Called a Mistress, I Left Him

Chapter 2

The next day, I headed to the Smith family's estate. I spread all eight divorce certificates out on the table right in front of Robert's mom.

"Mom, Robert and I got divorced again."

She glanced at me, her eyes soft with pity, then let out a deep, weary sigh. "It's Robert who wronged you. You two were so happy once, back then. But this time it's really different! I've reached out to so many doctors, and they all say the chances of him recovering are really good."

Robert's mom pushed a doctor's business card across the table toward me, hope shining bright in her eyes.

"I'm getting old now. All I want is for you two kids to live a good, steady life together. He's even started remembering a lot of things from the past lately..."

She hadn't even finished her plea before I cut her off.

"But he still hasn't remembered a single thing about me."

I dropped my gaze, looking away to avoid that pitying stare.

An awkward silence settled over the room, until she suddenly broke it, "If you leave now, and Robert remembers you later but can't find you? He'll lose his mind completely."

This was the exact same line she'd given me every single time we'd gotten divorced over the past three years.

Every single time she said it, my resolve melted. I caved, over and over. We got remarried, over and over.

I hadn't even gotten a chance to reply before the sound of footsteps echoed from the entrance.

Robert walked in, and the second his eyes landed on me, his dark brows snapped together into a harsh scowl.

"Jane Chastin, what, you came running to my mom to snitch again? I kicked you out for good, and you're still stalking me. You just can't take a hint. You seriously can't survive without me, can you?!"

Robert's mom's chest heaved with rage. She shot to her feet so fast the chair scraped the floor, swung her arm. Suddenly, the stinging slap landed hard across Robert's cheek.

"Have you not had enough of this nonsense? How much more are you going to push Jane before you're satisfied? If it wasn't for her, you'd have been dead years ago!"

I sat frozen on the sofa, my hands clenched so tight my knuckles turned white. I couldn't help but flash back to seven years ago.

Back then, his marriage to Zara had been nothing but pure agony.

Zara got every last bit of his love, all while she was seeing another man behind his back.

When his wife cheated on him, he went from the respected young heir to the biggest laughingstock among all the wealthy young socialites overnight.

When he stormed over to confront her, she'd already stolen one million dollars and vanished without a trace.

After that, Robert fell into a crippling depression. The day he stood on the river bridge ready to jump, I was the one who pulled him back from the edge. I saved his life.

"So what? She's just after my money, isn't she?" Robert stared stubbornly back at his mother, unshaken.

"I don't care what Zara did in the past. I love her, and I'll never love anyone else. And I'll never regret it."

All the strength drained out of Robert’s mom in an instant, like someone had pulled the plug right out of her.

She turned back to me, her eyes heavy with unspoken apology.

Robert rubbed his temples roughly, then tilted his chin up like he was granting me a great, reluctant favor.

"Jane, if you're that desperate to remarry me, fine. We'll just get divorced again anyway, and you'll be the one humiliated, not me. Can't live without me that bad? Let's go to the civil affairs bureau right now. This is your eighth divorce already, isn't it?"

I tugged the corner of my mouth into a cold, empty half-smile. I couldn't force this cold, bitter stranger in front of me to fit the memory of the Robert I once knew.

"I just came here to get everything out in the clear with Mom. You're free now, Robert."

Robert froze. The hand hanging loose at his side trembled, almost unnoticeably.

He gaped at me, stunned, but quickly schooled his face back into that familiar arrogant sneer.

"Playing hard to get, huh? Too bad that trick doesn't work on me. Fine, this is what you said. Don't come crawling back to me begging for attention later." Robert spat the words out through gritted teeth.

He ignored his mom's frantic attempts to stop him, slammed the thing he’d been holding down onto the floor with a loud clatter, and stormed out without a backward glance.

Robert’s mom's vision was spotted with rage, and she roared after his retreating back, "You're going to regret this!"