Please Give Me Another Chance, Mrs. Hamilton novel Chapter 17

Nadine hadn't learned until later that Adam had emotionally blackmailed Brad into giving up on his relationship with Jean.

The only reason Brad had shown up at the beach that fateful night five years ago was because he saw no point in living if he could not have Jean.

It was bad enough that he had a heart problem, but to have his beloved sent away by Adam ruined him completely. With neither hope nor ambition to keep him going, his life seemed bleak.

He had been lost in his thoughts when he saw Nadine leap off the cliff and into the ocean.

Nadine's slender silhouette bore a striking resemblance to Jean's. At that moment, it wasn't some strange woman Brad saw falling into the ocean, but Jean.

He jumped in after her without a second thought. From that moment on, he treated Nadine as a replacement for Jean.

Jean's name was like a curse that shackled Nadine to this loveless marriage.

Nadine couldn't escape Jean even in her nightmares, for the latter smiled sweetly at her as she purred, "You'll always be nothing more than my replacement, Nadine. Now and forever!"

A sharp pain stabbed through Nadine. She bolted upright screaming, drenched in cold sweat.

She reached to turn on the lamp on her nightstand and realized the space next to her was empty.

She brushed her fingers over the sheets where Brad would normally lay. They were icy, with no lingering trace of warmth that indicated he might have slept here at some point.

Brad had to be sleeping with Jean tonight. Nadine doubted he was coming home.

Nadine was only human, after all. Since the day Brad took her and Sean in, she immersed herself in playing the role of his dutiful wife and homemaker.

Jean's return was like a hard slap in Nadine's face.

Nadine stared out at the rain that fell from the night sky and finally saw through the mask she had put on for the last five years: she was not Brad's wife.

She was nothing more than a damsel in distress who had been given the chance to play princess for a while, but the magic had long worn off, and it was time for her to snap back to reality.

No matter how much she loved Brad, it was time for her to let him go.

But that was easier said than done. Nadine hadn't even told him how much she loved him yet.

The heartache that ripped through her cleared her addled mind. Now that she was completely awake, she grabbed her phone and gave Brad a call.

There were a few rings on the other end before her call was rejected, followed by a text that popped up on her screen.

"Being astute is a virtue."

Brad had never texted her before, and the one time he did so was to send her this ambiguous message.

Was he trying to tell her not to bother him while he was in the middle of something and to give up her position as his wife?

At least three minutes had gone by since Nadine first got the message, and she was still staring at it as she clutched her phone tightly.

At that moment, her mind was made up: she was going to give Brad and his true love exactly what they wanted.

…

Brad drove through the torrential rain to drop Jean off.

As the rain poured, he held up an umbrella and shrugged off his coat to drape it over Jean's shoulders. He then followed her to the front doorstep.

He had made sure she stayed completely out of the rain, so she remained bone-dry while his shoulders were soaked with rainwater.

At the sight of this, Jean feigned heartache and said, "Brad, you're drenched. Come in before you catch a cold."

Brad did not turn down her offer. Pulling his umbrella shut and handing it to the housekeeper, he followed Jean to one of the rooms.

The housekeeper beamed when she saw Jean. "It's good to see you back here, Ms. Sawyer! This house has stood empty all these years, but nothing has changed.

"I thought Mr. Hamilton would dismiss me after you left, but he was kind enough to let me keep my job. He told me to stay here to keep things as they are until you return.

"You don't know how horrible the last five years have been for Mr. Hamilton, Ms. Sawyer. Please don't be upset with him. It wasn't as if he had a choice.