HIS FORSAKEN WIFE HIS GREATEST REGRET

A Blast From The Past

Roberta's POV

I had told Millie everything. The one-night stand. The stranger. I was so ashamed. So scared. And Millie had held my hand and told me it would be okay.

"Jace," I steady my voice."We've been through this before. Have you forgotten that you broke up with me? Your mother was against our marriage. She made you break up with me. Jace, you... you left me." My voice cracked. "You told me you needed time. I was broken. I thought you had moved on. I thought you didn't want me anymore. You caused me pain. You didn't take my calls for two months, and that's when—" My voice broke. "That was when I met with the stranger. It happened when we broke up!"

"That's not entirely true." Jace stepped closer. His voice was low. "Yes, we broke up. But I promised you I was going to get my mother's approval. I was working on it. Every day. I was trying to find a way back to you. And then you went and f****d someone else."

He pointed at me like the betrayal still bled fresh inside him. "Gave him your virginity like a cheap whore."

My breath caught.

"That was supposed to be mine." His voice cracked. "Your first time. It was supposed to be mine, Roberta. And you gave it to a f*****g stranger."

"Jace—"

"Mine." He said it again, louder. His eyes glistened. "Do you know what that did to me? Do you know how many nights I lay awake imagining some random man's hands on you? On the woman I loved?"

Millie suddenly looked uncomfortable.

Jace’s voice broke.

“I loved you, Roberta."

Tears stood in his eyes now.

“I challenged my mother for the first time because of you." He snorted. "I had a gun to my head, Roberta. I threatened to kill myself if she didn't let me marry you. And you—the whole time you were sleeping with someone else."

"It was one time!" I yelled.

"It doesn't change anything!" He yelled back.

He looked shattered saying it.

My breathing became shaky.

"You told me back then that you forgave me. Jace, when you came back and asked to rekindle our relationship, I told you about the one night stand immediately. You said it didn't matter. I never kept it from you, and I never cheated on you."

"Neither did I cheat on you, Roberta." His voice broke. "Not once. I was faithful to you.

I couldn't breathe.

"When you told me about the one-night stand, I forgave you." Jace's voice was raw. "I held you and I told you it didn't matter. Because I loved you. Because I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. And then—then I found out Ziva wasn't mine when she was a year old."

He grabbed the papers from my hand. Shook them in the air.

"She wasn't mine, Roberta. And you knew. And you never said a word to me."

"Ziva is your daughter." I was sobbing now. "It's true I felt that I got pregnant from the one night stand. I had doubts so I got a DNA test. After Ziva was born. I got one too. And it said you were her father."

Jace stopped. "What?"

"I got a DNA test." I looked at Millie. "Millie knew about it. I sent Millie to pick up the results because I was too nervous to go myself. She brought them to me. They said you were the father. Jace. I swear."

Jace turned to Millie.

Millie's face changed.

"She's lying," Millie said. "The results I picked up said you were not the father. I showed it to Roberta, and she said she was going to keep it a secret. She said she would make you raise another man's child. That's why I told you the truth. Because you deserved to know."

"No." I shook my head. "No, that's not—Millie, why would you say that? You brought me the results. You handed them to me yourself. They said Jace was the father."

Millie shrugged. "Cut the drama Roberta. How long were you going to keep lying to him for?"

I opened my mouth. No words. Millie had prepared for this day. She had tricked me from day one.

Jace looked between us. His face was torn.

"Roberta." His voice was softer now. "If you weren't trying to trick me, why didn't you tell me you had doubts? Why did you go to Millie and not me? We reconciled two days after your one night stand and we made love. When we later found out about the pregnancy—why did you not tell me how you felt about Ziva's paternity? We were supposed to be partners. Why did you keep it from me?"

I sobbed. "Because I was ashamed." Tears poured harder. "And I was terrified. And when the test said you were the father, I was so relieved. I just wanted to forget. I wanted to put it in the past and never think about it again."

"Convenient," Millie said.

