Chapter 6
897words
I had business with Cassidy. I figured I might as well pay her a visit, add a little salt to her wounds, as it were.
The driver, Burt, took me to the hospital. Once there, I asked the nurse for Cassidy's room number and made my way to find her.
She was lying in bed, looking as though she hadn't slept a wink, her face pale and drawn. If there was ever a portrait of someone feeling utterly discarded, it was her.
'How does it feel, Cassidy?' I thought to myself. 'Being abandoned like this?'
When she saw me, her eyes immediately darted past me, searching for something or someone. When she realized that Trevor wasn't following, she fixed me with a hateful look, her gaze burning with fury. "What do you want? Where is Trevor?"
She was practically desperate to flaunt her connection to him in front of me.
I feigned innocence. "Oh, my husband went to the office. What business do you have with him?"
Cassidy let out a mocking laugh. "Mrs. Farren, don't be too pleased with yourself. You think he really loves you?"
I gave her a puzzled look. "Of course he loves me. Don't try to turn us against each other."
The room felt stifling, so I casually unbuttoned a couple of buttons on my blouse. Beneath it, the mark left on my neck from last night's passion was unmistakable—an obvious, vivid reminder that my husband had, indeed, been home with me, not her. The purple-red bruises were glaringly apparent, an impossible thing to miss.
Cassidy's eyes darkened. She must have recalled how she had begged and pleaded last night in the hospital for Trevor to come to her side. But he never did—he was too busy with me at home.
That realization must have stung.
She glared at me, her eyes flashing with venom. "Mia, don't flaunt it. Trevor is sick of you! He's already slept with me! He loves me! Me! You're just a foolish, boring woman. He'll kick you to the curb sooner or later!"
I was taken aback by the ferocity of her outburst. Was it really so surprising? After all, what married couple doesn't share moments of intimacy? Yet, here she was, unraveling at the seams, completely unhinged.
I figured it was probably more than just a simple affair with her. She had developed feelings for him—she not only wanted his body, but also his love.
Her eyes were like daggers, and I had no doubt that if she were capable of getting out of bed, she'd try to tear me apart.
But alas, she remained a prisoner to her own emotions.
I put on a show of concern, clutching at my neck as if I were overcome with grief. "No... no, my husband would never betray me. You must be lying!"
She took out her phone and swiped through a gallery of intimate pictures, pictures of herself with Trevor. Those snapshots of her and him, in their most private moments, seemed to be her proof—her evidence that Trevor loved her.
She grinned, smug as could be. "See? I told you! Trevor loves me! What are you, huh?"
And then, she made the mistake of forgetting something important: revealing this little secret could have consequences for her as well. She was too blinded by her own little world of delusion to care.
I couldn't help myself. After seeing those pictures, I bolted, screaming in raw, guttural pain, before I ran out of the room.
Once outside, I composed myself, the mask of indifference settling back onto my face.
So, Cassidy thought she was the only one with intimate pictures? She was wrong. I had plenty of my own with Trevor—probably more than she did. But I wasn't about to parade them around. They were just tools, weapons I'd use when the time came, to mock and wound myself.
But I wouldn't let her see that.
She was foolish, though. Sooner or later, she'd learn, just as I did.
After gathering my emotions, I dialed Trevor's number.
"Honey, are you seeing someone else?" I asked.
The question barely left my lips before my tears began to fall.
It seemed my half-suppressed sobs reached him. His usually steady voice wavered with a hint of panic. "Mia, who told you that? Where are you?"
I didn't answer. I hung up the phone, my heart a mass of broken hopes. I was the woman who'd had enough.
Trevor, quick as ever, figured out where I was, and within half an hour, he arrived.
When he found me, I was sitting outside the obstetrics ward, dazed, staring numbly at the nurses who came and went with newborns in their arms.
He wrapped his arms around me tightly, almost like he feared I might slip away, as if I were a fragile thing ready to crumble.
"Mia, listen to me, this isn't what you think. Let me explain."
As I listened to his voice, I felt tears well up in my eyes. I stared at him, voice cracked. "Trevor, I miss my baby. The baby's gone... and now even you've betrayed me."
