To Guard The Wrong Woman

In an Aspen blizzard, the SUV I was driving lost control and careened down a hillside. A broken tree branch impaled me, pinning me to my seat as my life bled out.

My husband, Julian, rushed to the scene when he heard the news. But instead of saving me, he carefully lifted his cherished lover, Cassidy, from the passenger seat and strode away without a single backward glance.

While I fought for my life in the ICU, he never once appeared, his entire focus on Cassidy, who had only suffered a minor concussion.

After nearly a decade of deluding myself, the truth finally shattered my fantasy. I was done playing the saint.

I had survived by a miracle, and I wasn't about to waste another second of my new life on a man who didn't love me.

The day I was discharged from the hospital, I filed for divorce.

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1

The world splintered as a tree branch tore through my abdomen. From the passenger seat, Cassidy Wells calmly pulled her hands back from the steering wheel she’d just yanked.

"Genevieve Sterling, if we were both in an accident, who do you think Julian would save?" she sneered. "I bet he’ll save me. You should try to hang on for a while. Dying too quickly would be so boring."

The Aspen blizzard had swept in with sudden, fierce intensity, leaving the roads icy and fraught with danger.

Ahead, the out-of-control SUV was skidding toward a deeper ravine. I was so focused on wrestling the car back under control that I hadn't even seen her move.

I never imagined that the student I was sponsoring through my family’s foundation, a girl I thought I was helping, could harbor such venom for me.

I glared at her, my body burning with rage.

But she didn't even bother to look at me. She was already on the phone with my husband, telling him to hurry and save her.

My husband, Julian Thorne, was in his car not far behind us.

The moment he got the call, he tore through the vast expanse of snow like a whirlwind.

We had been together for ten years and married for seven. He was almost always holed up in his AI lab. Yet, whenever he had a spare moment, it was always Cassidy by his side.

I had suspected he was cheating, and we had fought about it countless times. The disappointment and bitterness gnawed at me, leaving me exhausted.

Despite everything, the moment he saw me impaled by the branch and bleeding profusely, the pure panic on his face was undeniable.

"Genevieve, hold on! I'm here!"

His voice cut through the shattered window and the howling blizzard, but instead of comfort, it brought a chilling premonition.

The smell of gasoline in the car was growing stronger, and I had no idea when the vehicle might slide into the ravine. With the blizzard worsening, an avalanche was a real possibility.

I wanted to tell him to forget about me and get out of here.

Just as I was about to speak, Cassidy wailed, "Julian, my head hurts so much! I think I have amnesia, I'm so scared!"

"Genevieve, Cassidy's condition looks more urgent. You just hang in there," Julian said, his voice devoid of emotion. "I'll get her down the mountain and call for rescue immediately. You'll be fine."

Then, without looking back, he rushed to the passenger seat, swept Cassidy into his arms, and plunged into the blizzard.

How many times had he chosen her over me? I’d lost count. I was his wife. His wife.

I tried to scream his name, but my throat filled with blood. An excruciating, knife-like pain tore through my abdomen, and a tide of despair washed over me.

My vision swam, the world bleeding into a deep, terrifying red. Then, only darkness. I couldn't see. I couldn't move.

I thought this was the end. But then, a team of ski patrollers fought their way to me and rushed me to the hospital.

After I woke up, I was rushed back into the emergency room twice.

The patrol team and the hospital called Julian over and over. But he refused every call, insisting he had to stay with a terrified Cassidy.

In the end, it was the ski patrollers who used an emergency fund to cover my initial medical bills.

I had multiple internal hemorrhages and a severe infection from prolonged exposure to the cold. The hospital scrambled to assemble a team of specialists for an emergency consultation.

Before I was wheeled into the intensive care unit, I managed to call Julian. "I'm just out of surgery, but they're sending me to the ICU. You need to come to the hospital, provide my insurance information, and pay back the patrol team."

At that point, my life was hanging by a thread. Making that call took every ounce of strength I had left. Each word sent a fresh wave of agony through my body, and cold sweat beaded on my forehead.

But all he said was, "If you have the strength to call me, you can't be that badly hurt. I don't need to come over. Cassidy had a scare and is having nightmares. She needs me."

He had to be with her for class, for her bad moods, for her birthday...

And now, even as I was on the brink of death, he still had to be with her.

I was so sick of his blatant favoritism.

"Julian Thorne, a tree branch went through my stomach—I almost died! Cassidy barely has a scratch on her, and you saw it with your own eyes! How can you not know who's hurt more? And don't you get it? The crash only happened because she grabbed the wheel!"