Redemption and Betrayal

Chapter 1

My pregnant wife threw away our twins to save her childhood best friend, who had cancer.

She secretly had the abortion to donate bone marrow.

My mom, worried sick she’d get hit by a car searching for her, the body so messed up they couldn’t put her back together.

Numb with grief, I didn’t get an apology from my wife.

Instead, I saw a picture on her childhood friend’s social media.

Her hand, all tangled up with his.

“I knew you wouldn’t let anything happen to me. Next life, let’s skip the sibling thing and just be together.”

Something inside me just…broke.

Ice cold, I wiped my eyes and typed.

“Looks like you already are. A pair of fugitives.”

1.

Before I could even block my wife, Ashley, from my contacts…

Her phone, which had been going straight to voicemail, finally rang.

She was screaming before I even had the chance to say hello.

“How can you say that? You can yell at me all you want, but why would you curse Chris like that? He can’t handle any stress right now!”

“David, I know you’re pissed about the abortion, but you can’t take it out on someone who’s dying! Two lives for Chris’s? It’s worth it!”

My head felt like someone took a sledgehammer to it.

I couldn’t bring myself to respond.

Hearing nothing from me, she kept going, like poison dripping into an open wound.

“Enough! You don’t get a say. I’m their mom, I decide! Chris’s life depends on me now!”

“Are you hoping I die too? Is that what you and your mother want? Two kids, David, it’s not the end of the world! You can always have more!”

Bringing up my mom…

That was like twisting a knife.

I couldn’t stop myself from shouting.

“Don’t you DARE talk about my mom! You don’t deserve to!”

Ashley didn’t expect me to react like that.

She just coldly said, and hung up.

“Your family only cares about babies, no heart! I’m really disappointed in you guys!”

“Gotta go, you’re freaking me out. I need to go take care of Chris.”

She didn’t seem to notice anything wrong with me, her whole world revolved around Chris Baker.

How could she know?

She flushed our kids down the drain and my mom got hit by a car rushing to find her.

When Ashley found out she was having twins, my mom was over the moon.

She gave her two houses, worth millions, as a reward.

Growing up in a single-parent home, being an only child…

My mom was desperate for grandkids and always told her for every kid she had, she’d get a mansion.

She didn’t exactly make Ashley suffer in her day-to-day life.

I went out of my way to give Ashley whatever she wanted.

Then she turned around and gave one of those houses to Chris.

I thought that was a pretty damn generous move on her part.

I knew that she and Chris were both orphans, practically raised each other.

They were as close as siblings could be, I guess.

I was jealous of Chris before Ashley and I got married, but Chris went overseas.

Then, when Ashley was pregnant, he conveniently came back.

So, when I told her I didn’t think she should hand over the property, she got all defensive.

“You guys have tons of money, just buy another one! It’s mine, I can do what I want!”

“Chris is my family, his is mine, what’s wrong with that?”

“If he hadn’t given up his chance to study abroad so I could go to school…”

“I wouldn’t have ended up at your company, met you!”

“Chris is the reason our marriage even happened!”

“Without Chris, we would not be together.”

It was like everything I’d done for her didn’t mean a thing.

She thought that rich guys were unreliable, they couldn’t care about her.

So, I chased her for a year, showered her with gifts, and put work on hold to be with her.

I wanted her to feel secure.

I wanted to show her that even though I had money, I wasn’t a jerk.

It took three years before she held my hand.

I watched her and Chris share an ice cream cone like some loved-up couple.

I was going crazy with jealousy, but she cried and told me that if I couldn’t accept every part of her, I was no different from those jerks.

My mom always taught me to be polite and respectful to women, never make them cry. So, I bit my tongue.

Then, five months into the pregnancy, she freaked out and told us.

“I HAVE to save Chris! He has cancer. If I don’t abort the babies right now, he’s going to die!”

“I’m a bone marrow match, the perfect one! Don’t try to stop me. I’ll kill myself!”

My mom couldn’t handle it.

She went straight to the hospital.

At the hospital, Ashley kept pushing.

“Mom, you get it, right? You get how I feel? I’ll give you the house back, I don’t need it. I have to save Chris!”

My mom was a sweetheart.

Her eyes were red and swollen, but she didn’t say a single harsh word to Ashley.

She said she’d think about it.

She was already on the phone, pulling every string we had to find a bone marrow match.

Still, my mom told me to take care of Ashley, not just because she was carrying her precious grandkids.

She understood what it was like to not have parents.

She wanted me to be extra patient with Ashley.

Until…Ashley went behind our backs and aborted the twins.

The doctors had already warned her that her body wasn’t in any shape to be pregnant.

She’d had to take shots to get pregnant with twins.

