Love Left Unrepaired by Time Chapter 2

My hesitation was clearly starting to annoy him. He tapped his fingers impatiently on the table.

“What are you stalling for now, Isla?”

“Did you think having the baby would make me see you differently?”

“Let me be clear. I don’t love you. And I could never love a child you gave birth to.”

“If you refuse to sign, I’ll file for divorce myself, and I’ll make sure your child grows up with the same miserable life you had!”

It’s always the ones who know you best who can hurt you the most.

When I was eighteen, my parents divorced.

My father forced my mother out with nothing and publicly disowned me.

He forbade me from using his name, inheriting his wealth, or having any connection to him whatsoever.

I became the laughingstock of our social circle.

An outcast, ridiculed and alone.

Back then, Declan was the only one by my side.

He walked me to and from school every day.

He stood in front of me when others tried to bully me.

He held me when I was heartbroken and told me, “You’re the best, Isla.”

“Even if the whole world abandons you, I will always be here.”

“I love you. And I will give you the happy, complete family you deserve.”

Because of that promise, I gave up my dreams of literature to study medicine, all to cure him.

I stood by him through a brutal and dangerous battle for his inheritance.

I sacrificed my career and my ambitions to become a stay-at-home wife, trying to start a family.

I thought we had finally made it through the worst of it.

But then, while I was pregnant, he got lonely. He cheated on me with Ruby.

When I found out, there was no guilt in his eyes. No shame for his betrayal.

He just looked at me calmly and said, “I can’t help it, Isla. I didn’t want this to happen.”

“But the other day, when I saw the stretch marks on your stomach, I suddenly felt… disgusted.”

“I can’t feel any desire for you. But I’m a man. I have needs.”

“And Ruby… she gives me a thrill, a feeling I’ve never had before.”

“So, she deserves a title. She deserves respect.”

The Lancaster family was old-money, with strict rules. Declan had always prided himself on his clean image.

He looked down on men who kept mistresses and had messy affairs.

So, he simply asked for a divorce.

At the time, I was only a few weeks pregnant.

To get what I wanted, to see him pay for what he had done, I swallowed every last bit of my pride.

Even when he started taking Ruby to public events.

Even when he told the press I was a desperate, clingy shrew.

I endured it all.

For this moment.

I picked up the pen and signed my name on the divorce agreement with a firm, steady hand.

Just then, his phone rang. It was Ruby, her voice a sweet, cloying pout.

“Declan, are you done yet?”

“I’m all dressed up and waiting for you.”

“You’re not getting soft just because she had the baby, are you? You’re not backing out of the divorce?”

“If you are, I’m never speaking to you again!”

He glanced at the risqué photo she sent. His breath hitched, and his voice dropped to a low murmur. He soothed her with the same soft, careful words he used to use on me.

Then he snatched the signed papers from the table and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

The sharp edge of the paper sliced a thin, red line across my palm.

The loud bang of the door startled the baby, who immediately began to wail.

A doctor rushed in to see what was wrong.

Declan never once looked back.

I sighed and was about to comfort the baby when the doctor grabbed my hand.

“What happened to your hand? Did he do that?”

“Come with me, we need to run some tests. Don’t you know he has…”

He couldn’t bring himself to say the word.

But I looked up, a genuine smile spreading across my face. “I’ve been managing Declan’s health for years. Of course, I know.”

I had received his test results yesterday.

They were exactly what I expected.

HIV-positive.

The virus had already begun to attack his cardiovascular system.

A simple cold, a sneeze, a moment of exertion…

Any of it could be enough to kill him.

So, for the next month, the closer he got to Ruby, the closer he got to his own grave.