7

Nathan

"Just let me go, please."

I took another shot as the words Chelsea had said to me replayed in my head for the umpteenth time. The fact that she was pleading for me to let her go.

The fact that she lied to my face about everything.

She denied the affair.

She denied the pregnancy, but I have picture proof of everything. If I didn't, I would have believed her lies.

I hated how her lies got to me. I hated how hearing her plead for me to let her go made me feel.

How did I end up like this? I should be indifferent to her. I shouldn't care whether she leaves me or not.

The truth is that I care. I have always cared.

I cared, and that's why I ended up in a contract marriage with her.

It wasn't that the groom was changed, but that I stepped up when I found out her family had changed the bride.

I didn't want her to marry that bastard who would treat her terribly. I thought marrying her instead of letting that jerk marry was the best way to help her out of her situation.

I thought I knew her and thought she would become my person, but I was wrong.

I don’t know her at all. She isn’t the girl I thought she was.

Earlier, when I talked to her, she showed a side of her that I didn’t even know she had.

I thought she was a sweet angel who hadn’t done anything wrong, yet the universe has wronged her in many ways.

I didn’t like that I could have been wrong about her.

I glanced at her phone when the light came on. I don’t even know why I decided to take her phone.

I saw it on the chair and just grabbed it. I walked out and drove here, and I have been here since.

I hate how she makes me weak.

This isn’t who I am.

I don’t show weakness. I learned from a young age that weakness can be my undoing.

I watched my mother go through hell until she couldn’t take it anymore and ended it.

I watched the man who calls himself my father marry another wife even before my mother’s body was cold, and I had to live with the consequences of his actions even after he died.

Life taught me at a very young age that trusting people always leads to doom, but I still wanted to trust Chelsea.

I thought she would be the only exception.

How foolish of me.

I reached for her phone and frowned when I saw that bastard’s name flash on her screen.

I tried to unlock her phone, but I had no idea what her passcode was.

I tried her birthday.

I checked the file that Simone had given me and tried his birthday too but it didn’t work.

I realized it could be the day they met or their anniversary. Something important to the two of them, and that thought made me angrier than I already was.

How could she betray me like that?

I gave her everything.

I never imposed anything on her. I never tried to crowd her space.

I thought with time she would warm up to me, but she never did.

Even though it killed me to have her so close and not be able to interact with her the way I dreamt of doing, I still held back and never once tried to do anything that would make her uncomfortable.

I tried to show her I cared in other ways, and I thought she would realize, but I was wrong.

She never realized, and while she was under my roof, she got with another man and might be pregnant with his baby.

The image of a pregnant Chelsea flashed in my mind and I hated the sight so much because the baby wasn't mine.

I wasn't the one standing by her side.

It was that jerk, and even my imagination made me feel hateful.

“Bastard!”

I let out through clenched teeth when another of his texts entered her phone.

He has been texting her nonstop, and I couldn’t even read what he was sending.

I angrily started typing different passcodes because I really wanted to see what they were talking about.

On impulse, I typed in my birthday even though I knew for sure that it couldn’t be it.

“It worked?”

I gawped and shot out of my seat in shock.

I just typed fully expecting it to be wrong, but it wasn't.

Maybe I made a mistake. Maybe it's something else.

I reached for the phone, locked it, and typed my birthday again, and it worked.

“Why?”

I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why she would have my birthday as her passcode unless she—

My thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her phone, and I reached for it thinking it would be that bastard, but it was an unregistered number.

“Hello? Am I onto Mrs. Montague?”

The voice on the other end of the phone was a man, but he called her by her marital name and he sounded polite.

“No, this is her husband.”

I introduced myself.

Yes, her husband! The only man she is married to and will be married to. I meant it when I told her that I won’t grant her the divorce that she wanted so badly.

If I can't be happy with her, I won't let her be happy with another man. As long as I don't divorce her, she can't fully be with him, and the child would be legally mine!

“Oh, great! I have wanted to speak to you. If you don’t mind coming to my office.”

I removed the phone from my ear and stared at the number, confused about who was on the line and why they wanted to speak to me.

“Who are you, and how do you know my wife? What do you want to talk to me about?”

I questioned the caller.

“Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself. I am Doctor Benjamin, a neurosurgeon at the university teaching hospital. It is really important that I speak to you about your wife. I can’t tell you on the phone, so please if you have the time, please come around.”

He told me. A neurosurgeon?

I am not very familiar with medical professionals, but I know for sure that neurosurgeons have nothing to do with pregnancy or maternal health.

“Are you the doctor that my wife has been seeing?”

I asked him as I stood up and grabbed my stuff to leave.

“Yes, when can I see you?”

He asked.

“Soon, I am on my way.”

I told him and ended the call. Since I had a drink, I had to call for a designated driver since it would take longer for my driver, whom I had left at the company, to show up.

I arrived at the teaching hospital about an hour later and was led to the neurology department.

“You asked to see me,”

I told the doctor when I sat in his office. He looked confused at first and I saw when he realized who I was.

“Montague? Chelsea Montague is part of that Montague family?”

The doctor asked me.

“She is, and she is my wife so tell me why you urgently wanted to see me! What did my wife come here for?”

I was too impatient to deal with his surprise at finding out my wife was part of the prestigious Montague family.

The one thing I made sure to do in the one year and three months that we have been married was to keep her identity a secret not because I wanted to hide her but because I wanted her to be able to live a normal life.

My affairs get discussed so much publicly, and I didn’t want her to be exposed to any of that.

It worked, seeing as even the doctor didn’t realize who she was until I showed up.

“We don’t usually discuss patients' medical matters with others, but you are her husband and you should know.”

I don’t like the way he was speaking.

His words were making me anxious.

“What’s going on, doc? Go straight to the point!”

I told him.

“Your wife is sick.”

My heart sank at his words.

“Wh—what?”

I stammered, as a dreadful feeling settled in my stomach.

“Your wife is terminally ill and needs to be brought in for the proper treatment. It’s glioblastoma, a kind of cancer.”

I heard what he said loud and clear, but I couldn’t believe those words.

No, Chelsea isn’t sick. She is pregnant! She should be pregnant and not sick.

Even if the baby isn’t mine, I would pick that over this news.

I suddenly remembered how her face had lost all color earlier, and the dreadful feeling increased.

No.