Chapter 10
“From the moment you married Mara, you condemned us both, Beckett! Don’t claim it was out of duty. There are countless ways to care for someone without marrying them, I insisted.
“Clara,” he pleaded, desperation threading his voice, “I had no choice but to marry her. With my brother gone, her child would have grown up fatherless, an easy target for ridicule.
Mara is an orphan, she had no one to turn to. How could she possibly raise a child alone?”
I wanted to scoff at his feeble justification, but the laughter wouldn’t come.
“So, she warrants your protection, your sacrifice. Did you ever consider me? If we had wed and had a child of our own, what
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would we be to you? Just another family? While you were busy rescuing her, did it never occur to you that I might need saving too?” I asked, my voice raw with emotion.
“Beckett, your so–called love is meaningless to me. Please, I beg you, let me go.” I had given up our child–not just to shield him from the stigma of illegitimacy, but also from the inevitable question: “Why does Dad have two families?”
Beckett’s eyes, red from unshed tears, conveyed his inner turmoil, yet he remained torn between me and his widowed
sister–in–law.
Unable to bear any more conversation, I turned and walked away, not daring to look back.
A police investigation soon followed. It
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wasasn’t long before a tall, imposising man bararged into Mara’s hospital rooro,nihis anger palpatable. ignoring her alarmed crieses, he viciciously stapped her across the factacetwtwice
“How wajare you report me to the policece for assautoou shameless woman? Do yorou rememberer throwing yourself at me? Noww you’re playaying the victim, huh?” he belloweded. “Do you thinknkw won’t show them the videosos of you beggiamo for it? You cross me, and ‘III’II destroy you!u!
Mara, dazedefroromthe blows, tried to stammer out a defefense, but he was too enraged tothisistente sneered, “Think Beckett’s protetection makes you u untouchable? Thatakiidoyou’re carrying… it’s s mine. Let’s see how wehershields you now!”
Her face turned ashen,arand she begged him to stop, unaware it was alreadyotoo late.
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Outside the room, Beckett and his mother had overheard it all.
Mrs. Vaughn, her face contorted with fury, stormed in and struck Mara with all the force she could muster. “You vile woman! I lost my true grandson because of you, and now you tell me this child isn’t even ours?”
Overwhelmed by her rage, she collapsed.
Beckett, ready to confront Mara and the man, rushed to his mother’s side when she fainted and summoned the doctor. A flurry of medical staff arrived, and after a battery of tests, they diagnosed Mrs. Vaughn
with an acute stroke, condemning her to a wheelchair for life.
Tears silently tracked down her face as she absorbed the news, regret carving deep lines into her heart.
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Without delay, Beckett demanded a divorce, but Mara clung to their marriage. This time, however, he was resolute. Quietly, he gathered evidence of her infidelity and filed for divorce on grounds of adultery, ensuring she left with nothing.
When I learned of the divorce, a faint sadness washed over me. After all, we’re adults, accountable for our choices. No exceptions.
The End.
Book 2: When Leaving Became My Blessing
Ten years ago, Isolde was left paralyzed in a car accident, his first love by his side. I stayed by his bedside for a decade, pouring my soul into his care while his goddess
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abandoned him.
When he finally regained strength under my efforts, he married the woman who’d set me up time and time again to force me out.
I reached out to Sara, his mother–who’d never accepted me as the maid’s daughter -revealing the truth. My life was reborn, but Isolde… his misery deepened.
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