"I brought our marriage certificate."
My voice came out barely above a whisper.
The crowd went quiet.
I reached into my bag and pulled out the certificate I'd prepared.
"She really is the wife."
"That Aileen woman lied through her teeth without even flinching. Unbelievable."
"What do you expect from a homewrecker? And that man is absolute garbage."
"He just stood there and let the whole crowd tear his wife apart. What a piece of work."
Jayden's expression twisted. Something savage flashed in his eyes. He spun around, stormed back, and snatched the certificate out of my hands.
He tore it to shreds.
"This lunatic flashes a fake certificate and thinks that makes her the wife?"
Then he leaned down close to my ear, his voice low and lethal.
"Be smart about this. Play along, and you can still have a roof over your head. Push me, and don't forget: your therapist from when you had your breakdown? He's a friend of mine. You don't want to spend the rest of your life locked up in a psych ward, do you?" His breath was hot against my skin. "And if that happens, I won't spare our daughter a single glance. She can fend for herself."
He shoved me to the ground as he said it.
Then he turned, pulled Aileen close, and walked away without looking back.
My knee was bleeding. I could see the red spreading through the torn fabric.
But I couldn't feel it.
Because my heart hurt so much worse. It felt like it was splitting apart.
My daughter. The child I had loved and cherished like she was the most precious thing in the world.
To him, she wasn't even worth a dirty rag.
I had told myself that even if he didn't love me, surely he felt something for her. Some flicker of connection. She was his blood.
I was wrong.
Dead wrong.
He was an animal. There was no such thing as family loyalty in him.
I wiped the blood from my knees and made the call.
"Attorney Harding, I just sent you the latest evidence I recorded. We can prosecute them for bigamy now."
