Broken Family After Betrayal Chapter 08

Broken Family After Betrayal Chapter 08

The underground market was a tangled web, a place where people traded in things that couldn’t see the light of day. 

Cassie used the money to buy new dresses, new shoes. 

The rest was spent hiring hired thugs. 

“You’re saying the people at Millbrook Station were all hired by Cassie?” 

Jonathan’s hands shook as he gripped the testimony. He couldn’t believe it. 

The fragile, delicate Cassie he thought he knew–she had a whole other side, hidden in the dark. 

His eyes fell on the last line. His mind went blank. “The 

child… isn’t mine.” 

He braced himself against the desk, barely staying upright. The blood in his veins ran cold. 

Cassie’s recorded statement confirmed it. The child came 

from a one–night stand. 

She was used to having men around. No matter how good 

Jonathan was to her, she always got bored. 

The most absurd part was that Cassie didn’t even know who 

the real father was. 

“But I knew Jonathan would claim the child.” 

“He loves me. Even if I asked Delaney to wait on me after 

childbirth, he’d say yes.” 

When Jonathan read that line, rage surged violently through 

his chest. 

He suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. 

It all felt absurd. 

The person he loved didn’t love him at all. She had only been 

using him. 

And the person who truly loved him had been pushed into 

hell by his own hands. 

His vision went dark. He collapsed. 

When he came to, he was told he’d been demoted. 

Carl sighed. “You got dragged into this because of Cassie, 

but you still should have reported what you knew. That’s a 

violation too.” 

“From now on, you’re back to being a technician. Pay’s lower. But it’s still a job.” 

After Carl left, no one came to see him. 

The ones who used to flock around Jonathan now gave him a wide berth. 

Plenty cursed him behind his back, just waiting for him to hit rock bottom. 

Within just a few days, he became a hollow shell of himself. 

During one shift, distracted and unsteady, his arm was pulled into a roaring machine. 

Both of his hands were crushed beyond repair. He was left permanently disabled. 

And when the plant downsized, Jonathan was the first to go. 

He returned to the company housing in a daze. 

The housing unit was also being reclaimed. He had come back only to pack up. 

But how could he? The neighbors came to gawk, treating it 

like a show. 

Men helped him moving out was rude. Rough hands sent Delaney’s things crashing to the floor. 

Jonathan snapped. He drove them all out. 

He would do it himself. He tried–but couldn’t even pick up a photograph. 

He stood in the empty house. A hollow feeling spread 

through his chest, like a piece of him had just been ripped 

away. 

His eyes fell on the wedding photo. 

It was the only picture he had ever taken with Delaney. 

In the years after, every time she wanted to take a photo, he had been too busy. There’s always next time, he’d told himself. 

Six years. Not one family photo. 

The three of them, the family, had been split into pieces. 

Jonathan carefully placed the photo into his chest pocket and walked out of the house empty–handed. 

He wandered the streets, dazed, the world around him a 

blur. 

Then he turned a corner. And saw Delaney. 

She looked exactly as she had six years ago, smiling brightly as she held Olivia’s hand. 

The world blurred. He was home. Opening the door to their little house–warmth, and the smell of food. 

Delaney, turning from the stove, her eyes soft and smiling. 

“Wash your hands. Dinner’s ready. Olivia has already asked 

three times when you’ll be home.” 

And Olivia, chasing after him- “Daddy, shoulder ride!” 

He’d crouch down, hoist her onto his shoulders, and circle 

the table, slow and steady. 

Delaney would give his head a gentle knock, feigning 

exasperation while her smile gave her away. 

Their laughter would fill the entire house. 

He had once been so happy. He truly believed it would last 

forever. 

But he had destroyed it with his own hands.