No Longer Your Unpaid Wife Chapter 2

Watching his small, retreating back, a tear slipped down my cheek, hot against my swollen skin.

Toby hadn't always hated me.

When he was two, he was a deeply insecure child. He cried whenever anyone else tried to hold him. Once, when William tried to pick him up, Toby had scratched his father's face until it bled. Back then, I was his entire world. He wouldn't let anyone hurt me.

On our fifth anniversary, William stood me up to go to an auction to buy a rare collection of sketches Victoria had loved. Toby had gone on a hunger strike for an entire week, demanding his father apologize to me.

But William’s parents blamed me for "corrupting" the boy. They forcibly took Toby away to their estate and barred me from seeing him.

I knelt outside their iron gates for three days and three nights in the rain. Finally, they relented, allowing me to visit Toby once a month, for no more than ten minutes at a time.

Over those isolated years, Toby’s love for me faded, replaced by a carefully manufactured devotion to a woman he had never met.

The anaphylactic reaction was peaking. My throat felt as though it were closing, and my consciousness began to slip away.

Through the haze, a muffled, frantic voice echoed in my ears.

"Isabel!"

Before darkness took me, I saw a flash of sheer terror on William's face.

When I opened my eyes, the stark white ceiling of a hospital room came into focus.

The room was empty, but the door was slightly ajar. From the hallway, familiar voices drifted in, their words sharp and clear.

"If she wants a divorce, let her leave," my mother-in-law said, her voice dripping with contempt. "It’s not like your marriage certificate is real anyway. She can't touch a single penny of our estate."

My heart stopped.

"She’s just throwing a tantrum to force your hand for a wedding," she continued. "Delusional girl. A charity case from the slums thinks she deserves to carry our family name?"

William’s father chimed in, patting his son on the shoulder. "I've seen her type a thousand times. She’s social climber. We tested her for eight years, and she still couldn't control her greed. You should have thrown her out long ago."

William was silent for a long moment. "I know," he said quietly. "You don't need to worry about this. I'll handle her."

It felt as though a bolt of lightning had struck my chest. The blood in my veins turned to ice.

For eight years, I had worked myself to the bone for this family. I had believed that even if his parents despised me, William’s love for me was real.

But it was all a lie. Our marriage wasn't even legal.

He had exploited my body, my heart, and my labor for nearly a decade, and I had absolutely nothing to show for it.

Rage, pure and hot, surged through me. I pulled the IV line from my hand, swung my legs out of bed, and threw the door open.

"How could you do this to me?" I demanded, my voice trembling with a mixture of fury and betrayal.

The three of them jumped, their faces turning pale and awkward.

William’s eyes flickered with a brief flash of guilt before hardening into his usual mask of irritation. "Why are you out of bed? Were you eavesdropping? Is that how you behave now?"

I let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "Are you angry because I finally know the truth?"

"Ten years, William. We knew each other for ten years. We lived together for eight. I never even asked you for a ring. How could you play with my life like this? What did I ever do to deserve this?"

William frowned, his voice dropping into a cold, defensive tone. "You brought this on yourself. When we were supposed to get married, you made a scene. My parents were worried that if we registered the marriage immediately, you would become arrogant and tarnish our family’s reputation. It was a precaution."

His words dragged me back to my twenty-first birthday.

William had promised me a beautiful birthday dinner. But when I arrived at the venue, the party had been transformed into a somber memorial service for Victoria.

The balloons I had spent hours picking out were popped. The banner wishing me a happy birthday was shredded in the corner. My cake had been tossed into the trash.

His parents had screamed at me: “You haven't even married into this family and you're already trying to assert dominance? Today is Victoria’s death anniversary! How dare you celebrate your birthday on this day?”

“Kneel and apologize to Victoria, or you will never enter our doors!”

I had never felt so humiliated. I broke up with William on the spot.

But he pursued me relentlessly for six months, begging for forgiveness, promising he would protect me. Foolishly, I believed him. I agreed to a private ceremony, thinking he was standing by my side against his parents.

Now I realized the chase hadn't been about love. It had been about control. It was a punishment.

"If you had just apologized to Victoria back then, none of this would have happened," William said, looking down his nose at me. "You publicly embarrassed my parents. This was your consequence."

"But now that you know, we can put it behind us. Once you're discharged, we will go and register the marriage properly."

Slap.

My hand struck his cheek before he could finish the sentence. The sound echoed down the sterile hallway.

"You disgust me," I whispered. "I will never sign a single piece of paper with you. We are finished."

William’s expression darkened, his jaw tightening. "Are you serious? If you walk away, you will never get custody of Toby."

I looked him dead in the eye, my voice devoid of emotion. "A child who doesn't love me? You can keep him."

Without another word, I turned and walked toward the exit.

I took a cab back to the house to pack. Behind me, the sound of hurried footsteps followed. William had chased me all the way from the hospital.

Ignoring him, I unlocked the front door and stepped inside. But as I reached the living room, I froze.

A young woman was sitting gracefully on the sofa, sipping tea.

When she saw me, she offered a sweet, practiced smile.

"Hello," she said softly. "I’m Victoria. William's fiancée."