Second (Betrothed 6)

“Are you fucking kidding me? You come into this house and boss me around like that, when you’re the one fucking someone else the last few days?”

Still quiet.

There was a picture of us on our wedding day. My long dress trailed behind me, and I looked away as he kissed my forehead. I yanked it off the wall then slammed it down onto the floor, where it shattered into pieces. “You make me pack up my life and move when you’re the one getting laid at the bar? You make me feel like shit for not being over a man I never cheated on you with—even when I wanted to? Who the fuck do you think you are?” My hands moved to my hips, and I stood my ground, so furious that I would smack him upside the head if he came too close.

He continued to stay quiet, as if he was thinking of a plan to get him out of this. He finally came around the kitchen island and slowly approached me. “Baby—”

“You wanna die, asshole?” There was a block of knives on the counter, and I grabbed the big one, the one with the serrated edge that sliced through thick pieces of steak. I gripped the handle and pointed it at him. “Don’t fucking ‘baby’ me.”

He held up his hands in surrender.

“I can’t believe you would do this to me.” Angry tears entered my gaze, making my vision blurry. My fingers tightened on the handle. “I trusted you. I actually believed you’d just made a mistake and you were a good man. But the second our lives got difficult, you pulled the same bullshit again.”

He stepped back and slowly lowered his hands, obviously afraid I might actually stab him. “Anna—”

“And you were just never going to tell me? What the hell is wrong with you? How dare you treat me like a criminal when your crimes are far worse than mine? You were really going to let me leave my job and my life and never tell me what you did.”

“I don’t know what you think happened—”

I lunged at him.

“Shit.” He ran back and got behind the kitchen counter.

“Don’t fucking lie to me, Liam. You’re only making this worse.”

He finally stopped the bullshit. “How do you think that made me feel, hearing you say some other asshole’s name when I was inside you?”

“How much worse would you have felt if I’d fucked him instead?” I snapped. “But I never did. He kissed me, and I said no. He told me he loved me and we should be together, but I stayed with you.”

“You didn’t tell me that before—”

“Doesn’t fucking matter. And you didn’t have the balls to tell me yourself.”

He gripped the counter and bowed his head. “Anna, I was just angry about the whole thing. I had too much to drink, and I just—”

“I don’t want the specifics.” Hearing him actually admit it made me feel so terrible, made me want to burst into tears. I felt so stupid falling for his false promises, his sexy charm. I was the dumb girl who kept taking her cheating ex back while expecting things to be different. I’d married him because he was safe, but he wasn’t safe at all. “Your decision is unacceptable. Our crimes are not equivalent. You had every right to be angry. You had every right to want your space. You had every right to want to move somewhere else so we could get a fresh start. But you did not have the right to fuck someone else.” I threw the knife down, and it slid across the floor. “We’re done, Liam.”

When he saw the world burn around him, he finally softened into the man I knew, the one with the heart of gold. “Anna, hold on.” He came around the island now that the knife was on the floor.

I held up my hand. “Don’t fucking touch me.”

“You made mistakes, and I did too. But you never gave me a real chance. You said you did, but you never did—”

“I married you!”

“But I had to compete with that asshole. If that hadn’t been a problem, we’d be fine right now.”

“If you hadn’t cheated the first time, we’d be fine right now,” I corrected.

“Anna, let’s move to London like we planned and start over. A fresh start for both of us.”

I rolled my eyes and turned away. “Fuck off.”

He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me back. “Please.”

I twisted out of his grasp and kneed him right in the dick.

“Fuck…” He fell to his knees and covered his balls.

“We’re done, Liam. I’ll come back for the rest of my stuff in a few days.” I walked away and headed down the hallway. I grabbed a duffel bag and stuffed it with the essentials. After I zipped it up, I pulled off my ring and left it on the vanity—exactly where I’d left it the other two times. This was the last time.