Eight Years Wasted The Betrayal That Set Me Free

I stared, wide-eyed, unable to believe these words had come from the woman I'd loved for years.

But then I remembered she'd gotten a marriage license just to accompany Reuben for his medical treatment.

And suddenly, nothing she said or did seemed surprising anymore.

I was leaving anyway. Might as well do her this one last favor.

"Fine."

Maybe it was how easily I agreed that finally snapped Andrea out of her tunnel vision.

She noticed the shattered wedding photo on the floor for the first time.

Then she noticed the blood smeared across the top of my foot.

Her eyes went red in an instant, and she rushed back to the bedroom to grab the first aid kit.

The moment she was gone, Reuben lifted his chin and sneered at me.

"Ethan, you're really pathetic, you know that? You knew I was already Andrea's husband, and you still tried to go through with the wedding."

"So what if her mother doesn't like me? She can fight it all she wants. Doesn't change the fact that Andrea calls me her husband."

"And you? You're nothing but a homewrecker in everyone's eyes."

"Don't bother dreaming she'll divorce me and marry you in two years, either. Because..."

He tugged his collar to the side, revealing a trail of marks on his skin, his smile dripping with smugness.

"She told me I'm the only one who's ever made her feel true ecstasy."

"Oh, and you probably don't know this. Our first time was the night of your birthday."

I lowered my gaze to hide the tears that surged without warning.

So Andrea had betrayed me long ago.

And she'd played me for a fool, telling me to wait two more years.

My thirtieth birthday was the first time Andrea had ever thrown me a real celebration. But Reuben had shamelessly confessed his feelings to her that night.

She'd torn him apart in front of everyone, humiliating him so thoroughly he couldn't show his face.

But on the drive home, she'd dropped me off halfway up the hill, claiming something urgent had come up.

The next day, she came back full of apologies.

And proposed to me.

Said she wanted to give me a dream wedding.

I'd waited eight years for that moment.

The joy crushed every doubt, every uneasy feeling I'd been carrying.

But that same night, she forgot to lock the bathroom door. When I walked in, I saw the scratches down her back.

Fresh scratches. I demanded to know what happened.

She didn't even flinch. Said she'd been scratched by a cat.

Even pulled up her rabies vaccination record as proof.

I forced myself to believe her.

But my gut told me something was wrong. Even while planning the wedding, none of it felt real.

A voice in the back of my mind kept whispering: The only reason she finally agreed to marry me was guilt. Compensation for what she'd done behind my back.

I buried my head in the sand, too afraid to confirm it.

But I couldn't let it go, either. So I started following her in secret.

When I discovered that her so-called client meetings were actually visits to Reuben's apartment, I stopped digging. I just waited for her to come clean.

That was why I didn't press her when she skipped the rehearsal.

When she texted saying she needed to stay with Reuben for his treatment, I didn't object.

"Excuse me."

I had no interest in wasting another word on Reuben. I just wanted to leave.

But the second Andrea stepped out with the first aid kit, he grabbed my hand and threw himself backward into the pile of broken glass.

A sickening crunch.

Blood. On Reuben's hands. Pouring from his mouth.

He slurred his words, staring up at me with wide, accusing eyes.

"Ethan, I know you don't like me, but why would you push me?"

Andrea saw the blood and lunged forward, shoving me to the ground.

"Reuben, don't be scared. I'm taking you to the hospital right now."

She hauled him to his feet and rushed for the door.

Before she left, she turned and fixed me with a look cold enough to freeze.

"Ethan, I never thought you could be this vicious. Attacking a sick man. How could you?"

"If anything happens to him, there is no future for us."