“Christina!”
He ground my name out between his teeth.
He strode over quickly, lowering his voice to a harsh whisper with anger and embarrassment.
“Are you out of your mind? Why did you bring Mom here?”
I looked up, meeting his fiery glare with a calm face. A cold smile even tugged at my lips.
I didn’t answer his question. Instead, I pulled a sheet of paper from the cloth bag slung over my shoulder.
I slapped it down on the table in front of him.
It was a copy of his new marriage certificate, still stinging me.
The photo on it was of him and Megan, the woman standing right beside him.
“Tristian, you’re remarried now. Congratulations.”
I spoke slowly, every word clear. “Now, as a son, please fulfill your duty to support your own mother.”
Tristian’s pupils contracted sharply, his eyes widening in disbelief, as if he were seeing me for the first time.
Megan leaned over to glance at the paper.
When she saw her own name and photo on the marriage certificate, her pretty face flushed scarlet before blanching to a deathly pale.
The hand she’d curled around Tristian’s arm tightened instinctively.
Tristian snatched the copy, gripping so hard he nearly crumpled the paper.
He glared at me, his eyes blazing with threats and warnings, and his voice dropped to a guttural growl, like a trapped beast squeezing sound from its throat.
“What the hell do you want?”
“What do I want?”
I finally stood up, my gaze locking straight onto his. In that moment, all the grievances and rage that had simmered in me for days burst forth, finding a raw, unyielding outlet.
“I want to ask you what you wanted! Tristian, you divorced me behind my back, then got married to another woman so soon. What do you take me for? And what do you take our family for?”
My voice wasn’t loud, but every word landed like a hammer on their consciences.
“You kept cashing my military dependent allowance every month, acting like I was dead and gone! You dumped your paralyzed, helpless mother on me, your ex-wife, like she was a bag of trash!
“Now you’re newly married with a beautiful wife. Shouldn’t you take your mother back and let your glamorous new wife do her filial duty?”
The second I finished, Megan snapped.
“What did she say? Divorce? Allowance?”
She shrieked at Tristian. Her perfect face was contorting with shock and fury.
Her eyes flicked over my plain, worn clothes, then to the frail, sickly Emilie on the hospital bed, before finally boring into Tristian.
It clicked for her in an instant.
She’d thought she was marrying a promising young officer with a bright future, never a shameless man who’d abandoned his wife and shirked responsibility for his own mother.
She clung to her own marriage certificate copy. Her knuckles turned pale with the force of her grip, her body trembling faintly with rage.
I watched the cracks split open between them, watched their perfect happiness crumble. And a twisted, vengeful pleasure flooded me.
I said to myself, “Tristian, Megan, this is just the start.
“You haven’t felt real misery yet.’
Tristian’s face burned with embarrassment, his veins bulging on his forehead.
He itched to lash out, but we were in his military camp. His colleagues and superiors were here, so he didn’t dare.
All he could do was glare at me, his gaze sharp enough to slice.
Megan had lost all her grace and poise. She clung to Tristian’s arm, shaking it violently as she snapped, “Tristian! Explain to me!
“What the hell is going on? Who is this woman? Who is that old lady?”
Her tone dripped with unhidden contempt and disgust.
I looked at her coldly. This spoiled city girl had probably never dreamed her “perfect love” would come with such a “gift.”
Our commotion finally drew military officials.
A major and also an officer from the Behavioral Health Team, named Rodolfo Hurley, walked in.
Two young officers followed behind him.
“What’s going on here? Who is making such a scene in the reception room? Orders!” Rodolfo’s tone was stern.
At the sight of his superior, Tristian instantly perked up, as if he’d found a lifeline. He dropped his focus on me, hurried forward, and saluted.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.