Desperate Counterattack
Chapter 1
Seven years of marriage, and finally, I was pregnant.
Then Mark saw the test.
His face twisted.
“Whose is it?” he asked.
I stared. “What? It’s yours, dummy.”
“Seven years, nothin’. Now, suddenly, after my business trip? You think I’m stupid?”
Ice flooded my veins.
Two months along… the timing was off.
His mom chimed in, all sweetness and poison. “Honey, maybe that ‘late night at work’ was somethin’ else?”
I was working late, busting my butt.
I choked back tears. “Fine! Let’s get a DNA test. Prove it.”
Mark practically leaped at the idea.
That stung.
After the appointment, I went straight to my mom’s.
Three days. Three days until the results.
We made a deal. If it was his, Mark groveled. If not, divorce. I walked away with nothing.
Mark didn’t call. Not once.
Anger and hurt churned inside me.
“When it comes back, I’m getting rid of it,” I told Mom. “The baby and him.”
She squeezed my hand. “Give him a chance. He loves you crazy. It’s just… a shock.”
“He’ll be eating his words,” she added with a wink.
She was right. Underneath the temper, Mark did love me.
I decided to wait. To see.
The day of the results, I overslept.
The doorbell jolted me awake.
Mark stood there.
I thought he was there to apologize. To take me back.
“Mark, you saw the results, I swear…”
He slapped me. Hard.
My head snapped back. My mouth filled with blood.
A ringing blasted in my ears.
I looked up, stunned. “Mark, what the hell?”
Smack!
Another blow sent me reeling.
I crashed against the table.
Clatter, crash.
Mom burst from her bedroom, screaming. She pulled me up.
“Mark! What are you doing?”
“She deserves it!” Mark’s eyes were wild. He grabbed a tissue box and threw it at me. “You’re cheatin’ on me,纪柔! I’ll kill you!”
I yanked Mom aside. The box slammed into the wall.
Cheating? Was the test wrong?
“I haven’t been with anyone else! There’s gotta be a mistake!”
“Mistake?” He spat the word. He shoved his phone in my face. “Proof, right here! No mistake!”
I grabbed the phone.
It was a text exchange between Mark and Lisa… Lisa, the wife of Mark’s college buddy, Tom.
I’d met Lisa a few times. I thought we were friends.
Lisa had told Mark that Tom and I were sleeping together.
Mark didn’t believe her at first. Then Lisa sent a picture.
A photo of lacy lingerie.
I knew that underwear. It was the pair I wore the night before Mark left on his trip.
Something was wrong.
“Mark, those aren’t my panties!”
He went ballistic.
He snatched the phone, tapped the screen, and grabbed my hair. He shoved the phone inches from my eye.
“Look again! Whose are they, then?”
Another picture.
The side of the panties had “Mark’s Girl” embroidered on them.
My brain short-circuited. My face went white.
“That’s… that’s not possible. I threw those away after you saw them. How could they…”
Then I remembered Mark’s mom. How she was always sneaking into my closet.
One day, I came home early. I caught her standing there, half-naked, rummaging through my clothes.
She said she got lost.
After she left, I found a pair of my lace panties on the floor.
Could it be her?
I looked up at Mark. “It was your mom!”
“You lying BITCH!” He kicked me, sending me sprawling. “Don’t you dare talk about my mom like that! She’s not some pervert.”
My legs gave out. I crumpled to the floor.
He raised his hand and slapped me again and again.
Mom screamed, grabbing at his arm. “Mark, stop! There’s a misunderstanding! Let’s talk!”
“Get out of my way.” He shoved her.
She crashed to the ground.
“Mom!” I screamed. “Mark, you psycho! She has a bad back! Dad will kill you for this!”
My dad was a cop. Mark knew that.
But Mark was blind with rage.
“Your mom raised a slut. She probably deserves this. Maybe your dad will thank me for teaching her a lesson.”
Neighbors had gathered in the hallway.
“What’s going on?”
“Sounds like the纪s’ daughter cheated.”
“Can’t be. They’re such a nice family.”
One of them spoke up. “Hey, kid, take it easy! She’s pregnant! You can’t hit a woman!”
Mark turned, snarling. “Mind your own business, old man. Wait ’til your wife cheats on you. See how you like it.”
He glared at the crowd. “This is a family matter. Even the cops can’t do anything about it. Anyone who calls them will be next.”
The crowd scattered.
“You wanna wear my ring and carry another man’s kid? You think I’m stupid?” Mark stared at my stomach.
I’d never seen him like this.
He was an animal. His eyes were filled with hate.
I instinctively covered my belly. “Honey, I didn’t do anything! Call Tom! Ask him who those panties belong to!”
He laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. “Tom? You think Tom is gonna save you? His wife is already beating the crap out of him with a group of her friends!”
Mark grabbed my dad’s decorative whip. He pulled it from the wall.
He flicked it in his hand. “When did you and Tom start?”
I shook my head. “Never!”
“Liar!”
The whip cracked through the air.
I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed.
The blow landed… but I didn’t feel the pain.
I opened my eyes. Mom stood in front of me.
The whip had hit her. She didn’t flinch.
She looked at Mark, her eyes pleading.
“Mark, you’re making a mistake! Please, don’t hurt her! You’ll regret this!”
“Regret? I should have done this sooner! I should have slapped her when I saw the test!”
“She’s covering for her child! You think can protect her.”
“Today, I will beat both of you.
Mark raised the whip again and hit my mom several times.
Mom protected me with all her strength.
She made a terrible scream, and my heart began to be cruelly squeezed.
To protect her, I abandoned all my dignity and knelt down to beg Mark.
“Don’t. I’m begging you. Don’t.”
“I never sleep with another man”
“Mark! Please stop hurting my mom, for our marriage!”
She can’t take it.
Mark wouldn’t stop.
“What right do you have to mention these years of marriage? Do you think I don’t love you enough and be nice to you?”
I felt my mom couldn’t keep it anymore.
At this time, Mark was finished.
Mom collapsed.
I touched her back.
Full of blood.
I yelled “Mom!”
“Mom, wake up!”
Mom already fainted.
