My Cruel Husband Let Me Die So I Married His Brother Chapter 02
The friends behind him all froze.
“So you already signed the papers? Congratulations! When’s the wedding?”
“I told you. Griffin adores her. The second she was old enough, of course he was going to lock it down.”
Growing up, Griffin really had done a lot for me.
In school, he wrote my papers. When I got into trouble, he took the blame.
If I wanted to go somewhere, all I had to do was ask and he’d take me. If I was craving something, it would appear in front of me before I knew it.
Everyone thought he loved me.
Only he insisted it wasn’t love.
I had just opened my mouth to speak when Griffin cut in coldly.
“I’m not in love with her. She’s not the person I want to marry.”
It was as if a switch had flipped in his head. His mouth tightened, but he wouldn’t look at me.
“She went behind my back and signed the papers herself. I never agreed to it, and I won’t marry her.”
I almost laughed.
He really thought highly of himself.
“What makes you think it was you who went to the courthouse with me?”
“Who else would it be?” Griffin frowned. “I had Leo give you my message. Why can’t you let this go? Do you get some sick thrill out of forcing people?”
His eyes were chips of ice.
I was about to snap back when I saw Ava standing behind him, her face streaked with tears.
“Griffin, if you already signed the papers, then what does that make me? I don’t want to be the other woman.”
She turned and ran for the door.
Griffin caught her instantly, pulling her into his arms.
He soothed her in the same low voice he used to use on me.
“Don’t listen to her. You’re the one I love. Even if I had married her, I would have divorced her. You’re the only person I’ll ever marry.”
“Ava, from the day you nearly died trying to save me, I promised myself I’d marry you and take care of you for the rest of your life.”
“So don’t give up on me so easily, okay?”
Sophia’s eyes went wide.
“But the one who saved him wasn’t—”
I cut her off.
Three months ago, Griffin had taken his men to the docks to intercept a shipment and had taken a hooked blade to the chest.
The hospital kept telling us he might not make it.
He survived because I gave him my blood, transfusion after transfusion.
Now, Ava was taking the credit.
No wonder he’d hated me so much after she died in our last life.
“It doesn’t matter anymore.”
My voice was calm.
His foot kicking my inhaler away had been real. The ten years he spent freezing me out had been real.
To placate Ava, Griffin borrowed a guitar from the bar manager and began to sing a love song in front of everyone.
He saw me, paused for a fraction of a second, then looked away as if I wasn’t there.
It was the song he’d written for my eighteenth birthday.
*Daphne, I hope I get to sing this to you on every birthday from now on.*
A wave of disgust washed over me, and I found an excuse to leave.
The moment I rounded the corner into the hallway, a cloud of white powder rained down on me.
I have asthma. Dust like that could kill me.
I clutched my chest and collapsed, unable to breathe.
“You’re a clever one, aren’t you?” Ava loomed over me.
“Griffin just brought me home, and you’d already run to the courthouse to sign marriage papers for the two of you.”
“Did you think I’d leave because of that? I won’t. Griffin loves me.”
I bit my tongue to stay conscious and fumbled in my bag for my inhaler.
Before I could grab it, Ava kicked it away.
“Do you know what Griffin told me?”
She crouched down, a triumphant smirk on her face.
“He said that only when he’s with me does he feel truly alive. I’m the one who made him realize his life could actually mean something—”
“Daphne!”
Sophia rushed over and shoved Ava aside.
I grabbed Sophia’s arm with both hands.
“My medicine… my medicine…”
Only after I took a deep puff did my breathing begin to steady.
When Ava realized something was wrong, she turned to run.
I grabbed her by the hair and shoved her face into the bathroom sink.
“Who gave you the impression you could mess with me?”
“You have the nerve to set me up?”
I was about to slam her head against the wall when the cold muzzle of a gun pressed against the back of my skull.
“Let her go.”