"Jace, you know me. I would never let you raise a child that wasn't yours. I loved you. I loved Ziva. More than anything, I would never do that to Ziva. Never."

Jace looked at me for a long time.

I looked at Millie. At her cold eyes. Her small smile.

And then it hit me.

She had picked up the results. She had brought them to me.

What if she changed them?

"Millie." My voice was quiet. "The test results you brought me. Did you—did you change them?"

Millie's smile didn't move. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you wanted Jace. You wanted him from the beginning. So you lied. You told him I was trying to trick him. You made him hate me. You made him hate Ziva."

"That's a nice story, Roberta. Keep telling yourself that."

"Is it true?"

Millie didn't answer.

Jace looked at her, and something flickered in his eyes. Doubt.

"Millie," he said. "Is there something—"

"Oh, for God's sake." Millie pulled away from him. "You're going to listen to her? After everything she did to you?"

"But what if she didn't—"

"She did." Millie's voice was hard. "And if you don't believe me, then you're a fool."

Jace looked at me. At Millie. Back at me.

"Jace." I stepped toward him. "I loved you. I never stopped loving you. Even when you were cold. Even when you ignored Ziva. I kept hoping you would come back to me. The man I married."

Jace's jaw tightened. I saw it. The war inside him. The love he once had for me. The years of anger. The doubt creeping in.

Millie stepped closer to Jace. Put her hand on his chest.

"She's a pathetic liar," Millie said. "She knowingly tricked you into raising another man's child. If not for me, you never would have known the truth."

Jace put his arm around Millie, and he pulled her close.

I watched them. My husband and my best friend. Standing together against me.

looked back at the papers crumpled on the floor. The dates. Ziva was one year old when he first tested her. That was exactly when everything changed. That was when he stopped coming home early. When he stopped kissing me goodbye. When he started looking through Ziva like she was a filthy rag.

"If you knew she wasn't yours," I said, "why didn't you just divorce me? Why didn't you let us go? Why did you make our lives a living hell? You took it out on her. On a child. On an innocent child who called you Daddy. Who just wanted you to see her."

Jace's jaw tightened.

"Because I wanted you to suffer." His voice was quiet. "The way I suffered when I found out you Ziva wasn't mine."

My chest heaved.

"After I found out she wasn't mine, every time I looked at her, I saw him." Jace's voice was breaking. "I saw some stranger's face. Some man who had what should have been mine. Your first time. Your body. Our daughter. And I had to sit there and pretend."

I was crying. Sobbing. "Why would you hurt Ziva like this?"She wore your surname! She lived in your house!”

I slapped my chest desperately.

“She loved you! Why would you punish a child for what you thought I did?"

"I know." His voice was barely a whisper. "That's what made it so easy to convince her to give Nolan, my one and only child, her bone marrow."

The words landed like knives.

"It was my revenge," Jace said. "Every day I didn't leave you. Every day I stayed in this marriage. Every time I looked at her and felt nothing—that was my revenge."

Jace turned to Millie. They kissed again. Deeper and slower. Right in front of me. His hand was on her face. Her hand was on his chest.

I stood there. Watching. My heart was a pile of broken glass.

"She's dead, Jace." My voice came out raw. "Ziva is dead. And you're talking about revenge."

They broke the kiss. Jace looked at me. His face was empty.

"I didn't want her to die," he said. "She saved Nolan after all. I'll always be grateful for that."

"Grateful."

"Accept my condolences."

"Accept your condolences?" I laughed. It was hollow. "You want me to accept your condolences?"

Millie stepped forward. "What else do you want? Go bury your bastard child."

Something inside me snapped.

Before I knew it, I slapped her hard across the face.

The sound cracked through the room.

Millie screamed. Jace reacted instantly.

His palm hit my face so hard my head whipped sideways, and I stumbled.

“Don’t ever touch her again!” he roared.

Then he pushed me so hard.

My body flew backwards.

The side of my head smashed violently against the sharp marble edge of the bedside table. The pain exploded.

Everything blurred instantly.

The last thing I heard was Jace shouting my name.