My Dad’s Cheating Had a Price Tag Until It Couldn’t Keep My Mom Here Chapter 10

My Dad’s Cheating Had a Price Tag Until It Couldn’t Keep My Mom Here Chapter 10

Ondine flinched. She knew exactly what he was capable of.

So she scrambled. Desperate.

“I only did it because I love you!”

“Caelian, please. You have to believe me. I just love you too much.”

“It’s all Thessaly’s fault. Everything. That bitch! If she hadn’t been in the way, we would’ve been together already.”

“If I’d met you first, we’d be happy right now. We just met at the wrong time. That’s all.”

Dad’s hand closed around her throat.

She could barely breathe. She kept babbling anyway.

He just laughed.

“Love me?”

“You’re not worthy of my love. I threw away Thessaly for a cheap tramp like you?”

“You’re a whore. Save your excuses.”

She was ugly-crying. She didn’t even care what he called her.

Reality was finally sinking in.

She collapsed to her knees, begging him to let her live.

“Caelian, I’m carrying your baby. Your child!”

“You can’t kill me. It’s against the law. You and Thessaly are divorced now anyway. We can just be together. Please.”

Child.

That word hit something deep. His mind flooded with images of Thessaly.

He imagined how happy she must’ve been when she found out she was pregnant.

How destroyed she must’ve felt when she lost it. A mother with nothing left.

“Child?”

“You think you deserve to have my child?”

“Thessaly’s baby is dead. Did you really think you could use that child to force your way into my life?”

Hearing that, the woman’s face collapsed into pure, hopeless terror.

But she’d tangled with a man who was never going to let her walk away.

He had his lawyers call the police and file for an emergency protective order.

Security was posted outside the hospital room until the investigation was over.

Then he booked the earliest flight out.

The same house as before.

Last time Dad came here, he’d been full of rage.

This time, it was nothing but guilt. Heavy, crushing guilt.

He stood there, utterly broken, his expression raw with remorse.

Tears ran from the corners of his eyes, and every single one of them looked like a plea for forgiveness.

“Thessaly, I was wrong. Ondine seduced me. I got confused. It’s every part of my life has you in it. I realize now that I can’t live without you. I always thought you’d just wait for me, like you always did. I didn’t understand that once it’s broken, it’s broken.”

“Please. Give me one more chance. We still have a child together. I know you still have feelings for me. Don’t be so cruel.”

“Elowen told me about the baby. I failed you, Thessaly. Our child is more kids.”

His voice was so pitiful.

Mom’s face didn’t move.

I stepped in front of her and blocked his view.

“Dad, just go.”

“Mom’s never forgiving you.”

The light died in his eyes.

Without her permission, he knew I’d never say that.

After he left, Mom crouched on the floor and cried for a long time.

She got compensated. A lot.

But in this world, Mom had only given her whole heart once.

She’d handed hers over, and he’d dropped it. Shattered it into pieces no money could ever glue back together.

…

I found out later that after the police report, the lawsuit, and a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation, Ondine was transferred to a secure treatment facility.

It was not the ending she had imagined.

The baby was born. But it wasn’t healthy.

As for Dad’s company, it kept bleeding out. One hit after another.

Maybe that was the price a man paid for breaking someone’s heart.

Mom stopped following any news about him. He’d been woven through her life for so long.

Those people. That life. It all felt so far away from us now.

So far that the man I once thought I’d hate forever…I couldn’t even remember his face clearly anymore.

Our life now was good. I was content.

Mom and I were going to keep living it, day by day. No one was going to come disrupt our peace.

I’d protect this fragile woman with everything I had. Nobody was ever going to hurt her again.

There was a long road ahead.