My Husband Said His Student Was More Important Than His Pregnant Wife Until I Asked for Divorce novel Chapter 51

Chapter 4

Against the light, Gabriel’s silhouette was blurred.

I was released. The wedding was prepped in a rush.

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The night before the ceremony, Victoria sat in the parlor, her tone casual. “Since you’ve thought it through, prepare yourself properly. Violet’s been emotionally unstable lately. Find time to apologize to her.”

Preston tapped ash from his cigarette. “Hazel, be obedient. The Vances might still let you keep some dignity.”

I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t even have the strength to twitch the corners of my mouth. The confinement and

torture had hollowed me out.

Gabriel found my silence offensive. “The marriage was approved. What are you dissatisfied with?”

“If we’re keeping score, everything you have now… which part didn’t you steal from

Violet?”

“Keep making trouble, and The Vances won’t keep you. Neither will I.”

Violet, nestled between them, spoke softly. “Hazel, I’ve been craving your Red Velvet.”

“The kind you… specially made for Gabriel.”

Red Velvet.

The cake I’d baked through the night when his father’s sentence was passed, when Gabriel’s fever dreams wouldn’t let him rest. It became our secret language.

He once pinned me against the kitchen island, made me swear I’d never bake it for another soul,

Now it had become his cheap trick to please someone else.

Laughter clawed its way out of my throat, hate finally bursting the dam. I grabbed the scalding coffee carafe and hurled it at Violet’s feet.

Glass exploded, Brown liquid splattered her calves,

She shrieked and buried herself in Victoria’s arms.

Gabriel’s palm cracked across my face. “You are beyond saving.”

They committed me to St. Jude’s Sanitarium under “intentional injury” and “mental disorder posing a danger to society.”

Gabriel and Preston signed the involuntary commitment papers.

Chapter 4

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While I was strapped down for “treatment,” Violet exchanged vows with Gabriel in The Base Chapel. She wore the custom gown meant for me. They were intimate on what should have been our wedding bed.

Three months later, they dumped me at the curb like a tattered rag, covered in blood

Snow fell that night, mirroring the night I’d found Gabriel.

But I wasn’t as lucky.

No one came looking. The only thing I clutched was the bracelet, stained and ruined.

“Hazel?” Harley touched my hand. “What’s wrong?”

I snapped back, pinched her cheek. “I’m fine. We got through it.”

I’d left that city. I’d made it to Savannah, scraped together every cent, and took over this small shop. Thought

I’d never see them again.

I didn’t expect to run into them.

“Throw it away,” I told Harley, eyeing the shell casing bracelet. “It’s trash.”

As the words fell, the door chimed open.

Gabriel had returned.

He stood at the counter, breathing slightly fast, eyes locked on the bracelet. His voice was rough and eyes

red.

“Hazel. We need to talk,”

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