The Man She Loved For Ten Years Let Her Father Die To Protect His Mistress Chapter 03

The Man She Loved For Ten Years Let Her Father Die To Protect His Mistress Chapter 03

I had suffered to bring Landon into the world.

When I was pregnant with him, the morning sickness had been so bad I could barely keep water down. I wasted away into a shadow of myself.

Every doctor who saw me, even my father, urged me to terminate the pregnancy.

I refused.

I clung to that pregnancy with nothing but IV drips and pure spite.

When I finally went into labor, I hemorrhaged so badly I nearly died bringing him into the world.

He had been a fragile baby from the start.

I insisted on breastfeeding him myself. I handled every part of his newborn recovery and care with my own hands.

I was the one who stayed up through the nights, memorizing the rhythm of his breath and the nuance of every whimper.

Once, years later, Adrian had let slip how hard my pregnancy had been.

Landon’s eyes had immediately turned red. He’d thrown his arms around me and said, “Mom, thank you for not giving up on me.”

Then he had sworn, with all the fierce sincerity a child could have, “I’m going to protect you forever. I mean it.”

And yet this was the same child I had carried, nearly died for, raised with my own hands, and loved with everything I had.

The same child who had once promised to protect me for life was now standing across from me, shielding his father’s mistress as if I were the villain.

My voice broke so badly it barely sounded human. “Landon, I’m your mother.”

He covered his ears in annoyance, his whole face tight with irritation.

“I know. But Aunt Sienna matters more to me. She’s kind. She would never hurt you.”

He looked at me with a certainty that gutted me. “You’re different. If we let you out, you’ll trash their reputations.”

I stared at him, stunned, as if something enormous had torn straight through the center of my chest and left a hole there.

When had Sienna become more important to him than I was?

Was it when he had a cavity and she snuck him candy behind my back?

When she played the ‘cool aunt’ while I played the nurse?

When he skipped homework, got in trouble at school, and she let him ditch class just to make him laugh?

He never saw me sitting by his bed until midnight waiting for his fever to break. Never saw me cry when his tooth pain got so bad he couldn’t sleep.

Never saw the nights I spent lying awake, terrified for his future.

All he saw was the quick hit of happiness Sienna gave him.

“Landon.”

Sienna’s voice came out soft and scolding. She lightly patted the top of his head, like she was disciplining him for my sake.

“Evelyn is your mother. Don’t talk like that.”

He huffed, stubborn and unrepentant. “I wish you were my mom instead.”

His next words crushed the air out of my lungs.

“Then Dad and I wouldn’t have to keep sneaking off to hang out with you.”

It felt like a boulder had dropped straight onto my chest.

So that was it.

Every time Adrian picked Landon up from school and came home two hours late, he hadn’t been stuck at work. He had been with Sienna.

The three of them had been the real family all along.

I laughed.

Then the laughter broke, and tears started running down my face.

Adrian frowned when he saw me cry, almost as if this pained him. “Evelyn, you see it now. Landon likes Sienna more.”

He said it gently, like he was being reasonable.

“If we divorce, I only want custody of Landon. You can have the house, the cars, the savings. All of it.”

The sight of him trying to dress betrayal up as generosity made me want to vomit.

That was when Sienna stepped closer and reached out as though to steady me.

She still wore that same soft, fragile expression, but when she leaned close to my ear, her voice slid in like venom.

“I never had an episode that day,” she whispered. “I did it on purpose.”

Then, out loud, she put on the wounded, considerate act again. “Evelyn, we don’t have to be enemies. We can all be a family.”

Adrian rubbed her head with easy affection. “The burial’s about to start. We’ll talk about the rest later.”

Then he turned to me, and his voice went flat.

“Most of the people here today are Professor Wren’s students. You don’t know many of them well. It’ll be better if Sienna goes in your place.”

For a second, I was too stunned to move.

Then the meaning of it hit me.

I whipped my head toward Sienna, every muscle in my body straining against the restraints. I fought so hard the linen turned crimson.

“Sienna Vale, my father was a saint to you. How dare you do this to him?”

“You animal!”

I turned on Adrian, shaking with rage. “If you let her go out there in my place, I swear to God I will destroy both of you.”

His face darkened immediately.

But instead of lashing out in front of them, he only ushered Sienna and Landon out the door in a low, soothing voice.

A moment later, it was just the two of us in the room.

“Evelyn, you must be tired.”

He picked up a bowl of soup from the bedside like he used to, blew on it to cool it, and held it toward my mouth with practiced gentleness.

I turned my head away and laughed through my tears. “What exactly are you pretending to be?”

Something unreadable flickered across his face.

Then his hand shot out and clamped around my throat.

He squeezed just hard enough to force my mouth open, his expression gone cold. “You really think your father was some kind of saint?”

His eyes bored into mine. “Did it never occur to you that even heroes have skeletons?”

The implication hit me so hard a chill ripped through my entire body.

Before I could even process it, he leaned closer and said, in a voice like ice.

“If you dare ruin Sienna, I won’t hesitate to ruin your father too. So tell me, Evelyn, which matters more to you, a dead man’s reputation or one moment of satisfaction?”

He released me, straightened, and gave me one final look. “You’ll make the right choice.”

Then he turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him.