"

Chloe froze. That voice was seared into her memory. She spun around, and her eyes landed on a woman dressed in a sharp business suit.

It was Madeline Monroe, the low-income student she'd pulled out of abject poverty, personally put through college. She had sworn over and over that she saw Chloe as her dear sister!

Madeline's face crumpled with worry as her gaze locked on the little boy. "What did the doctor say?"

The man holding the child spoke to the woman. Their exchange was warm and easy, the air between them so intimate they might as well have been a real, perfect little family. By the time Chloe snapped out of her daze, they were already walking further and further away.

Chloe watched them go, one hand fumbling for the wall to hold herself upright. Her face was as pale as a sheet, and tears blurred her vision.

Before that day, she'd never in a million years imagined her husband, the cold, unobtainable man who seemed too good for anyone, would cheat. She'd never even entertained the thought that Madeline could stab her in the back.

Chloe refused to let this go. She got in her car and followed them at a distance.

She had to know where Wesley had hidden this mother and son all these years, how he'd kept her completely in the dark without a single hint of something being off.

It wasn't long before their car pulled up in front of a villa. They walked inside, and the door swung shut slowly, cutting off her line of sight entirely.

Chloe's hands on the steering wheel shook so hard she could barely grip it, because she realized this villa was an exact copy of the one that had been their wedding home!

She stared fixedly at the closed door. Inside her sealed-up car, her breaths came faster and faster, ragged and sharp, until the pain in her chest was so intense she was almost numb to it.

Properties in the downtown upscale neighborhood were as rare as hen's teeth. Their marital home was in Starhaven Residence, and this very villa sat right next door in Brookhaven Residence. Only a little over half a mile separated the two properties.

Wesley and Madeline had secretly set up home right under her nose, and even had a son together. The boy was five years old.

That meant for the past five years, while she'd been trapped in endless agony over the loss of her children, unable to pull herself out of the abyss of grief, Wesley had been living the perfect, warm family life with Madeline and their son. He had a new home, a new child. Why the hell would he have given a second thought to their twins, who'd died in that terrible accident?

Chloe sat frozen in the car. As if deliberately torturing herself, she fumbled in her bag for her phone and dialed Wesley's number yet again.

He didn't pick up the first time, so she hit Redial a second time.

She lost count of how many times she called him. It was exactly like all those times she'd spiraled into emotional breakdowns over the past five years: she'd dial his number over and over, knowing full well he wouldn't answer, but still jabbing the call button again and again.

Finally, as the sky darkened completely, her phone died and slipped right out of her limp hand.

She blinked back the stinging burn in her tired, swollen eyes, and tears splattered down.

Lights flickered on across the villa neighborhood, and a warm glow seeped into the dark, dim car. Through the sheer curtains covering the villa's floor-to-ceiling windows, she could just make out two figures locked in a tight embrace.

Chloe pressed her lips into a thin, hard line, fighting with every fiber of her being to stay calm. But her chin still trembled uncontrollably, no matter how hard she tried to stop it.

It felt like a sharp knife was twisting and tearing at her heart, raw agony crushing her until she was drowning in despair. She was this close to losing her mind entirely!

She reached out and curled her fingers around the car door handle. The second she was about to push the door open, her gaze landed on the pregnancy confirmation form sitting on the center console.

The words her lost twin children had whispered to her in a dream rang loud and clear in her head.

Finally, she let go of the door handle and dropped her hand back into her lap.

From this day forward, the baby in her belly belonged only to her.

Chloe drove back home and tucked the pregnancy test report out of sight.

Wesley didn't come home that entire night. He didn't even bother to call her back.

Chloe didn't try calling him again. Instead, she pulled up her contacts list and dialed her lawyer friend Quinn Sullivan. When Quinn heard she wanted a divorce, she thought she was just throwing another fit and sighed wearily. "Chloe, he was just as torn up as you were when you lost the kids. It's about time you let this go."

She'd heard this same kind of advice a thousand times over the past five years. All her friends pitied her for losing her children, but every single one of them kept telling her to cut Wesley some slack because he was also having a hard time.

Once, she'd even beaten herself up over it, convinced she was being too harsh. But after walking in on Wesley playing happy family with Madeline and their son yesterday? She finally realized what a naive fool she'd been this whole time.

How could that man possibly be in pain?

He was over there enjoying every minute of warm, happy family time with his perfect little trio, soaking up all the joy of having a wife and child by his side. The second he laid eyes on her back home? He probably just saw a raving, unreasonable lunatic.

All the signs had been right in front of her this whole time, every time he'd lied about working late or having business dinners to skip coming home. She'd just been too blind to see them.

The thought of that little boy sent a sharp, stabbing pain lancing through her chest.

Her poor twins never should have had to suffer a father who cared so little about them.

Bitterness and rage boiled over in Chloe, filling every last inch of her. There was no way in hell she was going to keep living like this. Her voice was sharp and unshakable when she spoke. "Quinn, I want a divorce. Wesley's the one at fault here, and I'm making sure he leaves this marriage with nothing."

Quinn was completely floored. Chloe fought to pull herself together, but when she spoke again, her voice still cracked with a sob. "The child he's been keeping secret is five years old, exactly the same age as my forever lost babies..."