The Abandoned Wife's Second Chance (Scarlett and Jasper) novel Chapter 127

(Jasper’s POV)

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I sit in my car outside the bakery for ten minutes before I work up the nerve to get out.

Through the bakery window, I can see warm light spilling out onto the sidewalk. There are people inside, voices carrying on the evening air. A celebration. Of course there’s a celebration–it’s her birthday.

I should leave. Turn around and drive home to my empty house and the bottle of whiskey waiting on my kitchen counter. She won’t be pleased to see me.

But my feet carry me forward anyway.

That’s when I see him.

Dorian, down on one knee in the middle of the bakery floor.

My heart stops beating. Just stops, like someone reached into my chest and squeezed it until nothing was left.

There’s a ring box in his hand. A f*****g ring box.

“No.” The word falls from my lips, barely a whisper. “No, no, no.”

But I can’t look away. Can’t move. Can’t breathe.

Scarlett stands frozen behind the counter, her hands pressed to her mouth. Her eyes are wide, filled with tears that catch the warm bakery lights. She looks shocked. Overwhelmed.

Beautiful.

More beautiful than I’ve ever seen her.

And then she nods.

She nods, and simple movement destroys me completely. It is a thousand tiny knives plunging into my chest, shredding my heart into twisted, jagged pieces.

“Yes,” I hear her say through the glass. “Yes, Dorian. Yes.”

The small crowd inside erupts. Applause and cheers and happy tears. Dorian slips the ring onto her finger and stands to hug her.

She throws her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. The way she clings to

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him, the sheer relief and trust in that embrace-

I thought, this is it. I’m done for. No pain can measure to the agony of seeing my wife becoming someone else’s.

But I thought wrong.

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The real blow that knocks the breath out of my lungs, and shatters the last, stubborn piece of my resistance, comes when Lily walks into the frame.

My daughter. My sweet, precious girl. She rushes forward, not to Scarlett, but to Dorian, and throws himself in his arms.

“Does this mean Uncle Dorian is going to be my daddy for real?” I hear her ask through the

window.

My chest tightens to a painful knot. That is my daughter, embracing the man who is replacing her father in her mother’s life.

My little girl, asking another man if he’s going to be her daddy. Begging for it, actually, with the kind of excitement she used to show me when I visited her.

The raw, primal pain of that displacement is unbearable.

The one relationship I thought was immune to my failures–my bond with Lily–is now being usurped by this clean, competent rival.

The world outside the bakery window is silent. No one hears my silent scream. No one sees the man across the street dissolving into tears.

I want to turn the key, to accelerate, hit the gas, and flee this public execution of my pride.

But I can’t. My feet are leaden. My eyes, glued to the scene, forced to witness the exquisite beauty of their new life, a life built on the ruins of mine.

Dorian crouches down to Lily’s level, his face serious. “If you want me to be, I’d be honored.” Honored. To be my daughter’s father. To marry my wife. To…

No, Jasper. This is necessary. This is what must happen…

But the brainwashing stands no chance to the joyful squeal of my daughter.

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I’ll have a daddy now!” Lily jumps up and down, and Dorian scoops her up, spinning her around until she squeals with laughter.

I watch him hold my daughter like she’s precious. The way I should have held her every single

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day of her life.

The way I should have held Scarlett.

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Elena wraps all three of them in a warm hug, tears streaming down her face. Even Chloe is crying, her arm around Scarlett’s shoulders.

They look like a family.

No, scratch that. They’ll be a family. Soon, they will be a real family, and me? An outsider.

Scarlett stares down at the ring on her finger like she can’t believe it’s real. When she looks up at Dorian, her smile could power the whole city.

That smile used to be mine.

I can’t stop watching her face, mesmerized by the smile. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her look so truly happy.

I think about all the birthdays I missed. The times I chose Virginia’s manufactured emergencies over Scarlett’s quiet needs. All the ways I failed her, day after day, until she had no choice but to leave.

And now she’s found someone who sees her worth.

My phone buzzes. A text from Virginia: “Where are you? The cake cutting’s about to start!”

I delete the message without responding.

Inside the bakery, the celebration is winding down. The small crowd starts to disperse, people heading home with full hearts and warm smiles.

My hand shakes violently. I have to deliver the gift. That’s what I came for.

Even if it shatters me, I have to complete the task I came here for.

And despite everything, despite knowing it won’t change anything, I need Scarlett to know that someone from her old life still cares.

I take a shaky breath and approach the door.

The bell chimes when I push it open, and suddenly all the happy chatter stops. Everyone turns to stare at me–Chloe with open hostility, Elena with surprise, Dorian with the same calm expression, I realize, I’m starting to hate.

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