Chasing His Rejected Wife
Chapter 71 -

Jessica "No!"

The exclamation was torn from the depths of my shattered heart, a part of me that held onto some hope that all this was either a poorly executed prank or a nightmare. "No, no, no, Aiden...no... it's not true. You wouldn't...you would never be so cruel."

But, one look at Aiden's face, the guilt written told me that this was no prank or nightmare, and a sound was torn from my throat, one born of anguish and devastation. Aiden stood up in a rush and came towards me, "Jess, I-"

The sound of my palm striking his cheek filled the room and the world froze as we both reeled from the impact. I stared down at my throbbing palm, the skin red and aching from the force of the slap, but the pain seemed to ground me a little, which was good because I felt like I'd just had the rug pulled out from under my feet.

Lifting my gaze to Aiden, who didn't seem to have any visible reaction to what I'd done. Instead, he stood hands loose by his sides, a faint red mark on his cheek where my fingers had made contact.

On my part, I was equal parts mortified and sad. I had never in my life, hit someone and the fact it had happened almost with no conscious thought made it even worse. But in the face of Aiden's cruelty, was that too much or too little? I had no idea. I had no idea about anything anymore. What did he mean it was all a ruse? How did one pretend to kiss? Because I had seen the two of them kiss before.

I forced myself to take a deep breath. "Wait, let me get this straight. You expect me to believe that you and Elisa were never a romantic couple? That the night when...when we had sex and you called out her name, that was what? Some sort of twisted, cruel game? Is that what you're trying to get me to believe?"

Aiden flinched at my question, the color draining from his face as he looked away, suddenly unable to meet my eyes.

"I'm sorry." He whispered and I felt my legs give way. I grabbed onto the edge of the counter for support. I heard Aiden exclaim something, but his words were garbled in my ears, drowned out by the loud ringing that had started up somewhere in my head. The room spun around me, the edges of my vision going blurry and dark, a vise tightened around my chest and I found it hard to breathe.

I stumbled towards the couch and collapsed onto it, my head swimming with the movement as I buried my head between my knees and tried not to hyperventilate or succumb to a panic attack.

I heard Aiden approach, his steps light and cautious and I stiffened, silently willing him to stay away. He seemed to read my mind because he paused a few feet from me. "Are you okay?"

The question sent a wave of anger surging through me, mercifully drowning out the despair for the moment. My head snapped up and I shot him a baleful glare, though my eyes were blurry with tears. "No, Aiden. I'm not. I'm ten weeks pregnant and I've just found out that I've been lied to and manipulated from day one for your own ends. How the hell do you expect me to feel? Do you want me to smile and assure you that I'm just fine and dandy just to ease your conscience?"

He winced at that, his face turning pale but I soldiered on, rage building fast, fueled by frustration and anguish. "Or maybe I should congratulate you for fooling me? Should I be happy that you didn't cheat on me?"

"No, Jess. I don't want any of that." He replied, shaking his head. "I have no right to make any demands of you, not after all that I've done. I have no right to ask for forgiveness or redemption or anything else. I was cruel and selfish, thinking only of myself and I hurt you worse than even my father ever did." He swallowed hard, his face an ever-changing kaleidoscope of expressions.

I watched him through the tears that overflowed down my cheeks. "You really hated me, didn't you?" I whispered brokenly and my heart squeezed painfully when he started to protest, but fell silent, the unspoken words damning all on its own and I died a little more inside.

"I can't even begin to fathom how you managed to pull this off. Because I don't know the dynamics of your fucked up relationship with her, but it's definitely not platonic. Even before we were married, you two acted like a couple, or was that a ruse as well?"

"We are...we were best friends. I've never seen her as anything other than that."

"And Elisa? Did she get the memo that you two were just supposed to be acting out? What about her pregnancy? Was that fake too? How did you get a whole hospital to join you in your sick games? Because you were pretty convincing when you threatened to make me regret pushing her down the stairs."

Each word fell between us like a hail of bullets and Aiden grew paler the more I ranted, wincing as I hurled the questions at him. I was practically rabid now, my voice had risen several pitches.

He had lapsed into silence, his face drained of color and strained, hands resting at his sides and let me rant, flinching as my questions hit home.

