Of course I didn’t say anything, but I was confident in my aunt’s ability to make a scene. If Alexander kept refusing, she would surely cry and wail at the school until everyone knew.
But that had nothing to do with me. I just needed to stay silent, shedding tears at the right moment. Naturally, righteous bystanders would take my side, sympathizing with the poor wife betrayed by her own sister and husband.
That night after my shower, I was lying in bed reading stories on Twitter when I heard the doorknob turn. Alexander was back after a week
away.
He took off his suit jacket, loosened his tie, and placed his watch on the table. Looking at his expression, a powerful fear welled up inside me.
I knew that expression all too well. It was my nightmare.
I clutched the bedsheets, my heart pounding.
Alexander grabbed my foot and yanked me from the headboard to the foot of the bed. He pinned my arms with his hands and my legs with his knees. I struggled, but the difference in strength between men and women was too great.
“I’ve been thinking these past few days how I ended up in bed with Sophia. She’s not the type of woman I’m usually interested in.”
“It wasn’t until today, when she threatened me with the baby’s life, that I realized – you’ve been orchestrating this from behind the scenes, haven’t you? You started the day she moved in.”
I denied it tearfully. “Honey, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Alexander’s eyes were bloodshot as he suddenly grabbed my throat. The feeling of suffocation made me instinctively pound against him with my fists.
At the last moment, Alexander let go. Regaining the ability to breathe, I lay on the bed gasping for air, tears rolling down my face.
I was truly scared. In that moment, I genuinely felt the touch of death.
I sat up and hugged myself. “Why? Why does everyone I love have to leave me? Alexander, I loved you so much. Why are you abandoning me too? You promised to give me a family”
“You’re scaring me now. It’s just like in high school when no one loved me and everyone bullied me. Why are you bullying me too?” I deliberately brought up high school – I needed his pity to calm him down.
Hearing my words, Alexander’s expression started returning to normal. He pulled me into his arms. “Didn’t I tell you before? As long as you’re a good girl and do as I say, I’ll always treat you well.
I cried in his arms. “Sophia is pregnant with your child. We can’t go back. If you don’t marry her, she’ll ruin you.”
1:19
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“I’m sorry,” he said.
