My Husband Held Our Daughter Hostage for His Mistress and Regretted It Too Late

I took my daughter out for shopping on my delightful birthday,but I had just glanced at a work message when she suddenly vanished.

Panicked,I rushed to check the security cameras,but what I saw shattered my world in an instant.

The footage showed that the man who took my daughter…was her father.

I called him again and again,desperate.When the line finally connected,it wasn’t his voice I heard.Instead,a smug,taunting voice came through.It was his mistress.

“Oh,your daughter?My husband sold her to some old man in the mountains.With the money,he bought me the newest designer handbag.Isn’t it gorgeous?”

In that instant,my heart sank to the bottom.

So this was Ethan Lorrimer,the man who had forgotten who pulled his failing,bankrupt company back from the edge.

The man who forgot that my status as the only daughter of the Sinclair Family in New York was never just for show.

***

I gripped the phone so tightly my knuckles turned white.My ears rang,Natalie's mocking voice still echoing in my head.

For a platinum bag,my daughter was…sold.

These words kept circling in my head until my vision blurred.

My stomach churned as I retched over,but nothing came out,only a bitter acid burning my throat.

Ethan Lorrimer,how dare you?She is your own daughter!

Our girl,Emma,was only five.

She had just been hugging my neck this morning,her little voice chirping,“Happy birthday,Mommy!”and begging for the biggest slice of cake.

Now I was shaking so hard I could barely stay on my feet,clutching the wall to keep from falling.It felt like an icy fist was crushing my heart,squeezing the breath out of me.

With trembling fingers,I dialed Ethan again.No connection.I tried again and again.Nothing.

I called his assistant,his driver,yet no one picked up.

And then I realized something.They were all in on it.This had been planned from the start.

Just then,my phone lit up with an unknown number.

Like a drowning woman grasping at a lifeline,I snatched it up,my voice raw and desperate,“Hello?Ethan!What did you do to Emma?Give me back my daughter!”

There was silence on the other end for a few seconds.Then,to my shock,Natalie’s voice came through,laced with laughter.

“Oh,Jenna,Jenna Sinclair.Don’t get yourself so worked up.It’s not worth ruining your health.”

Her again.

Rage surged through me so hot it made me dizzy.My teeth chattered as I snapped,“Natalie,put Ethan on the phone!I want to talk to him!”

"My husband?He's asleep.He looks so tired,poor thing,"she spoke slowly,her tone dripping with meaning.

Then,almost playfully,she added,"It was rough,I was overwhelmed...Oh,I should to thank you,though,Jenna."

"Thank me?For what?For being blind enough to marry that useless man beside you?"I shot back,my voice breaking with anger.

"No.For feeding him so well."Natalie chuckled,then dropped her voice lower.

“Otherwise,how could he have the energy to spoil me so much?The truth is,he told me he treats me so much better than he ever treated you.He even said you were like a dead fish in bed,that touching you felt like bad luck.”

My head buzzed until it felt like it would split.

Ethan actually said that?

He had taken the most private,humiliating part of our marriage and turned it into a joke with another woman.

A wave of nausea hit me so hard I nearly threw the phone away.

“Oh,and one more thing,”Natalie went on,her voice casual as if she were commenting on the weather.

“He told me about that scar on your waist.Didn’t you get it when you stabbed one of those thugs who attacked him?Tsk,tsk—so foolish.”

“He said the scar made him feel sick,like looking at a centipede.That’s why every time he touched you,he had to turn off the lights.Otherwise,he couldn’t even get aroused.Hahaha.”

Her laughter was sharp and cruel.

My blood ran cold.All my strength drained away.I slid down the wall and sank to the cold floor.

That scar.

It was the year we graduated from college.He had just started his business and had crossed the wrong people.One night,they cornered us in a dark alley.I rushed in like a madwoman,trying so hard to protect him.

A fruit knife cut deep and I ended up spending two weeks in the hospital.He stayed by my bedside every day,crying like a child,promising to cherish me for the rest of his life.

Now,remembering that,I could only force a bitter smile.

So it was because of that scar that he lost his desire.

So,because of that scar,he couldn't even get aroused.

So every time his hands brushed that scar,all his talk about“this makes my heart ache”had been nothing but an act.

The pain in my chest felt like being cut again and again with a dull blade,far worse than the wound I got that night.

“And there’s more,”Natalie’s voice cut back in.

“Did you ever wonder why Ethan was so eager to take you to that new French restaurant last year?”

“It was because he lost a bet with me.The bet was that he would take you out for seafood.Honestly,I didn’t think you would survive it.”

I snapped my head up,my eyes wide with shock.

That was when I suffered a severe allergic reaction.I had spent a whole night in the hospital.The doctor said that if I had arrived a few minutes later,I could have died.

He had stood outside my door,his eyes red,looking helpless.In the end,it was all just a bet?

“Why...”My voice shook as I asked,“Natalie,why?I never did anything to you.”

“Why,you asked?”She laughed and then her tone went cold and cruel.“Because you act so arrogantly.It’s disgusting.”

“The only daughter of the Sinclair Family in town,so special.But you and your family have been nothing but used.Everything you have should be mine.Ethan loves me.He says I make him feel like a real man.Besides having a rich father,what do you even have?”

She took a breath,like she had been holding this in for a long time and her voice climbed.

“And your daughter…that little girl cries so much.But it doesn’t matter.She’ll suffer plenty.Those old men in the mountains won’t mind the noise.Feed her,give her a roof and she’ll be married off.Hahaha.”