My Savior Became My Betrayal Chapter 02
Early the next morning, while Kennith was still asleep, I grabbed a thermos and headed out.
Our marriage was falling apart, but I still made the drive to the downtown hospital.
Kennith’s mother, Dina Rowlett, had been stuck there with severe kidney failure for over six months, and I was the one pulling late-night shifts to take care of her.
I looked at it as my final act of family duty—one last thing to do before closing the book on our twelve-year relationship.
When I pushed open the door to her room, Dina was busy talking me up to her roommate’s family.
“I don’t know what I’d do without Melly,” she was telling them. “She takes better care of me than my own flesh and blood would.”
She smiled warmly when she saw me and told me to sit down and take a load off.
I poured out the broth I’d spent all night making and handed her a plate.
“Drink this while it’s hot, Dina,” I said. “Ken ran a fever last night, so I’ve gotta get back soon to check on him.”
Dina had barely taken her first sip when her phone—which was propped up on the tray table playing a video—suddenly rang.
A video call popped onto the screen, the name “Letty” flashing across the top.
With both hands gripping her plate, Dina pointed at the phone with her chin.
“Melly, could you grab that for me? It’s probably Ken’s cousin.”
Without thinking, I swiped to answer.
My blood ran cold. Staring back at me on the screen was a familiar, youthful face.
It was Leticia Noel—the woman I’d caught in bed with a blackout-drunk Kennith six months ago.
She was holding a little boy, maybe three years old.
He beamed at the camera and squealed, “Grandma! Look at the car Daddy got me!”
Looking annoyed, Leticia started complaining into the phone.
“Dina, Ken drank way too much over here last night and caught a fever, so I let him sleep before he left.
“Did that angry woman yell at him again for getting home late?”
The hospital room went dead silent.
Panic flashed across Dina’s face. Her hands started shaking, sloshing hot broth all over her blankets.
“Melly! Let me explain!”
Ignoring the scalding mess, she lunged forward to snatch the phone.
I stepped back, my whole body trembling as I stared at the kid on the screen. He was a carbon copy of Kennith.
“A cousin?” I asked, my voice hollow. “This is Kennith’s cousin?”
Caught red-handed, Dina dropped the act with a heavy sigh.
She reached out and grabbed my hand, looking distressed but resigned, and pleaded with me.
“Melly, please don’t be mad at Ken for keeping this from you. Letty has been through hell these last four years, and she never once asked to be his actual wife.”
Four years?
The words hit me like a punch to the gut. My stomach cramped, the pain so sharp I could barely pull in a breath.
This woman wasn’t just a drunken mistake from six months ago.
Dina patted my hand, lowering her voice.
“I watched you grow up, and I care about you, but you need to think about Ken.
“After your trauma, you shut him out of your bed for weeks at a time. He’s a healthy man. He has physical needs.
“You can’t expect him to live like a monk just because of your issues.
“Letty even said the boy can call you ‘Mom.’ You’ll still be the official wife in the Rowlett family.
“Nothing has to change. Letty won’t get in your way. Isn’t that a fair compromise?”
My legs gave out. I collapsed hard into the chair behind me, tuning out whatever else Dina was saying.
My mind was spinning, desperately trying to square my memories with the devastating reality in front of me.
Four years.
Whenever Kennith went out of town on rescue missions, he used to stay on the phone with me all night.
He’d tell me he knew I was insecure, that I was afraid of the dark, and that just hearing him breathe on the line would help me sleep.
Once, in the middle of a dangerous disaster zone, he actually risked his life to find a backup battery so the call wouldn’t drop.
I never imagined that his so-called devotion was nothing but a complete lie.
Was Leticia lying right there next to him during all those late-night calls when he was supposedly comforting me?
Was that kid sleeping soundly beside him, too?
He was in bed with another woman and their child, sweet-talking me on the phone and playing me for an absolute fool.
The sheer absurdity of it washed over me.
I stood up, brushed past Dina, and stumbled out of the hospital room.
I clearly didn’t belong in this family, so I was walking away. I was done being his wife.