"Enough; don't you think I can tell what's going through your mind? Everything Natalia's had growing up, haven't you always tried to take? Aren't you just jealous that she's having it better than you now, so you want me to make up for it? Have you lost all your brains to the cameras, Jessica Dawson? What do you think the Miller family is? An ATM machine for you to use at your liking?"
Jessica had never expected Shawn to say something so cold.
She sat there in disbelief, her fingers trembling around her phone.
"Shawn! How could you say something like that? Haven't I done my part all these years? If it hadn't been to be with you, would I have had to bow and scrape all these years? And you're treating me like this at the end? Who was it that said he would love me and pamper me all his life and dragged me into this pit in the first place? I've never done you wrong, Shawn, but what about you? Forget your wavering, I'm just having you give me a present. With an attitude like that, do you think you're getting the short end of the stick with this marriage? Or maybe you never wanted to marry me in the first place?"
Jessica shrieked into the phone, while Shawn frowned viciously.
"I didn't say I didn't want to marry you."
"Then what did you mean by that?"
"I..."
His father's warnings echoed in his ear, and Shawn finally managed to tamp down his anger.
Patiently, he said, "I'm just saying that the most important thing right now is to have the outside world believe that we're in a loving relationship. There's no need to compete with her. A real intimate relationship doesn't concern itself with things like that. What matters is compatibility and understanding between the couple. What do you think?"
Jessica clenched her fists, her whole body tightening.
After a while, she said coldly, "And what if I just have to have it?"
On the other end, Shawn's expression darkened too.
"Can you grow up, Jessica?"
"Grow up? So I just deserve getting squashed under her foot? I deserve being worse off than her in every way? I can't take that! You're my husband. Your wife is getting bullied out there; shouldn't you stand up for me as my husband? Or are you really so afraid of Archie McCarthy's power that you're wary of even offending Natalia? If you want to be a coward, then just say it! If I really can't rely on you, I won't force you. There are plenty of men in the world I can turn to!"
"Jessica!"
A roar came from the other end of the line.
Realizing what she'd said in the heat of the moment, Jessica paled and tried to explain. "Shawn..."
Shawn sneered.
"What? Finally said something you actually meant? Fine! If you think I can't stand up to other people, go find those people instead. Really, I don't mind at all."
"I didn't mean it that way..."
"I don't care what you meant! Remember this – your identity as a Mrs. Miller was just a deal we cut with the Dawson family. With the deal over, we'll go our separate ways. Don't darken my doorway again. That's that! Goodbye!"
With that, he hung up.
Jessica froze there.
The dead line stabbed into her heart like a blade of cold steel.
And the man's ruthless hairpin words dug their way still deeper.
A deal?
Go their separate ways?
Ha-ha...
Some things she'd never been willing to face head-on finally reared their ugly heads into the light, dropping her into the depths of despair.
'You think of me like that, Shawn?'
'The real feelings I've put on the table all these years was just a deal to you?'
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