Seven Years As His Wife… Until My Own Son Called Me A Homewrecker Chapter 02

Seven Years As His Wife… Until My Own Son Called Me A Homewrecker Chapter 02

I was stranded far from home with no money and no one to turn to.

By the time I walked back to the hotel, it was three in the morning. Security stopped me in the lobby because my name was not on the reservation.

Every call to Adrian had gone straight to voicemail.

“I’m staying in Suite 1809,” I pleaded. “Please call the room and ask.”

The clerk finally dialed and put the call on speaker.

“Sir, there’s a woman in the lobby claiming to be your wife.”

Vanessa’s rough, icy voice answered first. “Wife? Adrian, how many wives do you have? This is the second woman who’s called up claiming she belongs here.”

Adrian took the phone. “My wife is with me. Don’t bother us with this again.”

I reached for the receiver, but the line went dead.

The clerk’s expression hardened. “You just put me in an awkward position with one of our VIP guests. Please leave and stop disrupting the hotel.”

They all but shoved me out.

My shoes had rubbed both feet raw, and every step sent pain through my legs. I sank onto the curb beside the hotel and stayed there until morning.

A kind stranger gave me a ride to the airport. At the check-in counter, the agent frowned at her screen.

“Ms. Bennett, your ticket back to Norland was canceled. Were you not notified?”

Across the terminal, I spotted Adrian and Vanessa. I ran toward them.

“Why did you cancel my ticket? My visa is going to expire. If I can’t leave…”

Vanessa slapped me before I could finish.

“Know your place,” she hissed. “What makes you think you deserve to travel with us?”

Noah began shouting too. “We don’t want you on our plane!”

People turned to stare. I gripped the hem of my shirt and forced myself to meet Vanessa’s eyes.

“Vanessa Hale, I’m the woman legally married to him. You’re the…”

Adrian stepped between us before I could say it.

“Your flight has been moved to tomorrow,” he said, his gaze cold and warning. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be. It’s one extra day. You know what matters more here.”

The choice was clear. If I fought him, I might be stranded even longer.

I closed my eyes. “Fine.”

Adrian carried Noah on his back and kept one arm around Vanessa as they walked away. None of them looked back.

My new flight was scheduled for eight the next morning. After another sleepless night at the airport, I reached passport control only to be pulled aside.

“Your visa expired yesterday, ma’am. You’ll need to come with us and explain why you overstayed.”

I spent the next three days in a cold detention room.

There was no bed, and the little food they gave me was barely enough to quiet the cramps in my stomach.

Officials kept trying to contact my family, but Vanessa answered every call.

“I don’t know her,” she said each time.

By the fourth day, I had lost several pounds. I made it back to Norland through sheer stubbornness, exhausted and hollow-eyed.

At the Blackwood estate, the facial-recognition panel no longer knew me.

[ACCESS DENIED. UNKNOWN PERSON DETECTED.]

Something inside me finally broke. I pounded on the door and kicked it until it flew open.

Adrian stood there, furious. “What is wrong with you? Vanessa hasn’t slept properly in days. She just fell asleep, and you nearly woke her.

“You need to stay somewhere else for a while. Don’t come back and upset her again.”

Vanessa had missed a little sleep, and he was beside himself. I had spent four days stranded and detained in another country, and he had not even asked whether I made it home.

I handed him the papers I had printed as soon as I returned.

“I’ll leave,” I said. “But first, sign our divorce settlement.”