They Destroyed Me, Then Begged Me to Come Back Chapter 02

They Destroyed Me, Then Begged Me to Come Back Chapter 02

I lifted my head, eyes burning.

“What exactly do you want me to say.”

“Weston Sterling!”

The tears spilled over.

“You know exactly what she did to me!”

The scars up and down my arms.

The nights I wanted to die.

The insomnia that never really left.

He knew better than anyone what had caused all of it.

“Why did you cheat on me with her?”

I looked at him, eyes swimming.

Weston let out a slow ring of smoke.

“Josephine, that’s all in the past.”

“What?”

I thought I’d misheard him.

“It’s over. It’s done.”

“It’s not over! I’m still sick! You don’t get to decide it’s over! I won’t accept that! You don’t get to—”

“Because she can give me a child, and you can’t!”

I went rigid.

He saw the shock on my face.

He exhaled. Stubbed the cigarette out in the ashtray.

“You know exactly what your body’s been through. I love you, Josephine. But I need to have a son.”

“But—”

“I know.” He cut me off. “The reason you can’t have children is because of what she did to you back then.

“But she’s already sorry. She already regrets it.”

A tear hit the floor.

“Weston. Even you, turning on me…”

No sooner had I said it than I regretted it.

Even my own mother had joined them against me.

What right did I have to say that to Weston?

But something flickered across his face—guilt, maybe.

“Josephine, I—”

“Let’s get a divorce.” I said it before I could stop myself.

He looked up, startled.

“What?”

I wiped at the corner of my eye.

“Divorce. I’ll walk away with nothing. The sooner, the better.”

“No.” His brow furrowed.

“What?” I laughed, bitterly. “Don’t tell me you’re actually attached to this marriage.”

“Of course I attached to this marriage.” He sighed.

“But more importantly—Bianca can’t be branded the other woman.”

“It’s already hard enough on her, raising him alone.”

“If I divorce you for her and marry her now, the neighbors will never stop talking.”

I stared at him, numb.

“Weston… you’re really this worried about her?”

He turned his face away.

Silence was his answer.

I smiled, choking back tears.

“You don’t have to agree. I’ll get a lawyer. We’ll do this through the courts.”

“Josephine—”

He reached for me.

I got to the door first. Slammed it shut behind me.

Weston stood outside for a few minutes.

Then I heard his footsteps finally walk away.

I slid down the door, my back against the wood.

That night, the nightmares came again.

Bianca and her circle of friends, their faces twisted, monstrous, like something out of a horror movie.

Their laughter was shrill, high-pitched, cruel.

The louder I cried, the sharper their laughter got.

I started screaming in my sleep again.

And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t open my eyes.

Someone rattled the door handle. Then the door burst open.

A pair of arms wrapped around me, tight.

Weston’s voice in my ear—the same voice that had talked me down from a hundred nightmares before.

“It’s okay. It’s over. It’s all over. I’m right here.”

“Josephine, it’s over. She knows she was wrong now.”

I woke up with a gasp.

The sheets soaked through with cold sweat.

The clock ticked on somewhere in the dark.