Chapter 178
FAITH
He knew, Dominic knew everything concerning my past, the trauma weighing on me like a shadow, the scars I carried beneath the surface. He knew how long it took for me to heal, to claw my way out of that pit called depression. Yet he went ahead and did exactly the same thing to me.
I glanced over at Caleb, who was talking to himself softly while holding the edges of the small foy in his hand. He didn’t have any idea how close we were to walking out that door and leaving his father.
1 swallowed hard, forcing back the lump in my throat. I had convinced myself that Dom was different. Different from every other man I had ever encountered. Even different from Alex. But no, he turned out to be just like them. Worse, he turned out to be exactly like my father.
He had cheated on me, betrayed me, and now his lover was here. In our home. Pregnant.
My fingers closed tighter over the phone as I pressed it closer to my ear. “I need the papers, Matthew,” I said, working to keep my voice level when at tornado was tearing its way through me.
“Mrs. Graham, are you certain? Divorce is
“Yes,” I cut him off, my voice razor–sharp now. “Quite sure. I have to get out. I’ll send the details over, but I need you to begin drawing them up.”
There was a pause
a pause on the other end. “Alright. I’ll get to work on it. Anything else you need, just let me know.”
“Thanks,” I whispered before hanging up
I dropped the phone into my lap and stared blankly at the screen. The weight of my choice settled heavy on top of me, but I didn’t have any other choice.
I thought I could manage this. I thought I might be able to put up with Eliza’s presence, thought I’d be able to handle the humiliation of having her herE. But now I knew I couldn’t. Not in the way she looked at me, as if she already knew she’d won. Nor in the way she paraded her pregnancy like a trophy.
I slowly rose, my legs trembling beneath me. Caleb looked up at me with curious eyes, his toy now forgotten. “It’s just you and me now, little one,” 1 whispered, laying a gentle hand over his hair. “We’ll be olcay. We have to be.”
1 zipped up Caleb’s bag, my hands shaking as 1 fought to keep it together. Caleb was sitting on the floor by my feet, playing with one of his toys, happily ignorant of the chaos that was going on around him. I glanced over at my suitcase and then at his bag, reminding myself that I could do this.
As I reached down to pick up the bags to leave, the door swung open.
“Well, look at this,” Eliza’s voice rang out, dripping with smugness, “Packing up already? Good. It’s about time.”
I turned slowly, my jaw clenched as I met her gaze. She leaned casually against the doorframe, her hand resting on her somewhat invisible bump, that
insufferable smirk on her face.
“Dominic and I are going to need this room,” she said, her voice light and teasing, as if she’d won some sort of prize
I wasn’t going to bite. “Move,” I said flatly, clenching the handle on my suitcase.
But just as I was moving forward, she spoke again, her words cutting through me like a blade.
“Poor Caleb,” she said, her voice laced with faux sympathy. “Not even Dominic’s kid, is he? Probably just some little bastard.”
I froze, my blood boiling. Slowly, I turned to face her, my hand still gripping the suitcase. “What did you just say?”
Eliza’s smirk widened. “You heard me,” she said, her tone taunting. “You’ve been parading him around like he’s Dominic’s son, but we all know the truth, don’t we?
Before I could stop myself, iny hand flew out and brought a resounding slap across her face. The sound echoed in the room, and for a moment, Eliza stood there, stunned, her hand flying to her cheek
“How dare you,” I hissed, my voice shaking with rage. “It’s bad enough you had to drug a man, a married man, just to trap him with a pregnancy. But don’t you drag my son into this. You can be a whore if that’s what you want but not everyone is like you.”
Eliza recovered quickly enough, her smirk returning. “Oh, Faith,” she sneered, “You should’ve heard the way he moaned my name. Even in his drunken state, he knew what he was doing. He knew I was better than you
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