From Wife to Aunt: His Worst Nightmare novel Chapter 3

"Wasn't it you?" Maria blurted.

As her words fell, Steve seemed to have made a phone call.

His voice was cold and detached, and the tone in which he spoke was of someone accustomed to giving orders that were not meant to be questioned.

He said, "Lily, go settle with your pay with the finance department tomorrow. Starting tomorrow, you don't need to come to Griffin Group anymore."

Then, he carried the first aid kit with him and walked into my room. His face was expressionless as he went straight to the bed and sat down. He took hold of my ankle and lifted my calf onto his knee.

"It'll hurt a bit. Bear with it," he reminded.

His eyes lingered time and again on the dried blood on my knees. He took out an iodine swab and gently disinfected the wounds.

If it weren't for the photos that showed those scenes that had utterly shattered my expectations of him, his focused expression might have made me think he had returned to the Steve from long ago. I would have thought he was the Steve who had loved me.

But just the night before, he had been with Isabel the whole time.

No, hold on. Over the past three years, they had probably been together on the countless nights when Steve claimed to be away on business.

A wave of nausea rose in me. I quickly pulled my leg back and scooted away from him. I took the cotton swab from his hand to disinfect my knees myself.

The sharp, unmistakable pain from the wounds was a reminder that there was no turning back for Steve and me.

I didn't look at him.

Lowering my head, I taped gauze over my knees and said quietly, "Steve, let's get a divorce."

This was a decision I had made after pondering it all night. To me, this separation felt like tearing flesh from bone. But to him, it didn't seem to amount to anything because there wasn't even a flicker of surprise on his face.

His strikingly handsome face remained stoic as he asked, "Divorce? Can you really go through with it?"

After all, I had known him since I was five. I had known him ever since the Yaxley family adopted me. From the day I met him, I had followed him everywhere. I had eyes only for him since then.

He looked at me with disdain. "Saying things like this once or twice out of spite is one thing. What will you do if I actually agree next time?"

Suppressing the sorrow welling up in me, I asked sarcastically, "You already have a child with another woman. What makes you think I'd still willingly stay with you?"

His eyes narrowed slightly as he studied me. "Have you found out?"

I smiled bitterly, and my voice took on a sobbing edge as I murmured, "She looks about three. That means your daughter was born not long after our child died. Am I right?"

A trace of an indecipherable emotion flickered across his stern face. He neither admitted nor denied it.

The silence in the room was suffocating.

After a long while, he frowned and asked, "Do you care about Dorothy's existence that much?"

So that little girl's name was Dorothy.

In an exhausted voice, I replied, "If her existence is just to satisfy your desire to be a father, then maybe I wouldn't mind."

Suddenly, he stepped closer and braced both hands on either side of me, trapping me against the bed. I pushed at him with all my strength. But in my current state, I barely had any energy at all. I couldn't make him budge even a little.

He leaned in closer, his cool voice taking on a strange, seductive undertone as it brushed against my ear. "Compared to anyone else, I still like you more."

My face flushed instantly.

Before his obsession with being a pious man set in, we had been like any normal couple. Our lovemaking had been passionate and intense.

Being reminded of those memories now made me want to bite my tongue off in shame.

Steve watched my reddened face with apparent satisfaction. He smirked and asked, "Did you recall something?"

My cheeks felt like they were on fire.

But as I looked at his face that was so familiar yet so alien, I suddenly felt a sense of release.

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