Stronger Than My Mistakes

A few minutes later, the doors of the school building swung open again.

But it wasn't the same teacher from before. This time, it was Teresa Madron, the dean of admissions herself, walking straight toward me. Her face was cold as she handed me my marriage certificate.

"Ms. Willis, I'm sorry," she said flatly. "We just verified this through the official records. There's no trace of your marriage certificate in the government registry, which means it's invalid."

My mind exploded into static.

"That's impossible!" I shot back. "Richard and I got this seven years ago!"

Teresa gave me a tight, uncomfortable look. "But according to the system, Mr. Pascall's spouse isn't you."

The words weren't even cold yet before the other parents burst out laughing.

"Wow, did she seriously bring a fake certificate?"

"She must be desperate. Who tries to scam their way into a school?"

"No wonder she looks so plain. You can tell she doesn't belong here."

"Women these days will do anything just to marry rich."

And then Iris laughed. Not loudly, but just enough to slice right through me.

She brushed past my shoulder as if I were in her way and smiled sweetly at Teresa. "Sorry about that, Ms. Madron. She's just the nanny from my husband's family. She must've gotten confused and brought the wrong paperwork."

Then she gave me a sharp side-eye, pulled a folder out of her designer bag, and handed it over.

"This is the real marriage certificate for Richard and me, plus the official sponsorship paperwork for Tristan. Everything should be in order now, right?"

Something in me snapped. I lunged forward and snatched it out of Teresa's hands.

The piece of paper was stamped with an official seal. My hands shook as I looked at Richard and Iris's names, written in full.

And the date—seven and a half years ago.

It was six months before my wedding. Before the day Richard slipped a fake certificate into my hands and called me his forever.

I held the papers up, staring at Richard as if my whole world had just been turned upside down.

He finally dropped the act. His smile vanished, and his voice was cold and sharp. "Yvette, let's stop pretending. Iris is my legal wife. The certificate you're holding is fake."

"Fake…" The word tumbled out of me, broken and small. It felt as if the ground were tilting under my feet.

Around us, a crowd of parents had already gathered, whispering loud enough for me to hear every word.

"My, is this a wife catching the mistress in public?"

"She was a side chick for seven years, and she even had a kid? And now she's trying to force her way in? The nerve."

"Look at her plain outfit. She's nothing but a gold digger. Mr. Pascall probably got bored and moved on."

I turned toward Tristan, the boy I had carried for nine months and raised for six years. I was sure he'd be on my side.

But instead, Tristan hid behind Iris, peeking out just long enough to glare at me.

"You liar! So, you're not even Dad's wife! I always wished I had a mom like Mama Iris. She owns a big company, and she buys me whatever toys I want. And you, you just make me do homework. You don't give me anything."

Iris tightened her arm around him, smiling at me as if she'd already won.

Something inside me caught fire. I grabbed their marriage certificate and ripped it into pieces.

Richard's face went dark. "Yvette, are you out of your mind? You're jealous because you don't have it, so you destroy it? You’re acting like a petty townsfolk."

I froze where I stood, his words cutting straight through me.

The cold spread from my chest to my fingertips. Everything I had given him and every sacrifice I made for this family felt like the punchline of some cruel joke.

For years, he claimed he was too busy getting the company back on track, so I stayed home, raising our son and running the house, carrying the weight.

In public, he paraded me around to prove how "perfect" his life was, that he had a successful career and a happy little family. I had always played along, never once calling him out.

And all the while, he thought he could climb right over me and treat me as if I was disposable.

What he didn't know was that I wasn't just anyone. I was Yvette Willis, the head of the Willises, the richest family in all of Rendallton.

And Richard had just made the biggest mistake of his life.