Chapter 11
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Aaron felt a wave of nausea rise in his throat.
Back at the wedding, he’d already cringed every time Nancy called him ‘honey‘ or ‘husband‘. That words had always belonged to me and no one else.
He’d wanted to correct Nancy, right there in front of everyone. But he’d held back. Not the time, not the place. He figured, once they got home, he’d lay it all out. Say what needed to be said. End this farce. So when Nancy leaned toward him, draping herself over him like a silk scarf, Aaron stepped back.
“Honey, what are you thinking about?” she asked, her voice sticky–sweet. “A night like this only comes once in a lifetime. Don’t you want to-”
“Stop,” Aaron growled, pushing her back onto the bed.
His expression was ice–cold.
“Nancy, let me be crystal clear,” he said, voice low and flat. “You’ve got this all wrong. I never intended to marry you for real. I just wanted your father to die in peace. That’s it.”
He paused for a beat, letting the weight of his words sink in before continuing, “Now that it’s done, I’ve fulfilled my promise. The only thing left is the baby. Once you give birth, I’ll wire you ten million. After that, I’m taking the child to live with Cassidy.”
He didn’t flinch. He thought he’d made it perfectly clear.
At one point, he’d toyed with the idea of a life with both women. Maybe he could make it work. Life’s long. Who said you only get to love once?
But the second he tried being with Nancy, he knew–he couldn’t do it.
Since then, not a single day passed without him thinking of me. Eating. Working. Even lying next to Nancy–he saw me.
He was addicted. Hopelessly hooked. He had screwed up, sure. But it wasn’t unforgivable. If he came clean now, maybe I would still take him back.
Thinking of me, Aaron grabbed his suit jacket from the couch. He couldn’t wait another second. He needed to see me.
A smile crept onto his face.
Nancy, meanwhile, stood there stunned. For a moment, she thought she’d misheard him. What did he mean, it was “just a promise“? What about all her planning, all the games she played to become Mrs. Mackey?
Now he thought he could toss her aside with a check?
And take her baby?
The venom in her eyes boiled over.
She never realized Aaron’s feelings for me ran so deep. They’d made it all the way to the altar–and still, he wanted to go back to me.
Nancy clenched her fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms. If I walked through that
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08:38 Tue, 17 Jun
door right now, Nancy wasn’t sure she could stop herself from wrapping her hands around my throat.
She bit her lip, holding back as much as she could, until the moment Aaron turned to leave, She finally reached out, clutching the sleeve of his shirt, tears brimming in her eyes as she cried out, “Aaron, are you really going to abandon me and our baby?”
Her tears soaked through the fabric of his sleeve, drop by drop, until the material was nearly drenched.
But Aaron’s expression didn’t show even a flicker of sympathy or hesitation.
08:39 Tue,