If she had an abortion at five months, it could seriously damage her health.

I was on a business trip.

Even if I left immediately, I wouldn’t make it back in time.

My mom, worried about Ashley, decided to go find her.

She got hit by a car and died instantly.

The unfinished text message on her phone became the worst pain I have ever experienced.

She told me not to blame Ashley and not to throw away our marriage.

But…I lost my only family member.

I was staring at a pile of mangled limbs and bloody flesh.

I wasn’t disgusted, I was in so much pain I couldn’t breathe.

“Mom…it’s my fault. Why did it have to be you? Why not me?”

“I should be dead, if you hadn’t gone to look for Ashley, you’d still be here…”

I punched myself in the chest, wracked with guilt and self-loathing.

Tears streamed down my face.

I called Ashley over and over…once, twice, five times. No answer.

I opened up her profile, scrolled to her latest post.

Sure enough, Ashley was right there beside Chris.

The caption: “I knew you wouldn’t let anything happen to me. Next life, let’s skip the sibling thing and just be together.”

Ashley must have already gone through with the abortion.

Two lives, she threw them away without even thinking.

I stared at the diamond ring on her finger.

My custom-made wedding ring.

That’s when my heart turned to ice.

I typed out the words, cold and final.

“Looks like you already are. A pair of fugitives.”

Ashley, I don’t want a wife like you.

There’s three lives between us now.

Snapping back to reality, the phone started ringing again.

The funeral home was calling to tell me my mom’s body was too damaged to be repaired.

I sobbed, unable to even give my mother a proper burial.

“I’m sorry…I’m useless…”

I knelt before my mother’s remains, forcing myself to authorize the cremation.

I wanted to let my mother rest in peace.

Not lying in a cold, dark place.

So, I brought my mother’s ashes home and put them in her favorite place: the living room.

She always said she wished she had a daughter, even though Ashley was a little bossy.

She loved watching TV in the living room with Ashley, binging shows, eating snacks and talking.

But now, the house felt cold and empty.

I gave the staff the day off and sat alone in the dark, no lights on.

I turned on the TV to one of those silly reality shows.

Ashley had promised my mom that she would watch it with her.

Tears streamed down my face.

Then I heard the light switch flicker on.

Ashley seemed startled to find me there and snapped, impatiently.

“David, is someone dead here? What are you doing sitting in the dark?”

I looked up at her, my eyes like ice.

“Aren’t you supposed to be gone? What are you doing back here? Get out!”

Ashley’s face froze.

She started complaining.

“I’m already so sick because of the abortion, and now you’re giving me the silent treatment?”

“David, what kind of husband doesn’t take care of his wife?”

I started laughing.

I held the urn close to my chest.

“I don’t care what happens to you, even if you die out there, it has nothing to do with me!”

Okay, maybe I was overreacting.

What else was I supposed to do? My mom was dead!

My only family…gone!

Ashley’s face dropped.

She reached for the urn.

“What are you doing with that thing? You’re trying to kill me!”

“Where’s Mom? I want Mom to tell you to stop acting like that! How can you say those things to me!”

Ashley was used to bossing my mom around.

My mom had called her 99+ times and she didn’t answer once.

How dare she ask where my mom was, like she wanted my mom to scold me?

I laughed, staring at her with contempt.

“She’s right here! Go talk to her, see if she comes to yell at me!”

Out of nowhere, Ashley slapped me.

She started grabbing at the urn, yelling like some crazy lady.

“Are you out of your mind? Is that thing a curse on me? I’m gonna destroy it.”

She tried to grab it, her face twisted with rage.

I shoved her back, she almost lost her balance.

Then she came back, stumbling after me.

She was so ugly that I felt myself boiling with rage.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I stormed over to her, and slapped her.

Her face was frozen, scared.

My expression was cold, my voice was cold. “Ashley, we’re getting a divorce.”

Every word hit her like a bullet.

I wanted to go upstairs but she held on to my arm, tightly.

Her diamond ring cut into my skin.

“What did you say? Say that again in front of your mother. Has your mother said we can divorce?”

“I’m not recovered from the abortion, why are you arguing with me?!”

I stared down at her, hatred and venom in my eyes.

“Is that what you want? You never thought about Mom or me when you had that abortion.

You didn’t, did you? You care about Chris so much? Let’s divorce so you two can get married!”

Ashley stamped her foot, angry and bitter.

“Where’s Mom? I want to talk to her! “You’re pushing me away?”

I held on to the urn, and laughed. “I told you, right here.”

She didn’t seem to understand.

Her expression turned cold.

She gave me a false smile, and said, “Are you doing this to make me notice you? Fine, I will let Mom play with you until you’re happy.”