My Ex’s Mistress Became My Husband’s Affair Chapter 09

My Ex’s Mistress Became My Husband’s Affair Chapter 09

Grant didn’t say another word.

He just watched me walk away.

But the next morning, when I went down to the beach to collect shells, he was there again.

An hour later, he tentatively approached me, holding out a handful of shells like an offering.

Free labor. I didn’t say no.

His eyes lit up, but he didn’t dare start a conversation.

He was clearly terrified I’d lash out with more words that cut to the bone.

I went back to my rental and washed the salt from the shells.

Once they were dry, I sat in the small courtyard, threading them together.

Grant sat nearby, watching me in silence.

Finally, he couldn’t help himself.

“If you put your name on a jewelry line again, these would be in high-end boutiques for a fortune.” he said

softly.

“Skyler, are you really going to give everything up? Just stay in this beach town forever?”

My hands stilled.

I finished the shell wind chime I was working on before I finally looked at him.

“I gave that company three years of my life. Three years of blood, sweat, and tears.”

“My designs won awards. Multiple times.”

“But I got nothing. No promotions, no raises. I was invisible.”

“Even you told me I lacked talent, Grant.”

“Why should I go back to a career that only eats me alive?”

Grant bit his lip, his expression pained. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know they were stealing your credit.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

I picked up a new shell and started sanding the edges.

Grant fell silent again.

A few days later, as I was packing up my stall for the evening, Grant looked at his phone and turned to me.

“Do you want to know what happened to Sloane?”

I didn’t answer.

He took that as a cue to keep talking.

“I fired her a long time ago.”

“She just had the baby, by the way.”

“It’s not mine. And it’s not Vance’s, either.”

My price sign slipped from my hand, clattering onto the sand.

Grant moved fast, picking it up for me.

“The family is losing it. They’re forcing Vance to divorce her.”

“Your parents told me all this. They actually had the nerve to ask if I’d take her back.”

I took the sign back, my voice flat. “Then go back. It would make the divorce paperwork a lot easier.”

Grant winced. “I’m not an idiot, Skyler. Why would I sign up to be a cuckold for some other guy’s kid?”

I gave him a look but stayed silent.

After a month of my cold shoulder, Grant finally broke.

“Fine. I’ll give you the divorce. But…”

He trailed off, then shook his head. “Never mind. It’s nothing.”

I packed my bags and flew back with him one last time.

When it came to the settlement, Grant didn’t fight.

He was basically renouncing all marital assets.

He hesitated for a long time when the pen touched the paper, but under my cold stare, he finally signed his

name.

The second the decree was final, the weight on my chest vanished.

I couldn’t help it. A smile broke across my face.

It was the first real smile Grant had seen from me since he found me.

He looked at me, completely dazed, as if he’d forgotten what I looked like happy.

“You’re so much more beautiful when you smile, Skyler.”

“Keep doing it. Even when I’m not around.”

There was a haunting nostalgia in his eyes.

His words triggered a memory, dragging me back to the beginning.

“You have a great smile. Stop being so serious,” he had told me back then.

“They say lucky girls smile a lot. Tell you what-I’ll give you a thousand bucks for every real smile.”

“No, it has to be genuine…”

“Grant, you’re cheating! I was smiling!”

Back then, I had gone from ignoring him to actually listening.

I had started talking back, playing along with his games.

I really thought all the hell I’d been through in my life was just the price I had to pay to find him.

Grant asked for a final “goodbye” dinner.

I shook my head.

He settled for driving me to the airport instead.

I didn’t turn down the ride.

Once I landed back in Cape Haven, Grant vanished from my life entirely.

I heard later that he’d thrown himself into charity work-specifically cases involving child abduction.

He even joined the field teams.

Eventually, he was killed in a skirmish during a rescue mission.

Sloane and Vance’s marriage ended in a wreck, of course.

She ended up marrying the baby’s real father, but the guy was a serial cheater.

He hated the way she’d used the kid to trap him into marriage.

His mother treated her like dirt, too.

She’d already picked out a “proper” girl for her son, not some second-hand divorcee.

They kept Sloane on a short leash, tracking her every move and controlling every cent of her allowance.

Sloane couldn’t handle the “budget” life.

She used the child as a bargaining chip, walked away with a $5 million settlement and a divorce.

Suddenly rich and reckless, she spent her nights in clubs and ended up contracting a severe STD.

My parents sold their house just to pay for her medical bills.

But Sloane just screamed at them every day, blaming them for “spoiling” her into a mess.

That was finally enough to break them.

They took what was left of their retirement fund and fled in the middle of the night, leaving her behind.

With no money left for treatment and neither Grant nor Vance willing to take her calls, she was eventually

kicked out of the clinic.

She died on the streets, covered in sores.

My parents somehow tracked me down in Cape Haven.

They showed up at my door, sobbing, holding out a savings account book.

“We were wrong, Skyler. We know that now.”

“You’re the only daughter we have left.”

I didn’t touch the money.

I’d lived long enough to know what that “gift” really cost.

If I took the cash, I had to forgive the past.

More importantly, as their only child, I’d be legally responsible for their retirement care.

When I refused, my mother awkwardly tucked the book back into her purse.

As they walked away, I heard my father growling loudly to my mother.

“I told you! You can’t trust a kid you didn’t raise yourself. They’re never loyal!”

I looked up and shouted at his retreating back.

“You raised Sloane from day one. Tell me-how’s that loyalty working out for you?”

My father stumbled, nearly losing his footing.

He didn’t say a word. He just picked up his pace and kept walking.

I turned back to my work.

They weren’t my parents anymore.

Just strangers I used to know.

Nothing more.