The fight bled out of me then, and my shoulders slumped in crushing crushing defeat, exhausted and drained. I slumped back against the couch, tears rolling unheeded down my cheeks. How could I ever have loved this man? This man who had hated me so much that he broke me again and again. That he was even now, tearing me apart once more. I wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear, I wanted to wrench my heart out of my chest if only to escape the misery of replaceing out the magnitude of his deception.

"What you did, how you made me feel...I would never wish upon my worst enemy because no one deserves to go through the misery of being treated like an object to be ridiculed and mocked. But you had no qualms with tormenting me, did you? Why? What did I do to deserve this from you, Aiden." I closed my eyes, unwilling to look at him anymore, not if I wanted to keep some shreds of sanity left.

Aiden stood there, the weight of his actions etched across his face. He seemed to struggle for words, the guilt and remorse evident in his every movement. In that moment, the room felt heavy with silence, broken only by the muffled sobs escaping from my trembling form.

“I never hated you, Jess," Aiden finally spoke, his voice barely audible. “I was angry and misguided, but my actions weren't fueled by hate. I - I resented being forced into something I didn't want and seeing you on our wedding day, all blissful and happy, I was hit with a feeling of bitterness, especially when you kept denying anything to do with the deal."

His words evoked memories of that day; he was right, I had been happy, ignorantly so. For the short space of time before and during the ceremony, I had been a happy bride, eager to start a life together with the man I loved. Only to have my bubble of bliss burst soon after when Aiden hurled accusing words at me, talking about things I had no idea of.

I also remembered the first time I'd seen Aiden and Elisa together. It had been barely a week after our wedding and I was already feeling despondent because Aiden had abruptly canceled our honeymoon, citing some urgent work as an excuse. Things had become unbearably tense between us in our new home. We slept in separate rooms and I rarely saw Aiden since he left the house early and came back late. He barely spoke or acknowledged me and when he did, his demeanor was so cold and unapproachable that I shrank away, hurt and scared.

I still naively assumed he just needed time to adjust to being married, that would soon thaw towards me and we could work out our issues. So, that afternoon, I had meticulously packed him some lunch and gone to his office, hoping to catch him so we could talk. But instead, I had walked in on them in his private conference room, on the verge of sharing a kiss, his arms around her possessively and her, lips parted in anticipation, a tender look on her face.

I pushed away the rest of the memory, especially how it had felt like having the rug of illusions swept out from under my feet, leaving me floundering, miserable. I hadn't even had the heart to confront either of them, merely stood there, gaping like an idiot.

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I had endured humiliation after humiliation, him calling out her name when we were intimate. The way Aiden had sneered at me when I'd demanded to know if he was responsible for Elisa's pregnancy. The rage in his eyes when he'd threatened me after Elisa's accident on the stairs. And to top it all, the pity and scorn in people's eyes when they looked at me because they knew my husband was fucking another woman right under my nose. And I had swallowed it all, had endured it all and it had all been a sham?

I let out a bitter laugh, wiping at my tears. "You know what? It would have been better if you didn't tell me this. You should have let me continue to live under the illusion that you were unfaithful." Aiden's expression morphed into confusion. "I don't understand."

I just shook my head, unwilling to explain any further. I stood abruptly and he followed suit, frowning in puzzlement. "It doesn't matter. I'm done, I'm fucking done."

"Jess -"

"You need to leave now, Aiden." I cut in, the words coming out between clenched teeth.

Aiden's eyes pleaded with me, his expression etched with remorse. "I'll go, but please promise me -"

"No, I'm not making any promises." I choked out, nearly at my wit's end. I didn't want him to see me fall apart, to crumble in a heap of despair, sorrow and tears. "I can't stand the sight of you, ever again." Aiden's shoulders slumped and he swallowed hard and nodded. "Alright."

Slowly, he took off the apron, his eyes never straying far from me as he folded it up, then crossed to the island and set it down. He retrieved his discarded shirt and the rest of his things and then left the apartment.

Once he was gone, I drew my legs up to the edge of the couch and proceeded to fall apart. I had somehow managed to move past Aiden's infidelity before but how was I supposed to deal with what amounted to the ultimate deceit and betrayal?