Chapter 2No Second Chances For My Ex

Caspian looked down at me, his eyes full of that weary condescension.

“The little one is pregnant and quite difficult to handle. I had to find a way to let her get her aggression out.”

“You’ll just have to deal with it, Mrs. Thorne.”

Before I could even speak, someone covered my mouth and tied me up.

As I was dragged to the racetrack, I felt a chilling sense of despair. For a moment, I actually hoped to just die. It would be better than this endless cycle of pain, where the wounds were torn open again and again.

But when Hailey slammed the gas and the car screamed toward me, Caspian's expression finally shifted.

He dove at me, just like he did when he was eighteen, shielding me completely.

Even though Hailey, white as a sheet, managed to slam the brakes, the impact still sent Caspian flying, coughing up blood.

I sank to the ground, tears falling in uncontrolled, desperate torrents.

He sighed, wiping the moisture from my cheek with his thumb. But the words he spoke were like shards of glass.

Hailey rushed over, striking a tearful, dramatic blow to his injured chest.

“Caspian, what was that? Are you so attached to this old woman?”

“What is so special about her that you’d risk your life? Tell me! Are you still in love with her? If you are, I’ll just leave!”

Caspian winced in pain but clung to her. He turned his chilling gaze on me, giving the slightest, imperceptible sneer.

“Oh, my little princess, I wasn’t trying to save her. I was worried about you.”

“You know Mrs. Thorne is a venomous dog. If you’d hit her and she went crazy and sued you, how miserable would that be for you?”

“There, now. Think of it as killing a chicken to scare the monkey. If she ever touches you again, we’ll just stop all of Helen’s medical treatments, okay?”

They flirted, they made amends, completely oblivious to my humiliation.

He hadn’t saved me out of love; he’d saved me to prevent his mistress from getting into legal trouble. Even my mother’s life was merely a bargaining chip he used to placate his lover.

My wrist throbbed, and a searing pain pulsed in my abdomen. But none of it could compare to the desolate wasteland in my heart.

Blood was now staining the ground between my legs, but I hardly noticed. I struggled to stand and threw the prepared divorce papers with all my strength, hitting Caspian in the face.

I stared at him, my eyes blazing with contempt.

“Since you’re so devoted, Mr. Thorne, why don’t you sign those papers and make an honest woman out of her?”

Caspian didn’t even look. He tore them to shreds and threw the pieces back at me.

“Stop this childish game, Mrs. Thorne.”

“You know we can’t get divorced. It’s not about me not wanting to. It’s about you—you and your comatose mother can’t survive without my money.”

My breath hitched. I froze.

This wasn't the first time this had happened.

Everyone said Mrs. Thorne was madly in love with Mr. Thorne. She was willing to endure his abuses, to fight him viciously, but she’d never leave. They laughed at me—the scorned wife, the eternal doormat.

But no one knew that when Caspian and I first got together, he was the one who adored me unconditionally.

I was eighteen. My deadbeat father, a gambling addict, went on a drunken rampage. He slashed my mother’s head with a knife, then turned the blade on me.

Caspian burst in, threw himself over me, and took eight full stab wounds meant for me.

When the police arrived, his back was a bloody, mangled mess. Yet, with blood smeared across his face, he smiled at me, a soft, loving smile.

“Tessa, don’t cry. It doesn’t hurt.”

“You’re safe. I swear, as long as I’m alive, no one will ever hurt you again.”

My mother became a vegetable. To give her the best care, he worked himself into a monster—Mr. Thorne.

Later, just as he promised, no one dared touch Mrs. Thorne. But he changed. He became reckless and cruel, pushing me into the abyss again and again.