The Day I Stopped Waiting Was the Day He Started Begging novel Chapter 223

York remained frozen, watching helplessly as Madeline walked away.

So she really had been sick.

The fiercely proud Madeline, who carried so many secrets but refused to bow her head, had fallen ill because of him.

The realization felt like a blade carving him up inch by inch.

He had assumed she was in love with Hunter, believing that leaving her was the most graceful exit he could offer them both.

But if their separation had only brought them both agonizing torment, then what exactly had he accomplished over the past two years?

Madeline didn't go to Willow Lane; her mood was too fragile, and she didn't want Fiona or the others to worry.

Instead, she went to her own villa.

It was part of her premarital assets, a gift from Hunter before she even got married.

She rarely visited this place over the past two years.

The house held too many memories of Hunter, and she preferred to keep them locked away rather than confront them.

Madeline stepped exhaustedly into the villa. A housekeeper had been cleaning it for the past two years, so it remained spotless.

Sinking onto the sofa, she covered her eyes, only to feel the dampness seeping onto the back of her hands.

She thought she was past the point of crying, but her tears betrayed her.

When York left, she was already pregnant. It wasn't until a month after giving birth to Evie that she realized just how severe her mental illness had become.

She had blamed her emotional breakdowns on the overwhelming transition into motherhood.

But the anxiety only worsened, and anything related to York would instantly trigger her rage.

She even had recurring nightmares of murdering him with her own hands.

The agonizing torture of killing the man she loved tormented her day and night.

It was Sloane who first noticed something was wrong and dragged her to a therapist.

The therapist explained that she was too used to suppressing her emotions, that she loved him so intensely she wanted to destroy him along with herself, unable to accept that he had abandoned her.