Chapter 3
1135 Words
Chapter 3
Emily Saint
~•~
“I’d like my fiancée to join me on the stage… Celeste, can you come up here?” Christian’s voice continued to replay in my head.
My heart was beating really fast.
Celeste was already on the stage with him, and he held her so closely like he was afraid she would disappear if he let go for even a second.
My eyes burned with tears.
My husband was calling someone else his fiancée. I couldn’t take it anymore. I stood up immediately.
I was tempted to go up to that stage and make sure both of them felt the same pain I was feeling, but I couldn’t.
Instead, I ran outside the building.
The paparazzi were going to have a field day with this drama.
When I got outside, I found the car and entered quickly because cameras were already flashing on my face.
I felt so degraded.
“Take me home,” I said to the driver. “I don’t care what he told you, take me home right now,” I added, my voice shaky.
With a nod, the driver started the car and pulled out of the driveway. I was certain that he only obeyed because he felt pity for me.
As soon as I got to the house, I rummaged through my purse to find my phone.
My hands were shaking as I dialed my sister’s number. It took a while before she answered the phone.
“Emily, are you okay?” Tricia’s concerned voice came through the other end of the line.
I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. “Why are you asking me if I am okay? Is it on the news already?”
She let out a sharp exhale. “Yes.”
My breath caught. “Really?”
“I’m so sorry, Emily,” she continued. “Do you want me to pick you up? Where are you?”
My tone was unsteady. “N—no, you don’t… you don’t have to pick me,” I replied quietly. “I’ll be fine. I just need a glass of water.”
Tricia was quiet for a while.
She listened as I let out silent sobs.
“Why can’t you leave him?” She finally asked after a moment. “Why are you still with someone who has shown you multiple times that he doesn’t care about you?”
A lone tear dropped from my eye.
“I love him, Tricia,” I admitted, my voice low. “I’ve tried to convince myself that I can leave him and start my life on my own, but I just don’t have the courage to do it.”
She let out a wistful sigh. “Why did he call her his fiancée? Are you divorced now?” Tricia continued, her voice careful.
Divorce?
The word sounded like a scary threat.
I didn’t want to get divorced. I didn’t want it to be because of his ex either.
“No.” I shook my head. “We aren’t divorced. I have no idea why he called her his fiancée. Or maybe I didn’t hear him well.”
“You did,” Tricia said quietly. “Everyone heard it. Even people who weren’t there. It’s everywhere on the news.”
I closed my eyes briefly, letting out a broken breath that felt like it scraped my lungs on the way out.
Of course it was.
Of course, the whole world had heard it.
He humiliated me publicly.
My grip tightened around the phone.
Before I could say anything else, I heard the front door open. A few moments later, Christian stepped into the living room.
“I’ll call you later,” I whispered to my sister and ended the call. Then I turned to Christian. “I wasn’t expecting you to come back so soon.”
I pressed my lips together, fighting the tears that were threatening to spill again. Why couldn’t I stop crying?
Christian took a few steps forward until he was closing the distance between us. “Why did you leave the gala? You didn’t even tell me that you were leaving.”
A bitter scoff escaped my lips.
Was that what he was concerned about? Was that what he wanted to talk about?
“You called her your fiancée,” I murmured, my voice smaller than I’d intended. “You embarrassed me in front of everyone.”
Christian dragged a hand through his hair, wearing a careless grin. “But you know that Celeste was my fiancée before we met, right?”
“She was your fiancée, and you got separated. You have no right to introduce her to everyone as your fiancée anymore,” I replied. “You’re a married man, Christian.”
“This is barely a marriage,” he sighed as he took off his tie. “I don’t know why you just can’t let it go.”
Everything inside me went cold.
“Christian?” I managed, my throat tight. “So you’re really going to embarrass me like that, and act like what we have is nothing?”
He looked at me for a long moment, as though he was studying my face. “When are you going to accept the fact that we don’t love each other, and we are only married on paper?”
The words didn’t just hurt. They shattered something. Maybe he didn’t love me. But I loved him.
And that was the most pathetic part of it all.
A hollow laugh slipped past my lips before I could stop it. “Only on paper? Is that what all of this has been to you?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
He walked past me like the conversation bored him, like I wasn’t standing there breaking right in front of him.
“I’ve never lied to you, Emily,” he finally said, loosening his cufflinks and placing them casually on the table. “You knew what this was from the beginning.”
He was right.
I knew.
“But you told me you loved me. You told me I was the woman of your dreams. You told me you only wanted me.”
I had to remind him in case he had forgotten.
“Yes, I did,” he muttered. “But that was before we got married. You knew that I never wanted to get married to you.”
A dull ache settled behind my ribs.
“Okay,” I said with a deep breath. “Even if you didn’t want to get married to me, we are already married now. Why did you call Celeste your fiancée when you’re still with me?”
He didn’t hesitate. “She’s pregnant… and I’m the father of the baby.”
- Writer
