ManyWriters

For six years, I accepted my husband’s "muse". I told myself their connection was purely artistic, the price of being Mrs. Vanderbilt.
When I was bleeding in a hospital bed, Liam sneered over the phone, “Chloe gets pregnant, so now you’re faking an illness for attention? Pathetic.”
He dragged me from that bed to her celebration party. In front of all their friends, he shoved me. Hard.
I felt the life I fought so hard for, our child he never knew existed, drain out of me on that cold rooftop floor.
In that moment, the woman who loved him died, too.
Now, he sends flowers, begging for the wife he destroyed to come home. He doesn't understand. This isn't about a broken heart.
He has no idea he just armed his most dangerous enemy.

Fractured Vows

As I thought about it, it became clear. Liam must have been downstairs again, putting on his dramatic lovesick performance, when he saw Chloe storm in. He probably told the receptionist he was my husband, which was why they let him up.


Chloe seemed just as shocked to see him there.


After her surprise faded, anger took its place. She repeated her accusations to Liam, telling him how I had bullied her.


“Elara has always been jealous of how kind you are to me! She’s just looking for any opportunity to get back at me!”


With all the curious eyes of my coworkers on us, Liam looked embarrassed. “What are you talking about? Elara isn’t like that! Besides, can’t we just address the facts of the case instead of taking an employee's word as gospel?”


Chloe stared at him in shock, as if she were seeing him for the first time. “Are you actually defending her? You don’t believe me?”


Chapter 8