She Invited Me to Her Wedding, Didn’t Know I Was Already Married to the Groom Chapter 02

She Invited Me to Her Wedding, Didn’t Know I Was Already Married to the Groom Chapter 02

Savannah made Emma sit next to her.

“When I was a freshman, my parents died in an accident,” she began. “I could barely afford to stay in school. It turns out my husband’s alma mater is the same as mine.”

“He donates five million dollars to the university every year. I was one of the students he sponsored.”

“That winter was freezing. To thank him, I knit him a sweater by hand.”

“That sweater was the start of our love story.”

I remembered that sweater. Charles had one just like it, hand-knit.

He treasured it.

But he’d told me his late mother had made it for him.

One time, our son accidentally dropped it on the floor. Charles flew into a rage and punished him harshly.

Turns out, Savannah had knit that sweater.

Even more chilling was that I’d had no idea he donated five million dollars a year to that school.

Two years ago, he’d told me the company was facing a cash flow crisis.

We mortgaged our house, his father’s house, and my parents’ house to help him get through it.

Ever since, the business had been barely breaking even, stuck in a rut.

He was the kind of man who weighed every risk and every dollar carefully. Yet somehow, for her, he could throw it all away without hesitation.

Emma was insanely jealous. “I heard your husband makes a ton and gives it all to you,” she pressed. “So why are you still working a regular job like the rest of us?”

I leaned in to listen.

Savannah’s sweet, calm smile never wavered. “He gives me more than we could ever spend in a lifetime. But I want to do work I love. I don’t want to be just some kept woman. I want my own purpose.”

More than we could ever spend? My chest tightened even more.

Just last month, we couldn’t afford our son’s fifty-thousand-dollar private school tuition. We had to transfer him to a public school.

The sudden change crushed him. My ten-year-old son was now suffering from anxiety and depression.

I kept my voice steady. “What industry is your husband in? Sounds incredibly profitable.”

“His main company is overseas. The one here doesn’t make much.”

My heart pounded as I listened.

I’d had no idea Charles had a company abroad.

For the last four years, he’d said business was slow and stopped contributing to household expenses.

I made $120,000 a year after taxes, just enough to cover everything. So I never pushed him.

Even when his mother was sick a few years ago, her treatment cost nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars over a year.

I paid for every cent of it. I borrowed over $100,000.

To pay it back, I had to keep up appearances, pretend we weren’t struggling, while pinching every penny.

Charles saw me lying awake night after night and watched my gray hairs sprouting faster in my early thirties.

Still, he never offered a dollar.

Emma lowered her voice. “I heard your husband was married before. You’re his second wife. Does he still have issues with his ex?”

A bitter laugh rose inside me, but I choked it back.

Savannah didn’t seem bothered. Her smile stayed bright. “His ex-wife and son died.”

I felt a hole tear open in my chest, and I couldn’t breathe.

Charles had told her his wife and son were dead.