Betrayed On Our Anniversary, I Quit

Chapter 2

Anne stared blankly at Wayne for a heartbeat, then a shrill scream tore out of her throat. "Didn't you hear what she just said? That's the one thing we never let anyone say about us!"

But Wayne only reached up to cup Sasha's face, his touch soft with pity, his voice cold and laced with biting self-mockery, "She's right. You and I we're just bastards. We'll never be fit for a decent society."

Anne couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her nails dug so deep into her palms it hurt.

"Wayne, have you lost your mind?" Her voice shook so badly it barely came out. "We've fought tooth and nail for all these years just to stop people from spitting the word 'bastard' at us for the rest of our lives! How can you just stand there now and—"

It had been him, once. He'd cupped her face in his big, warm hands and whispered soft promises, "Don't worry, Anne. I'll work so hard, I swear. No one will ever get to mock us for who we are ever again."

But now, he was the one holding the bully close, tearing their last shred of dignity to pieces with his own two hands.

When he turned to carry Sasha away, Anne snatched up a knife and pressed its sharp edge hard against her own throat.

"Wayne!" She screamed until her throat went raw, her eyes bloodshot and blazing with rage. "Take one more step with her, and I'll die right here in front of you!"

She still clung to a tiny, desperate sliver of hope. This trick had always worked before. He'd always melted into helpless softness, too scared to push her any further.

But this time, Wayne only paused for half a second, then let out a heavy, exhausted sigh.

"This again? I've put up with this for ten years. I'm just tired now. If you're gonna die, just do it."

The second the words left his mouth, Anne froze. All the fire and fury drained out of her in an instant.

"This isn't right. This isn't how it's supposed to go." She sobbed so hard she could barely breathe, her hands and feet turning ice-cold against her will. "You promised me! You said I couldn't die, not before you. You said even if you had to chase me all the way…"

Even if she ran all the way to nowhere, he'd drag her back here. He'd said that to her himself, back when they were in high school.

Anne was an illegitimate child, and her mother had died when she was young.

To survive, she'd locked away every last bit of her soft, naive innocence and grown sharp thorns all over her skin, and turned herself into a prickly hedgehog to survive.

That all changed the day Anne's status as an illegitimate daughter came to light.

Sasha showed up with her gang of bullies and overturned her grandma's food stall completely.

"How dare any of you eat food from an illegitimate bastard's family? Aren't you scared you'll get poisoned and die?!"

Anne threw her arms open to shield her frail, elderly grandma. She’d bit her lip so hard it split open, and the coppery tang of blood filled her mouth.

"Sasha! I never tried to claim a spot in the Guevarra family, and I never did anything to hurt you! Why won't you just leave me alone?!"

"Claim a spot in the Guevarra family?" Sasha’s eyes glinted like poisoned shards of glass as she clamped her hand around Anne's throat and squeezed hard. "A disgusting little bastard like you doesn't deserve that! Your mother snuck around and had you, and look what a rotten end she got! Why don't you drag this old hag down to hell with her to keep her company? I'm the only rightful heiress of the Guevarra family! If I hit you, you take it like the mutt you are!"

Anne glared back at her with all the rage she could muster, her gaze sharp enough to cut. "If you ever dare hurt me or my grandma again, I'll bash my own brains out right in front of the Guevarra family gate! I'll let the whole world know you drove an innocent person to death, and you'll lose every last bit of your good name!"

Her words set Sasha off instantly, red-hot anger flooding her face. "You dare threaten me? Get her!"

Outnumbered and outmatched, there was nothing Anne could do but watch as every last bite of food her grandma had slaved over got dumped onto the dirty ground and crunch-stomped into a mushy, unrecognizable mess.

That little food stall was her grandma's only source of income. The two of them relied on that meager money to pay for Anne's school tuition.

But right when all hope seemed lost, Wayne came barreling in to protect her, and he beat Sasha black and blue without holding back.

"I've got nothing to lose anyway! You so much as touch her and I'll kill you. I don't care if I go to jail for it!" he roared.

The raw, murderous fury in his eyes scared Sasha stiff. She spat out a curse calling him a lunatic and finally fled, ending the attack.

After that, Wayne started hanging around Anne's grandma's stall every single day after school, standing guard to keep any more trouble away.

It wasn't until much later that Anne found out the truth.

To beg Sasha to leave them alone, Wayne had gotten down on his knees in front of her and taken dozens of hard lashes to his bare back.

Sasha even filmed the whole thing to humiliate him. She called the two of them a pair of shameless bastards, and spread disgusting rumors all over school that Wayne and Anne had already slept together.

Wayne took every last bit of it without a word.

When Anne ran her fingers over the raw, crisscrossing whip marks on his back, she couldn't hold back anymore. Hot tears came streaming down her face, one after another.

But Wayne just brushed it off and comforted her. "Anne, crying isn't like you. Stay tough, like you always are."

From that day on, Anne threw herself into her studies, grinding day and night to claw her way to every scholarship she could get.

She pushed herself this hard for one reason only. So they'd never be at anyone's mercy or have to swallow insults ever again.

Then, her phone buzzed suddenly in her pocket. Sasha sent her a video.

In the clip, Wayne knelt bare-chested in front of Sasha, a dog collar locked tight around his neck.

She lounged lazily on the sofa, the leash from the collar held loosely in her hand.

"Wayne," she said. "Your wife just messed with me. I'm not in the mood to put up with any of your crap today. What are you gonna do to make this up to me?"

Wayne bent his head and kissed her foot, then held the whip out to her with his own hands. "Hit me. However hard you need to let it out."

Sasha snatched the whip, and cracked it down hard across his back.

Once. Twice...

She didn't stop until her arm ached, and she had no strength left to swing.

That was when Wayne suddenly surged up, wild and brutal, and pinned her under his body. His kisses crashed down on her, thick and overwhelming.

"You hit me thirty times. Now it's my turn to take your life."

"You bastard..." Sasha breathed, looping her arms around his neck and letting her eyes flutter shut.

By the time Anne made it this far into the video, her whole body was shaking uncontrollably.

After everything, Wayne had personally put that dog leash back into Sasha's hands.

A second text pinged from Sasha, sharp and mocking.

Sasha: Because you hurt me just now, he's right here sweet-talking to me to make me feel better.

Sasha: Anne, you're nothing but a goddamn clown from start to finish.