Bruised and Broken, I Left with no Turning BackChapter 1
Ninety-nine times, my husband Nathan hadn’t deserved me. Yet I stayed, believing my love could fix him. But the hundredth betrayal broke whatever was left of my devotion. He had let Danica—his drunk secretary and mistress, to drive me home, and that choice led to the crash that killed the four month old baby in my womb.
I thought the nightmare ended with the accident, but the true horror began when I heard their voices through the thin hospital partition.
“I’m so sorry, Nathan.” It was Danica. “I’m so scared. Karylle… she’s going to kill me. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have driven, and listened to her. I thought I would be able to go home safely. I killed your baby.”
“Ssh, stop crying,” Nathan’s voice soothed. He sounded tender. More tender than he had been with me in years. “Of course she won’t kill you. I won’t let that happen. And. I’m glad you’re okay.”
“But the baby…” Danica hiccuped. “Are you mad? I know you wanted an heir. I ruined everything.”
There was a pause. Then, a low, dismissive chuckle that made my blood run cold.
“You silly girl,” Nathan said. “Why would I be mad at you? It was an accident.”
“But… your son…”
“Honestly?” Nathan sighed, the sound of a man relieved of a burden. “It’s not like I wanted the baby. She was the one who kept pushing for it. She was obsessed. I just went along with it because my grandfather has been breathing down my neck for a legitimate heir. I needed the old man off my back.”
The world tilted on its axis. I felt bile rise in my throat. He didn’t want our child? The nursery we painted? The names we picked out? It was all a lie?
“I only want to have a baby with you, Danica,” Nathan whispered, his voice dropping to a husky murmur. “You know that.”
“Then divorce her!” Danica cried, her voice rising in desperation. “Why won’t you? Why are we still doing this? Marry me, Nathan. Let’s have our own baby.”
“Baby, we talked about this,” Nathan said, his tone placating. “I can’t just divorce her yet. If I leave her now, especially after she just lost the kid? The press would crucify me. Also, my grandpa. And your brother? He’d kill me if he found out I was sleeping with you while married to her.”
“So we wait?”
“We wait until the inheritance is signed over. Once I have full control, I’ll cut her loose. I promise.”