My Husband Married Me for Revenge, I Ruined His Plan Chapter 01

My Husband Married Me for Revenge, I Ruined His Plan Chapter 01

I blocked Cade Dawson, my childhood sweetheart.

The handsome guy had the kind of abs that looked straight out of a fitness magazine.

We used to fall in a deep love, but things had ended badly between us.

During our long-distance relationship, he attended a local tradition—the Night of Choosing a Lover.

Meanwhile, I went to the hospital alone and terminated our baby.

I let go. I gave in and married someone else.

Married life settled into a quiet, steady rhythm.

My husband’s gentle, respectable manner slowly paved over the past.

Until one night at a dinner party.

One of his childhood friends got drunk, slung an arm around his shoulders, and laughed.

“Winston, don’t tell me you actually fell for her?”

“When Bianca cheated on you with that rancher from Willow Ridge Valley, you married his fiancée right afterward.”

“Then you treated her more like a housekeeper than a wife.”

“Stealing your rival’s girl and keeping her around? Damn, that’s brutal. I gotta hand it to you.”

My hand froze around my wineglass.

So the safe harbor I’d believed in all these years… had been nothing more than a carefully orchestrated lie.

In an instant, memories came rushing back.

The snowstorms sweeping across the prairie. The scent of spiced cider.

And the image of Cade, eyes red with desperation, running after my car.

***

“Seriously? That whole mess was three years ago. You’re still not over it?”

Logan Mercer’s drunken words crashed down on me.

I couldn’t swallow my bitterness and keep up appearances this time.

I shoved away the hand Winston Sterling had resting on my waist. My fingertips trembled.

“What mess?” I stared him down. “Winston, you’d better explain that.”

The room instantly fell silent.

Everyone’s attention turned toward us.

In the three years since I married him, this was the first time I’d ever lost my composure in public.

A shadow crossed Winston’s face.

It disappeared almost immediately.

He slipped effortlessly back into the role of the patient, understanding husband and pulled me into his arms again.

“Laurel, Logan’s drunk and talking nonsense.” His voice was gentle as always.

“Let’s go home. Take it easy. Don’t make a scene.”

It was always like this.

No matter what happened, he always knew how to calm me down. He was patient and reassuring.

After a while, I started wondering if I was the one being unreasonable.

Just as we were about to leave, Bianca Whitmore appeared from the opposite end of the hall.

A few minutes earlier, I’d asked a server to bring Winston an iced Americano to help him sober up.

Bianca intercepted the coffee from the tray.

Then she replaced it with a cup of herbal tea and handed it to him.

“Laurel.” She gave me a small smile. “You didn’t know? Winston’s been having some stomach issues lately.”

“Coffee doesn’t agree with him anymore. It even makes his heart race.”

She held out the tea. “He should have this instead.”

A chill spread through my entire body.

Winston accepted the tea without looking at me.

“You shouldn’t have bothered.”

His gaze was still fixed ahead. “Laurel isn’t feeling well. I’m taking her home.”

As we passed a corner in the corridor, several socialites failed to suppress their laughter.

Their voices drifted clearly into my ears.

“Did you see her just now? She really thinks she’s Mrs. Sterling.”

“Everyone in Kingston knows Bianca is Winston’s ex-wife. Laurel’s the only one in the dark.”

“If Bianca hadn’t had that scandal in Willow Ridge Valley, you think Winston would’ve just grabbed some nobody to marry out of spite?”

“She’s still living in a fantasy. It’s honestly pathetic.”

I went still. My feet felt rooted to the floor.

It finally hit me.

That influencer who’d been popping up in our lives for the past six months, always under the guise of a “business partner”… was his ex-wife.

Everyone knew. Everyone except me.

And all this time, I’d been playing the role of the happy Mrs. Sterling right in front of them.

The drive home was silent.

My gaze drifted toward the rearview mirror. Something felt wrong.

A handwoven good-luck charm used to hang beneath it.

Years ago, when Winston first hung it there, he’d kissed the back of my hand and smiled.

“You made this for me. I’m keeping it here for the rest of my life.”

Now it was gone. In its place hung a delicate snowflake ornament.

Bianca’s social media handle was Snow.

I really had been a fool.

“Laurel?” At a red light, Winston reached for my hand.

Even now, he was still trying to deceive me.

“Don’t listen to Logan. That’s ancient history.”

“It has nothing to do with us.”

I closed my eyes.

For the first time, I didn’t even have the strength to argue.

When we got home, I pushed open the front door.

The motion sensor light in the foyer flickered on.

The rug that had been there for three years was gone. A cashmere mat had replaced it.

My slippers had been shoved into a corner. A brand-new pair sat neatly in the center.

The exact same pair Bianca had worn during her livestream earlier that day.

Apparently, she had stopped by to help redecorate.

On our wedding day, Winston had carried me through this doorway.

He’d pinned me against the wall in the foyer and kissed me breathless.

“Laurel, this house will be exactly the way you want it.”

“You don’t have to worry about anything.”

“When things get rough, just close your eyes and lean on me.”

“I’ll always be your way out.”

Back then, I’d thought I’d finally found true love.

I thought I was no longer the lonely girl who’d made that midnight trip to the hospital all by herself.

But it had all been a lie from the very beginning. Marrying me had never been about love.

I was just a pawn. A prop to provoke his ex-wife. Or maybe just payback against Cade.

I crouched down and stared at the wedding photo displayed on the entryway cabinet.

The woman in the picture looked genuinely happy.

Slowly, I slipped off my wedding ring and put it on the table.

The study door opened.

Winston saw the ring. He paused.

Then he walked over, picked it up, and stubbornly tried to slide it back onto my finger, his other hand clasping mine firmly.

“Don’t take it off.” His voice was low.

There was unmistakable panic in his eyes.

“Laurel. Please. Don’t.”

I looked at him and gave him one final chance.

“Winston. Why did you marry me?”

Neither of us spoke. The silence between us seemed to go on forever.

At last, he lowered his head.

Avoiding my gaze, he pressed a kiss to the top of my hair.

His voice came out rough and strained.

“Because you needed a home.”

Even now, he didn’t tell the truth.