Chapter 2After My Husband Gave Her Status I Left

On the screen, my mother-in-law, my husband, and my brother-in-law were celebrating with Daisy. A cake with five candles sat on the table. It was their fifth wedding anniversary.

There was a little boy, maybe three years old, whom I didn’t recognize.

But then the boy’s voice piped up, clear as a bell. He called Manny “Daddy.” He called Daisy “Mommy.”

My mother-in-law clasped a diamond necklace, worth millions, around Daisy’s neck and called her “daughter” with a warm smile. My brother-in-law grinned and called her “sis.”

I felt like I’d been plunged into an ice bath. The blood in my veins turned to slush, and a deep, searing pain spread through my entire body. Everyone knew. They all knew and supported Manny’s double life, and I was the only one playing the fool.

Even now, with his secret exposed, Manny wasn’t worried or ashamed. He was afraid that I would hurt her.

I never imagined that the husband who had always doted on me, who catered to my every whim, could do this to me. It felt like falling from a great height with nothing to break my fall, only the jagged, tearing pain of impact.

Daisy stopped the video, her eyes fixed on me, triumphant. “Still want to keep fighting?”

I blinked back the hot sting of tears, a bitter, self-mocking laugh escaping my lips. “No. I’m done.”

“But,” I added, my voice hardening, “there’s something you need to see.”

I showed her the text message Manny had just sent me.

“She has a very strong moral compass. If she finds out she’s the one on the side, she won’t be able to handle it.”

“I’ll make it up to you. For now, you need to play along.”

The color drained from Daisy’s face. Her eyes flashed with rage, and a single, furious tear rolled down her cheek. She stabbed at her phone, dialing Manny’s number.

“You tell me right now who the other woman is! Manny, you bastard! You get your ass over here right now and clean up your own damn mess!”

She hung up before he could even speak. Her imperious tone told me everything I needed to know. This was a woman Manny spoiled rotten.

Manny and I had been childhood sweethearts. We’d been together for ten years before we married, and in five years of marriage, I had never, ever spoken to him like that, no matter how angry I was.

“I’m sorry,” she said, dabbing at her eyes with a silk scarf. Her voice was suddenly soft, contrite. “I didn’t know he was lying to you. My behavior earlier was… out of line.”

My blood ran cold. I stared at the scarf in her hand. It was the last piece my mother had ever designed before she died. Someone had once offered me five million for the design rights, and I had refused. I kept it in a special box in my closet, a treasured heirloom. It was my last connection to her. Whenever I missed her, I would take it out, hold it, and try to remember her scent.

My hand shaking with fury, I snatched the scarf from her. “This was my mother’s,” I hissed, my eyes burning. “What are you doing with it?”

She looked completely bewildered, startled by my outburst. “Manny bought it for me. He paid two million for it.”

Suddenly, her eyes darted to something behind me. Her face hardened again, all contrition gone. “Manny! You’d better explain yourself, right now!”

The air in the private room grew thick with tension.

Manny’s gaze flickered over the two marriage certificates on the table, then dismissed me completely. He rushed to Daisy’s side, wrapping a protective arm around her.

“I’m sorry, honey,” he murmured, his voice laced with panic. “It was a moment of weakness. I was out of my mind.”

I felt like a joke, a tragedy skewered by a thousand swords, watching the man who whispered loving words in my ear every night call another woman his wife.

“She’s your wife?” I asked, my voice trembling between a laugh and a sob. “Then who am I? What am I?”

I scrubbed furiously at the tears streaming down my face.

Just as Daisy pushed Manny away in disgust, I summoned every ounce of strength I had and slapped him hard across the face.

His eyes pleaded with me, begging me to give him an out, to let him save face.

“Lina,” he said, his voice low and strained. “I’m sorry. I lied to you. You’re the other woman.”

A bitter laugh escaped me. I pulled out my phone and dialed. “911? I’d like to report a forgery—”

Manny snatched the phone from my hand and ended the call. His brow furrowed in annoyance. “Stop making a scene! I’ll compensate you!”

Daisy’s expression softened. She clearly didn’t want this to damage Manny’s reputation. “Miss Collins,” she said, her voice conciliatory. “My husband was in the wrong. We are willing to compensate you.”