I Waited To Settle Our Wedding Date, Only To Find Him Acting As Her Fake Partner Chapter 09

I Waited To Settle Our Wedding Date, Only To Find Him Acting As Her Fake Partner Chapter 09

Two years later, in early summer.

It was a warm, sunny weekend afternoon.

I sat outside a cafe in downtown Alexandria.

One hand rested gently over the curve of my pregnant belly.

My county job was steady, a regular nine–to–five.

My husband, Daniel Hayes, was an associate professor at a local university.

He was gentle, grounded, and almost impossible to rattle.

And when it came to me, he noticed everything.

Worried that sitting too long would make my back ache, he’d tucked a soft pillow behind me.

“Baby behaving today? Been kicking you?”

He bent down with a soft smile and leaned close to my belly.

“I’m going across the street to wait in line for your favorite strawberry shortcake.”

“Sit here in the sun and wait for me.”

Daniel brushed a hand over my hair, smiled, and crossed the street.

I watched him go, then glanced down at my phone.

A shadow suddenly blocked the sunlight.

I looked up.

For a moment, I barely recognized the woman standing in front of me.

Maddie.

She was painfully thin.

A frayed, almost nervous exhaustion haunted her eyes.

The bright, spoiled energy she’d once had when everyone doted on her was gone.

Life had worn the softness out of her face.

“Seeing me like this must feel pretty good, huh?”

Maddie stared at me, her voice rough with resentment.

I met her gaze calmly and said nothing.

She gave a bitter laugh, something almost unhinged flashing in her eyes.

“Claire, I’ve been jealous of you since college. You were always so quiet. So boring.”

“So why did Ethan only have eyes for you? Why did everything just fall into place for you?”

“That’s why I wanted what was yours. I played helpless around him on purpose. I called him in the middle of the night on purpose.”

“I wanted to prove I mattered more to him than you did.”

“I pushed him into taking out that loan for the wedding too.”

“I just wanted to see how far he’d go for me.”

Maddie drew a deep breath, her eyes turning red.

“I won. I got rid of you.”

“But…”

“Then I realized that without you, he wasn’t that polished, successful Ethan Parker everyone

admired.”

“He lost his job because of the debt. Now he drinks at home and flies into rages every day.”

“He blames me for ruining his life, and I hate him for dragging me down…”

“Now all we do is tear each other apart.”

She stared at me.

She searched my face for anger, or at least the satisfaction of watching someone I hated finally get what she deserved.

I simply listened until she was done.

I felt no anger. No sympathy either.

“Are you done?”

I looked at her, my tone as casual as if we were discussing the weather.

“If you are, move. You’re blocking my sunlight.”

Maddie froze.

“You’re not angry at all?”

She stared at me in disbelief.

“Why would I be?”

I stood and didn’t look at her again.

“Maddie, the best thing that ever happened to me was finally seeing both of you for who you really

were.”

“And the only thing I regret is ever knowing either of you.”

Just then,

Quick footsteps sounded nearby.

Ethan appeared.

The instant he saw me, he stopped dead.

His gaze locked on my pregnant belly.

In an instant, his eyes filled with regret and despair.

But by then, he didn’t even have the right to take one step closer.

Ethan’s whole body began to shake.

He grabbed Maddie’s arm with shocking force.

“Let go of me! Ethan, you psycho! I want a divorce!”

Maddie screamed and fought him.

But Ethan held on, dragging her with him as a hoarse roar tore from his throat.

“Divorce? Not a chance.”

“This is what we owe Claire. This is our punishment.”

“You’re never getting a divorce from me. We deserve to rot together for the rest of our lives.”

His eyes bloodshot, he half dragged, half hauled Maddie away.

They stumbled down the street, shoving and fighting, looking less like a couple than a ridiculous public spectacle.

Just then, Daniel came back carrying the strawberry shortcake.

He immediately sensed something was wrong.

He moved naturally to my side, shielding me as his warm hand closed firmly around mine.

“What happened? Run into someone you know?”

“No.”

I looked up at him and smiled.

“Just two strangers asking for directions.”

“Come on, honey. Let’s go home.”

“Okay. Let’s go home.”

Daniel carefully draped his jacket over my shoulders.

Hand in hand, we headed home.

We walked beneath bright sunlight, flowers blooming all along the way.