Chapter 2
My legs went weak with fear. I knelt at his feet, clutching his legs and begging.
“It’s my fault. I have no class, I can’t raise our daughter well.”
“It’s all my fault. Please don’t hurt her.”
“I’ll take her punishment instead.”
“Mia’s afraid of the dark. She can’t go in the basement, she won’t be able to handle it!”
Lucas paused, his expression uncertain.
I thought he had listened and was about to take our daughter from his arms.
But the mistress chimed in, “Last time she said Mia was scared of thunder and begged you to come home, but wasn’t she happy and lively after all?”
Lucas’s face turned completely cold. “So you’re both liars cut from the same cloth.”
He kicked me in the chest and had someone hold me down.
I listened to our daughter’s frightened cries, my heart breaking.
As soon as two hours had passed, I rushed to the basement and scooped up our daughter.
She was so small, crying until she shook, her hands and feet ice cold.
“Mommy, does Daddy not like me?” she whimpered.
“Of course not, sweetie. Daddy spends time with you every morning, doesn’t he?” I said, rubbing her hands and feet, filled with regret.
If he didn’t love me, how could he love the daughter I gave him?
I had been so wrong.
She buried her face in my chest and said quietly, “Mommy, I don’t want Daddy anymore.”
“Okay, we don’t need Daddy,” I said, kissing the top of her head. I had made my decision.
When breaking news interrupted the cartoon we were watching to report on Lucas lavishing gifts on his mistress, Mia’s eyes instantly dimmed.
“I’m sleepy,” she said.
Not knowing how to comfort her, I could only pat her back and soothe her to sleep.
When the man pressed down on me from behind, reeking of perfume, I turned to face him.
My eyes were startlingly bright in the darkness, startling him.
“I told you not to wait up for me.”
He tried to embrace me, but I refused.
“Lucas Shaw, we need to talk.”
In the study, I was about to bring up divorce when he pinned me to the desk, forcefully demanding intimacy.
“No, Lucas Shaw, let go of me!”
His eyes were weary, still filled with unsatisfied desire.
“Isn’t this what you wanted? It’s late, Mia will be scared if she wakes up and doesn’t see us.”
His lips fell on my skin, each touch making me want to vomit.
“Don’t make me hate you,” I said coldly.
Lucas paused, a mocking smile on his lips. “Isn’t this what you schemed for, Mrs. Shaw?”
That “Mrs. Shaw” was too sarcastic, making me feel like the past few years had been a joke.
He came from a good family, while I was just a small-town girl who studied hard.
The night after our college entrance exams, I chased after his car, shouting my confession without caring who saw.
It was the bravest thing I’d ever done in my life.
I was afraid if I missed the chance, I’d never have another.
After I shouted, overwhelming embarrassment washed over me. A pair of white shoes stopped in front of me.
He crouched down, a faint smile on his lips.
“I heard you.”