She Was Never Just a Pretty Face novel Chapter 3

Hilda slowly raised her eyes. They stared at each other through the fading twilight.

She couldn't help but recall their wedding night, when he had looked at her with this exact same mix of shock, fury, and utter repulsion.-

But things had changed. She was no longer that girl.

Her tone was completely neutral. "She is my child. Mine alone."

In the next second, her slender wrist was snatched. Luther shoved her roughly into the open backseat of the Bentley. The car door slammed shut.

Their bodies were pressed tightly together in a compromising position, instantly bringing back the memory of their feverish friction that night. He had been half-kneeling over her, his handsome face flushed with raw masculine heat. But dry-humping didn't make babies.

"Whose is it?"

He gripped her chin aggressively. His thumb pressing past her parted red lips. The physical contact made his stomach churn with disgust.

Dark fury swirled in his eyes. "Tell me. Who did you sleep with?"

The child looked around four years old. That meant she had been with another man the very year they got married. She had been sharing someone else's bed.

He didn't love her, but that didn't mean he enjoyed being made a cuckold.

Furthermore, he was the CEO of Aegis Group. If news broke that his wife had an affair and produced an illegitimate child, both the Sanford family and the corporation would face a catastrophic scandal.

His gaze grew dangerously icy.

Hilda looked up at him. Her lips trembling slightly.

She had really entrusted her heart to a monster!

She had once loved him with such burning intensity. She wasn't naturally outgoing, but for two whole years, she had flown to Alpha City every single week just to see him. His grueling schedule and freezing indifference never deterred her because she loved him.

But had she known—had she known he was sneaking around with Jolie, had she known he found her so thoroughly repulsive—she never would have held on.

A tear slipped from the corner of her eye. Her throat tight, she opened her mouth to speak.

A loud, aggressive knock on the window interrupted them.

The car door was yanked open. A tall, striking young man stood outside, glaring coldly at the two of them.

Both Luther and Hilda were caught off guard.

Soren?

What was he doing here?

Soren Sutton was just her tenant.

Luther slowly straightened up, stepping out to face the younger man. His eyes darted judgmentally between Soren and his wife.

Soren let out a dark chuckle. "That's right. I'm Soren Sutton. The kid's father."

He scooped little Annie up into his arms, intentionally pressing his cheek against hers. "Doesn't my little girl look just like me? A spitting image, wouldn't you say?"

Luther's eyes were glacial. He didn't even spare Hilda another glance. A woman this shallow wasn't worth an ounce of his energy. He would let his lawyers handle this. He was going to file for divorce, demand a DNA test, prove her infidelity, and leave her with absolutely nothing.

As the Bentley sped off, Hilda took Annie from his arms and offered him a faint smile. "Thank you for earlier."

Soren looked highly impatient.

The bus ran every twelve minutes. Hilda stared blankly at the sheets of rain. Suddenly, her gaze locked onto something.

Stopped at a red light just ahead was a very familiar black Bentley. Luther and Jolie were inside.

Luther was gripping the steering wheel, a faint, relaxed smile playing on his lips—a look she had never once seen him wear. Jolie sat in the passenger seat, turning to say something to him as she coyly twirled a strand of her curly hair. She looked breathtakingly glamorous.

To anyone watching, they were the picture-perfect couple.

Suddenly, Luther's gaze drifted over.

He spotted her. She was shivering violently, her thin black trench coat clinging wetly to her skin. She looked utterly pathetic.

His eyes darkened.

Beside him, Jolie let out a quiet scoff.

She already knew her stepsister had been unable to handle the loneliness and knocked up some other man. When she found out, she had practically celebrated. Hilda had ruined her own life and destroyed her future. Once Luther filed for divorce, she would be public enemy number one, stripped of her reputation and unable to ever recover.

Just the thought of it made Jolie euphoric. Being denied the Cassidy last name was the greatest grievance of her life.

The rain continued to pour. Through the watery curtain, Hilda stared blankly at the lovers in the car.

She had long stopped caring. But seeing the man she had loved so deeply sitting beside her illegitimate sister still twisted a knife in her gut. She felt sick with regret—for wasting her life, and for Annie.

The light turned green. The Bentley smoothly accelerated. Its tires sliced through the puddles, splashing dirty rainwater that splattered against Hilda's face, blurring her vision entirely.

The car brushed right past her.

And Luther brushed right past her.