My Husband Married Me for Revenge, I Ruined His Plan Chapter 09

My Husband Married Me for Revenge, I Ruined His Plan Chapter 09

I ran after Zachary to the edge of town.

Winston’s car had slammed into the mountainside just beyond the outskirts.

The front end was almost completely destroyed.

They were pulling him from the wreckage in the snow.

His leg was broken, his shoulder dislocated, blood smeared across his face.

He lay on the stretcher with his eyes half-open.

When he saw me, a faint smile crossed his lips.

“Laurel.” His voice was weak.

“The debt on that property—I had my lawyers clear it. All of it.” He exhaled. “You’re free.”

I crouched beside him.

“Winston. You shouldn’t have gone this far.”

He closed his eyes. The smile never left his face.

“I know you won’t come back.” His voice was barely there.

“I just didn’t want you to spend the rest of your life… hating me. Every time my name came up.”

They loaded him into the ambulance. I didn’t follow.

Behind me, Cade rested a hand gently on my shoulder.

“Laurel.” His voice was warm and steady. “Let’s go home.”

Winston remained in the county hospital for a week before being transferred back to Kingston City.

Before leaving, he instructed his lawyer to deliver a wooden box to me.

Inside were copies of every medical report I’d had done in the past three years.

The earliest one was from seven days after I lost the baby. The same day he left me those daisies.

I finally realized. From that moment onward, he had bribed hospital staff to obtain all of my medical records.

After learning that I was Cade’s fiancée, he had deliberately approached me.

He had turned me into a tool for revenge.

At the bottom of the box lay a letter. The handwriting was rushed and uneven.

Laurel,

Back then, I married you because of Bianca.

I was eaten alive with jealousy.

I wanted you under my wing, where Cade would have to watch you call another man your husband for the rest of his life.

I told myself what I still felt for Bianca was love. Told myself I didn’t love you.

So I kept my distance. Even let her torment you.

But that night in the mountains—holding your freezing body, terrified I was losing you—I finally faced the truth.

In those three years, Bianca had become nothing but a stubborn obsession.

The one I really fell in love with was you. I just saw it too late.

I folded the letter carefully and placed it back inside the box.

Then I locked it in the back of a cabinet, deep where I wouldn’t see it.

Spring came late to the valley that year. The flowers didn’t show until May.

Out on the ranch, lambs dropped in waves.

The first phase of Cade’s rural health initiative was officially launched.

On the day of the signing ceremony, he wore a brand-new traditional ranch coat.

His shoulders looked broader than ever.

A reporter approached him.

“Mr. Dawson, we hear you have a special advisor by your side.”

Cade smiled shyly. “Yeah, she’s my fiancée.”

I nearly spilled my bottle of water in the audience.

After the ceremony, a crowd of reporters surrounded him.

But he pushed through all of them, crossed the square, and came straight to me.

“Sorry.” His ears were already going red.

“Didn’t run it by you. Just…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Wanted it too much.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “Cade. You’re still rushing things.”

He looked at me carefully.

“So… I should wait a little longer?”

I met his gaze.

“Yeah. Finish your studies first. Then I’ll think about it.”

His eyes lit up instantly.

That evening, we climbed a grassy hillside to watch the sunset.

The sky stretched endlessly across the prairie. Orange and gold. Soft and warm.

Cade reached into his pocket and took out a cedar bead.

“Laurel. I spent a year carving this one. It’s new.”

His voice grew gentler.

“The old one broke. I don’t want you wearing something that’s been broken before.”

He didn’t just hand it over.

Instead, his hand came to the nape of my neck—broad, warm—and he fastened it himself.

It was smoother than before. Warmer—like he’d kept it against his skin all year.

The mountain breeze was chilly.

Without a word, Cade opened his coat and pulled me inside to block the wind, his chin resting on my hair. He leaned close.

His voice was low and teasing.

“Now that you’re wearing my bracelet… You can only be my wife.”

I looked up at him.

The wind swept the hair across his forehead. In his eyes, I saw longing, regret, and devotion.

Then he lowered his head and kissed me.

For the first time in years, peace. It lasted less than two hours.

At nine that night, my phone rang. It was Zachary.

“Laurel! Bianca—she’s here. In town.”

Cade and I traded one look. Then we grabbed our coats and ran.