He Took the Pain With Him When He Left Chapter 04

He Took the Pain With Him When He Left Chapter 04

I was almost out the door when Hart called me back.

“Ms. Vance. Wait.”

His tone was different.

“We just pulled the marriage records. There’s no record of you and Mr. Hawthorne ever being married.”

I stopped cold. “What do you mean?”

Hart glanced at Derek. “It means your marriage certificate is fake. His legal wife, from start to finish, has been Serena Mills.”

I turned slowly.

Serena’s mask of vulnerability was gone. She pulled two marriage certificates from her bag and held them up, smiling.

“You didn’t really think I was just a kept woman, did you, Vivian? The one who was never supposed to be seen was you.”

I stared at the date on the certificates. Three years ago. June 17th. The same day I’d gotten “married.”

That day, I’d cried in Derek’s arms after we got our “certificate.” He kissed my tears and said, “Vivian, we’re a real family now.”

It was all fake.

Serena laughed behind her hand.

“That day, I made a bet with Derek. I said you were so trusting you wouldn’t notice the officiant was fake, and you wouldn’t realize the certificate had no real seal. If you caught it, I’d leave forever. If you didn’t, he’d take me to get the real one. And you didn’t. So after you went home with your fake certificate, Derek came and got me. We made it to the marriage registry just before it closed and got the real marriage certificate.”

I looked at Derek. “Is she telling the truth?”

He wouldn’t meet my eyes. “It was just a bet. I didn’t think it would come to this.”

Just a bet.

He’d handed the place that should have been mine as his wife over to Serena because he lost a bet. And because I trusted him too much, I’d lost my own marriage.

Serena stroked her belly, her smile growing sweeter.

“He also said you were easy to fool. All he had to do was hug you and kiss you and you’d never check anything. Vivian, you lost for three years and never knew. And now you want to use the fidelity agreement to take Hawthorne shares? Don’t you think that’s funny?”

Hart flipped through the agreement. His expression darkened.

The agreement’s first clause was clear: it only took effect from the date of legal marriage. Derek and I had never been legally married. His affairs, the pregnancy—none of it triggered the agreement. I wouldn’t get a single share.

Derek straightened his collar, his confidence returning.

“Vivian, it’s not too late to back down. Have the Vance family resume their investment. Withdraw your pressure on the board. I’ll drop the charges for tonight’s break-in. Move to the hillside villa in the suburbs and stay there quietly until the baby is born. Stop making trouble.”

I looked at him. “What if I say no?”

The door opened. Police officers walked in.

Serena immediately buried herself in Derek’s arms, covering the spot where I’d sliced off a lock of her hair as she burst into tears.

“Officer, it was her! She brought hundreds of people to my home, held a knife to my face, and tried to force me to drink chili water. I’m pregnant. She wanted to kill me and my baby.”

Derek held her close.

“Officer, Vivian has been unstable lately. She caused a scene at the mall earlier tonight, and now she’s broken into my wife’s home. I’m worried about my wife and child.”

Wife. He finally said it out loud.

The officer looked at the knife in my hand, then at the guards in the room.

“Ms. Vance, you’ll need to come with us.”