Chapter 3

3: 3

3.

For two seconds the hospital room went quiet.

Then Thaddeus laughed, like he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Divorce?"

He looked me over, the pale face, the shirt stained with milk, and his mouth curled into a sneer.

"Divorce with what? No job, no income. You had to borrow four hundred dollars from a friend."

"You leave me, and what, you and the baby sleep on the street?"

So he knew. He knew every bit of how far down I'd been pushed.

I looked at the baby's small, pale face, and the ache in my chest deepened.

"Yes."

"This life of living off someone else's charity, holding out my hand for money, sleeping on the street would feel freer than this!"

Thaddeus gave a cold laugh.

"Celine, stop playing hard to get."

"A parasite like you, you think you can support yourself? After a divorce you won't even get custody of the child!"

Jade set her wine glass down at once.

"Thaddeus, don't talk to her like that."

The words were soothing, but her body kept leaning in toward him.

"Celine, you've got it all wrong. Thaddeus and I are just friends."

"He knows I'm not strong, he worries about me, that's the only reason he came to look after me."

As she spoke, Jade lifted a hand and tucked her hair behind her ear, showing off the diamond bracelet glittering on her wrist.

"He insisted on giving me this bracelet too."

"I told him it was too expensive, I wouldn't take it. But he said I'd landed the company a contract, and a little gift like this was nothing."

Then she pointed to the limited-edition handbag on the sofa.

"And that bag, I really did turn it down, more than once."

Thaddeus smiled, gentle.

"It's only a few thousand dollars, nothing worth much. No need to explain yourself to her."

Only a few thousand dollars.

A few hours ago he'd been shaming me over a few dozen.

Now, to keep Jade happy, a few thousand dollars was too trivial to mention.

I looked at the bandaged palm of my hand and couldn't stop myself from asking.

"Thaddeus, is this what you meant by the company being short on money?"

"Do you not have it, or do you just not want to spend it on me?"

Thaddeus frowned, his whole face impatient.

"Jade creates value for the company. Can you?"

"What have you ever done besides circle around that baby all day?"

"The whole house reeks of sour milk, and you don't even bother with your hair."

His eyes moved over me, full of disgust.

"You have a baby and you can't even hold your own pee. One sneeze and you wet your pants."

"I'm embarrassed to take you out, and you still have the nerve to compare yourself to Jade?"

The first time I leaked was the day of the baby's one-month celebration.

The house was full of guests. I was holding the baby and I sneezed, and suddenly there was a small wet patch on my pants.

I stood there mortified, not knowing what to do.

It was Thaddeus who put his arms around me.

He changed me into clean clothes and promised, over and over.

"This is a secret between husband and wife. I won't tell anyone."

Now that so-called secret had become his after-dinner joke with Jade.

Jade pressed her lips together, a flash of amusement she couldn't quite hide in her eyes.

"What are you looking at me for?"

Thaddeus let out a cold snort.

"Was anything I said wrong?"

"You make a fool of yourself, don't blame other people for not wanting you around!"

Thaddeus's voice had drawn plenty of attention.

Those sharp stares seemed to drag me back to that mortifying afternoon all over again.

I bit down hard, fighting to keep myself from falling apart.

"Why do I leak? Because I gave you a child! Because I've worn myself out for this family the whole time!"

"When I was pregnant and vomited until my stomach bled, you said the company was busy."

"When the wound after the birth hurt so much I couldn't sleep all night, you said you had a meeting the next day."

"I took care of the baby day and night and couldn't even get one hot meal."

"And you take the damage childbirth left on my body and use it to please another woman!"

My voice shook harder and harder, until in the end I couldn't get the words out through the crying.

Thaddeus only kept his face cold and pushed Jade behind him, shielding her.

"Are you done losing your mind? Jade's still sick. Do you have to make a scene until no one gets any peace?"

The baby's fever hit 102, and that didn't count as being sick.

Jade drank her wine and ate her steak, and she was the one who needed him at her side every second.

I looked at this man in front of me, and all at once I had no strength left to argue.