The Wife Who Never Loved

"Do you have no heart, Krystal?" he growled, his voice raw with rage. His fingers dug into my jaw, his eyes blazing red. He seemed to be holding back something monumental.

"I have a mistress, I torment you, I refuse to divorce you," he listed, his voice low, venomous. "Can' t you see what I' m trying to do? If you cared about me even a little, you would have understood by now."

He slammed his other fist into the mattress beside my head. My body jolted.

After a long moment, he loosened his grip, deflating like a punctured balloon. He rolled onto his side, facing away from me, and began to laugh, a chilling, hollow sound.

His phone began to ring, its insistent jingle echoing in the bedroom, mocking the eerie laughter. He ignored it, just kept laughing.

I noticed a glint in his eye, a single tear tracing a path down his temple. It must have been a trick of the light. Hunter? Crying? Impossible.

The phone kept ringing, again and again.

I finally got up. I glanced at the phone he' d knocked off the nightstand. It was Aubrie.

I hesitated, then picked it up.

"Aubrie' s calling you," I said, my voice flat. We both knew who "she" was.

He seemed to snap back to reality. "Give me the phone," he commanded, extending his hand.

As I handed him the phone, he gripped my wrist, refusing to let go.

Aubrie' s voice, tinny and high-pitched, spilled from the speaker. "Hunter, baby, did you forget you were meeting my parents tonight? Why aren' t you here yet?"

I lowered my head, my face burning with humiliation.

"You should go," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "You don' t want to make a bad impression on her parents."

He let out a short, bitter laugh. Then, without a word, he began to change his clothes, right there in front of me.

As he reached the door, he paused, his eyes fixed on me. "Aubrie is my woman now," he said, his voice dangerously low. "And her family is my family."

He took a step closer, his eyes cold and hard. "Did you really think you were more important than her? Remember your place, Krystal. You have no say in my affairs."