Chapter3

Her voice dripped with malicious triumph.

"Do you truly believe Kael took all that pressure for you?

Do you think his heart broke watching you suffer through IVF?"

She let out a cold laugh. Every word shattered my illusions.

"Last March. The blizzard. When you were hemorrhaging...

he didn't go to the airport. He drove through the snow. To my house."

I froze. A bone-deep chill swept through my veins.

I already knew about the affair. But this... this was a new level of cruelty.

In my darkest, most agonizing moments,

while I lay bleeding out... he wasn't at the hospital.

He was playing house with my best friend.

Every drop of blood, sweat, and tear I sacrificed meant absolutely nothing to him.

I tuned out the rest of her vicious words. I simply let my fingers go slack.

The wine glass shattered against the floor.

"Adeline!" Kael shoved past his friends.

He sprinted over, stripping off his suit jacket to wrap around my shoulders.

He looked terrified. "What's wrong? Let's go to the ER."

Looking at him made me want to vomit.

He wasn't protecting me.

Terrified he would rip off his flawless mask and ruin his pristine reputation.

He never cared about me. Only his image.

Celeste sauntered over, cocktail in hand.

Her smile was pure mockery. "Did my necklace upset you?"

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

Kael settled a murderous glare on her. "Shut up. It's not your place to speak."

To the onlookers, he was the fiercely protective husband.

Only I knew the truth. He was warning his mistress to shut up.

"Let go of me." I shrugged off his hands.

My voice was dead flat. "I'm going to the restroom."

Celeste followed me. She leaned lazily against the doorframe.

"You actually think he was defending you out there?

He was just terrified I'd announce our son to the room.

He even bought a plot of land for me.

Built a custom estate. It's for us. A family of three."

A family of three.

The words hit my chest like a physical blow.

I shook with literal rage. I was done.

Tomorrow, I was leaving. And I would never come back.

3:00 AM.

Kael pulled me into a gentle embrace.

He buried his face in the crook of my neck.

His voice was exhausted but tender.

"Once this project is done, I'm taking you to Iceland. Just the two of us."

"My doctor recommended the South for recovery,"

I replied quietly.

"I booked a private yacht for tomorrow."

"Good."

He kissed the top of my head, exhaling a quiet sigh of relief.

"Go clear your head. I'll be right here waiting for you."

He would never know. I wasn't coming back.

The next morning.

After Kael left for the office, I packed nothing but a small bag holding my passport.

I walked into his study. I looked down at my left hand.

Slowly, I slid off my diamond wedding ring.

He had custom-designed this piece three years ago.

I still remembered the day he slipped it onto my finger. His hands had trembled.

He had looked at me with such profound devotion,

promising to cherish and protect me for the rest of our lives.

I had worn it like a sacred vow.

Now, It wasn't a symbol of love anymore;

it was a dazzling, expensive monument to an eight-year lie.

A single tear slipped free, mourning the foolish girl who had loved him so desperately.

I took it off.

I placed the ring inside his wall safe,

right on top of my medical report and the printed screenshots of Celeste's taunting texts.

Then, I locked it.

Eventually, he would open it.

And then, he would finally understand. His betrayal had cost him me, and my unborn baby, forever.

Right before I stepped out the door, my phone buzzed.

A text from Celeste. She wanted me to come over.

I knew I shouldn't go. But a morbid curiosity took over.

I needed to see exactly what else she wanted to rub in my face.

I pulled up to the secluded estate.

The moment I stood at the wrought-iron fence, I froze.

The sight before me stole the breath from my lungs.

The courtyard was packed.

Kael’s parents. His uncles. His aunts.

The entire extended Voss family was there.

They were throwing a birthday party.

Celeste stood dead center, holding that little boy.

Basking in the family's glowing admiration.

Kael stood right beside them. He hovered, fiercely protective of his true family.

His face held a serene, profound tenderness I had never once seen directed at me.

This was their picture-perfect life.

An older relative stepped forward.

He clasped a pure gold longevity lock around the baby's neck.

He laughed, his voice booming over the crowd.

"Happy first birthday to the only grandson of the Voss family!

Welcome home, kid! It's time to officially make him a true Voss!"

A true Voss!

The words hit me so hard I couldn't breathe.

The entire family knew. The entire family approved.

They clustered around the child, laughing and cheering. A perfect, joyous portrait.

My three years of agonizing IVF injections, my very existence as his legal wife...

It was all trampled into the dirt. I was nothing but a punchline.

White-hot pain ripped through my chest. The tears finally spilled over.

I wasn't weeping because he didn't love me.

I hated myself. I had gambled my best years on an absolute lie.

I closed my eyes. When I snapped them open, the grief was gone. Only ice remained.

There was absolutely nothing left for me here.

Leaving was my only way out.

It was the absolute last shred of protection I could offer myself, and my unborn child.

I spun on my heel and walked away.

I didn't look back. I put one foot in front of the other, leaving that suffocating estate behind me.

Goodbye, Kael. Goodbye to three years of love and marriage.

Starting tomorrow, you would wake up to the truth and choke on your guilt.

You would spend the rest of your life rotting in regret.

Because as of today, Adeline no longer existed.