Chapter 3

With one careless sentence, he pinned me to the whipping post as the mistress all over again.

Judith glared at me, spitting that I was a shameless mistress, a piece of trash.

Zachary's gaze dragged heavily over my belly, his voice thick with anger.

"Giles, tell me the truth. That baby in her belly, does it have anything to do with you?"

Giles's fist tightened, bit by bit, then loosened again.

At last he said, "No."

I stood where I was and let out a ridiculous little laugh.

Seven years of patience and understanding, and in the end all it had bought him was the freedom to hurt me without a shred of fear.

Beryl heard the commotion downstairs and hurried up.

Seeing her parents worked up, she rushed to soothe them, smoothing things over.

"Mom, Dad, why didn't you say you were coming?"

Judith was about to speak when she noticed the wedding ring Beryl had mentioned wasn't on her daughter's hand.

Her eyes slid past Beryl and landed on my finger.

Then, without any warning, another slap came down hard.

"Why is my daughter's wedding ring on your hand!"

My head snapped to the side, the taste of blood spreading through my mouth.

Beryl's mother turned her glare on Giles, demanding an explanation.

Giles's jaw was clenched tight, his lips pressed into a thin line.

He looked at me, and in his eyes there was a struggle, reluctance, the ache of not wanting to.

But in the end what he said was an accusation. "Wren, is it fun, playing the thief?"

Beryl glanced at her parents, as if afraid they wouldn't believe it.

She spoke up too. "Wren, from clinging to him shamelessly to stealing a ring like a common thief, do you have any self-respect left at all?"

She held out her hand. "Give me back the ring."

I pressed hard against my cramping belly and forced myself upright.

Just as I was about to speak, Giles seized my wrist and pulled the ring off my hand.

Then, with his own hand, he slid it onto Beryl's ring finger.

I stared at him, dumbstruck, unable to get out a single word.

Beryl, wearing the ring that didn't fit, warned me coldly:

"Wren, what isn't yours won't be yours, even if you steal it."

For a moment my heart felt like it had been doused in scalding oil.

Zachary swept a cold eye over the whole farce, then addressed Giles at last.

"Giles, this ex-girlfriend of yours has been hounding you for years, and now she's shown up at your home to steal things."

"Today, in front of us, you make it perfectly clear to her!"

Giles stood in silence for a long time, then finally walked over to me.

His voice was very low.

He said, "Wren, when I used to say we'd be together forever, that was me being young and stupid."

"Your being here has become a burden to me. I don't love you. I stopped loving you a long time ago."

"I hope you'll have some self-respect and stop bothering me."

My hands and feet had gone cold as I stood there, listening to him carve into my heart, cut by cut.

For a moment something in me went hazy, because right then Giles wasn't putting on an act.

Every word came straight from the gut.

But really, none of it mattered anymore.

From the moment he wrote Beryl into his life, we were always going to end without an ending.

Zachary spoke up to advise me.

"Girl, save yourself some dignity. Don't make him feel disgusted every time he thinks of you later on."

Disgusted.

I nodded.

"All right."

I made my ragged way toward the door, strangely calm through all of it.

Giles panicked.

He came chasing after me, but not without explaining back into the room first.

"Uncle, Aunt, I'll walk her down."

He shut the door, pulled me into the stairwell, stayed silent for a long time, then laid his hand on my belly.

"Does it hurt?"

I moved away.

His hand froze in midair.

A few seconds later, he lowered his voice and explained.

"I promised your uncle and aunt I'd take care of Beryl for the rest of my life. I can't let them know about you and me. Pushing you just now, that was in the heat of the moment."

"And those things I said in the living room—"

I cut him off in a hoarse voice and finished it for him.

"I know. You only said it to put their minds at ease."

Giles seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

I tugged at the corner of my mouth, pushing down that nameless exhaustion, and looked at him.

"Giles."

"Hm?"

"Let's break up."