My Sacrifice Became His Betrayal Chapter 03
I stumbled back to my room, crestfallen. In the wedding photo on the wall, Howard looked at me with such affection that it now only made me feel sick.
If he wanted a child so badly, why did he waste all these years being with me, knowing I was infertile?
He maintained the image of a devoted husband while scheming to take Madalyn’s child back to the Atkinson family.
Wasn’t he tired of living a double life? Or did he simply revel in the thrill of it?
The more I thought, the more it hurt. I took all our photos to the garden and set them ablaze.
Then I tossed the scrapbook of our shared journey into the burning waste, along with the wedding dress that Howard had designed for me and the souvenirs from every holiday.
I didn’t leave until they were reduced to a heap of ashes.
As I got to my feet, a glimmer caught my eye.
I bent over and picked it up. It was a yellowed photo.
The girl in a school uniform smiled with youthful charm, her features resembling Madalyn’s.
But on a closer look, her face looked like mine.
Shocked, I clutched the photo and dashed into the closet to compare it with my reflection in the mirror.
Half a minute later, my hand shook, and the photo slipped from my grasp.
As I saw the face identical to Madalyn’s, tears poured from my eyes, and I collapsed to the ground.
Only now did I realize that I had been living as someone’s replacement all this time.
No wonder the first thing Madalyn did after coming back was get plastic surgery.
She wagered that Howard loved her for who she was, not for a face that could be replaced.
My heart twisted in pain. I suddenly saw myself as nothing but a laughingstock.
By the fifth brew of the calming tea, I smiled and told Susan to dump it.
She shot me a puzzled glance. “Mr. Atkinson has trouble sleeping. Only your calming tea lets him rest.”
I smiled bitterly. “He won’t be coming home tonight.”
I woke up at noon the next day, and my pillow was half-soaked.
Then I saw Howard placing a towel by my head, his gaze heavy with guilt. “Adri, I’m sorry. The client kept me up last night revising the project. I couldn’t get back in time.”
I stared at him as he eagerly justified himself, and for the first time, it felt ridiculous.
Noticing my disappointment, Howard produced a bouquet of pink roses from behind and held it out to me, smiling ingratiatingly. “Do you like it, Adri? I went to the suburban rose garden to pick them for you this morning.
“Stop being mad, please? It breaks my heart to see you cry.”
“I’m not mad. I just got some sand in my eyes.”
When he heard that, his rigid shoulders relaxed at once.
I glanced at the roses indifferently, pretending not to catch a whiff of the faint, milky scent.
Then, with a poker face, I took them and put them in the vase on the balcony.
Howard forgot that roses needed to be dried in order to be preserved longer.
After some time, it finally hit him. As he tried to take the roses out, the thorn pricked his finger.
“Next time, I’ll give you a garden of roses.”
Watching the blood oozing from his finger, I remained unfazed.
There was no “next time” for us.
While I was lost in thought, he took out an invitation from the orphanage and looked at me nervously. “Adri, I checked the dates. We should go to the orphanage tomorrow to complete the adoption.”
My heart lurched. He didn’t even have the patience to wait three more days before taking Madalyn’s child home.
I nodded numbly, ignoring Howard’s excited talk about booking the best hotel in the city tomorrow to host a banquet for our “future son.”
I lowered my gaze, pulled out my phone, and sent a message to Marcus Murphy, who had invited me into his secret underwater program half a month ago. “Prof. Murphy, I’ll join your secret program, and I can start tomorrow.”