Chapter 3

"Rosie, let me explain, I—"

"I don't want to hear it!"

I clapped my hands over my ears, cutting her off.

"Do you have any idea? All these years, I dreamed about you, day and night!"

"How many times I nearly jumped after you, just to be with you!"

Geraldine's tears crashed down. She stepped closer, gripping my hands, shaking her head over and over.

"I'm sorry, Rosie, I'm the one who wronged you!"

"I never knew I'd hurt you this badly…"

I lifted my hand and slapped her across the face, hard.

"Keep your filthy hands off me!"

"If you know you wronged me, then why did you seduce my husband, why did you get every last one of them to lie to me?!"

Dustin's pupils shrank. The wine glass in his hand shattered on the floor. He rushed to hold Geraldine, staring at the red mark on her cheek, his eyes full of aching tenderness.

"Geraldine!"

He glared at me, hard.

"Rosamund, Geraldine's pregnant. How could you raise a hand to her?!"

My heart felt like it was being crushed to pieces, and the pain left me trembling all over.

I wiped my tears and met his eyes.

"Dustin, what right do you have to question me?"

"She's a mistress. Even if I beat her to death, she'd have it coming!"

"Rosamund, you're the one who's actually—"

"Shut your mouth!"

Geraldine cut Dustin off through her tears and dropped straight to her knees in front of me.

"Rosie, stop fighting, both of you."

"This whole thing is my fault. I was shameless, I was disgusting, I seduced Dustin, and I made Aiden hide it from you."

"I'll get rid of the baby tomorrow. From this day on, I'll never appear in front of you again."

Aiden spoke up, like he couldn't stand to watch.

"Rosamund, don't take it too far. You know better than anyone how hard Geraldine's road has been."

I clenched my fists and lowered my eyes.

The summer of junior year, Geraldine's mother fell gravely ill. To earn the medical bills, her father hauled freight on no sleep and died right there on the highway.

The medical bills and tuition all landed on her shoulders, and she had no choice but to drop out and work.

I was the one who started an anonymous fundraiser, and I paid her tuition with the money from my own summer job.

After that, my breakfasts and my meals always came in double portions.

Every problem I worked through, I patiently explained to her, again and again.

That was how we ended up at the same college, each other's most solid backing.

I knew how hard things were for her.

But she also knew how hard it had been for me and Dustin, from that tiny rented room barely a few hundred square feet to now.

And yet now, she'd become the knife that cut me the deepest.

I looked at Geraldine, that picture of tearful, utterly wronged innocence, and let out a scornful laugh.

"Even if you and your baby died a thousand times, ten thousand times, I would never forgive you!"

Then I shoved Dustin aside and turned to leave.

In the cab, I contacted a lawyer right away to ask about the divorce.

A few minutes later, all the lawyer sent back was a question mark.

I was still puzzling over it when his next message popped up.

【Ms. Swanson, there is no marriage between you and Mr. Sullivan at all. There's no divorce to speak of.】

【From what I've found, his only legal spouse is a woman named Geraldine.】

I stared at those two lines, my ears ringing.

The moment I got home, I dug out the marriage certificate like a madwoman, snapped a photo, and sent it.

【Are you sure you didn't make a mistake? This is our marriage certificate!】

The typing indicator kept flickering in the chat.

【Ms. Swanson, the number and the embossed seal on this certificate are both fake… Have you been deceived?】

【Do you need any other legal assistance?】