Chapter 2
Jim snapped–his rage boiling over.
“Will it kill you to take care of Sadie for a bit? You didn’t have a problem fawning over my parents! When did you become so unreasonable?
“Three years ago, you promised you’d help me with anything!”
I dug my nails into my palms, holding in the storm inside me for a few seconds. Then, I suddenly grabbed the cup from the table and hurled it to the ground.
“I regret it!
“Jim, I regret everything! Do you hear
hear me?”
He always had a bad temper. After the bankruptcy, the golden boy turned bitter and broke, drowning himself in alcohol every day.
To keep him from spiraling, I used to hold him after work and tell him stories just so he would not have nightmares.
W
When debt collectors came knocking, even if I was splashed with chicken blood, I would stand in front of him and tell him that as long as he was
F
still Jim Upton, I would stand by him.
Even when he looked at me in disgust.
I still smiled and said, “At least the blood didn’t get on you.‘
The cup shattered into jagged pieces, and pain burned along my calves where shards had landed.
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07:12
J
At that moment, Sadie suddenly clutched her stomach and howled in pain.
Jim froze, panic written all over his face as cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
“Call the doctor, now!” he shouted.
After a quick check, the doctor said it looked like she was just startled. Jim let out a shaky breath and immediately turned that panic into anger
and aimed it at me.
“Hayley, I don’t care what your problem is, but Sadie is pregnant. What if something happened to her because of you?
“You know what you need to do, right?”
I let out a cold laugh.
“Oh, I know exactly what I should do.‘
Just like that time, my project got shut down for no reason. When I went to confront Sadie about it, she burst into tears and said she was scared.
And what did Jim do? Made me take off my work badge in front of the entire company, apologize to her, and get out of the building like I was garbage.
Fine.
S
I bent down, zipped my suitcase, and looked up at him calmly.
“I’ll leave. I won’t get in your way again.”
However, something in my calm must have unsettled him because his eyes darkened.
36.87%
07 12
“You think that’s enough?
“Take her to the ice cellar. Let her cool off.”
I panicked and tried to run, but three maids grabbed me, yanked my hair, and shoved me down in front of Jim.
My mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood. My whole body trembled with humiliation and despair.
“Jim, I’m not going to the ice cellar! Why are you doing this to me?”
That broke something in Jim. He hesitated for a second and reached out like he was going to fix my hair, but Sadie’s face shifted.
“Jim, don’t be mad at Ms. Bronson She just wants to leave. I’m fine, it was just a stomachache,” she said gently.
Jim’s face darkened.
“Hayley, quit the theatrics.”
At his signal, the maids began to drag me again.
I clutched my stomach, terrified, and blurted out, “I’m pregnant. Jim, I’m pregnant!”
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