Chapter 2

2

Caleb's face darkened the moment he heard Cassia was being bullied.

"Who has the nerve to touch you? Do they have a death wish?" he barked.

Cassia pointed a finger directly at me, a smug grin hidden behind her fake tears.

"Her!"

Caleb looked up, and for a split second, panic flickered in his eyes when he saw me.

He quickly masked it and pulled Cassia behind him protectively.

"Elowen, how can you be so pathetic? You're actually out here pretending to be my wife?"

"Don't you know that I've only ever loved Cassia?"

I looked at him, feeling nothing but mockery.

"Funny. That's the first I've heard of it!"

Cassia's friends crowded around to support her.

"Mr. Thorne, thank god you're here! This woman was being so abusive. She said she'd throw Cassia in jail!"

"She was using such foul language and even tried to hit her!"

They twisted the truth effortlessly, painting Cassia as a fragile little flower.

Caleb stepped toward me and, without a word, delivered a brutal slap to my face.

"Who do you think you are, trying to touch Cassia?"

I held my burning cheek, staring at him in disbelief.

In the past, even during our worst arguments, he had always been the one to bow his head first.

He had played the part of the tender, devoted husband so well that I had ignored the rot in his soul.

"Caleb Thorne, you actually laid a hand on me?"

A brief shadow of guilt crossed his face.

But it vanished instantly as he turned back to Cassia to reassure her.

"Don't worry, baby. I would never be with someone as lowly as her."

"In my heart, you are my only wife."

Watching him grovel at her feet like a dog made my stomach turn.

I felt a wave of nausea.

But then, Caleb grabbed my shoulder and forced me toward the floor.

"Didn't you hear my wife? She told you to kneel and apologize ninety-nine times. Get on with it!"

I threw our marriage certificate in his face.

"Caleb, I'm asking you one last time. Who is your wife?"

"It's Cassia Miller, obviously!"

Caleb kicked me hard in the back of my knee, forcing me down.

He grabbed the back of my head and slammed it toward the floor.

The sound of my forehead hitting the marble was sickening, and blood began to seep out.

He leaned down and whispered in my ear, his voice cold.

"Don't blame me, Elowen. Blame the fact that you're just a foster kid the Millers didn't want anymore."

He pressed my face into the cold tile with brutal force.

I couldn't take it anymore. I reached for my phone to call the police.

"Caleb, you're going to regret this!"

But before I could dial, Cassia kicked the phone out of my hand.

"Elowen, I knew you were shameless, but this is a new low. Being a mistress wasn't enough? You had to play make-believe as a wife?"

She dug her sharp nails into my cheek, scratching deep.

"My parents treated you like their own daughter. Is this how you repay them?"

They did treat me like a daughter, once.

But the moment Cassia was found, they threw me out like trash.

They acted as if I had stolen the years they should have spent with her.

I saw them walking through the boutique doors now, and for a second, I hoped they would stop this.

But I was a fool to hope.

Mrs. Miller stood back, looking at me as if I were a pile of filth.

"You ungrateful brat! We took you in because we felt sorry for you, and now you're bullying our Cassia?"

Mr. Miller stepped forward and grabbed my hair, slamming my head against the floor again.

"Apologize to my daughter right now!"

My heart felt like it had been pierced by a blade, and my blood ran cold.