The Wife Who Never Was

I had caught Jasper entertaining the same woman in his bed seventeen times.

The first time I caught them, the shock triggered a miscarriage.

As I collapsed on floor in agony, Jasper just ordered his security to mop up my blood before it could ruin Lenora's designer shoes.

When my grief turned to rage, I exposed their affair on his company's bulletin board.

In response, Jasper invited the tabloid press to our home. He tossed a contract at me.

"I have one other mistress. Find her in thirty days, and I'll drop Lenora and come home for good."

Desperate to save my marriage, I exhausted a fortune on private investigators. Yet, all my traps only ever caught Lenora.

Today was the deadline.

"Jasper, please stop playing games."

Jasper lounged on the sofa, his arm wrapped around Lenora. He looked at me with cold, apathetic eyes.

"You dug through my entire life, yet missed the most glaring detail. The other woman... is you, Elowen."

...

Jasper continued, "Our civil union paperwork is forged. We were never legally married."

The room erupted.

Lenora's eyes widened in feigned shock, her voice high-pitched and cloying over the clicking shutters of the press.

"Oh my god, Elowen! You spent months calling me a homewrecker , and it turns out you never even had a marriage for me to wreck?"

Blinding strobes battered my bloodless face.

Amidst the chaos of frantic whispering and unsympathetic laughter from the reporters, Jasper remained an unbothered king holding court.

"Lenora and I were just blowing off steam. I would have come back to our arrangement eventually," Jasper drawled.

"Every man in my tax bracket plays the field. You're the only one who insisted on turning a casual situation into a PR nightmare."

My lips trembled. The floor felt like it was dissolving beneath my feet. "I... I don't believe you."

With a lazy wave of two fingers, Jasper signaled his estate manager. The man stepped forward, placing a document on the table.

I stared at the paperwork.

In the attached photograph, we were beaming with matching smiles.

A fake officiant in a rented municipal room had praised our "perfect chemistry." We had been dead broke back then, wearing faded thrift-store t-shirts.

We hadn't hosted a lavish corporate gala to celebrate. Just us, sitting at a greasy late-night diner, splitting a cheap basket of fries to toast our forever.

Jasper was a closed-off man, but that night, flushed with cheap coffee and adrenaline, he had told me he loved me over and over again.

During that sweltering summer in our cramped, un-air-conditioned Brooklyn apartment, he had stayed awake fanning me with a magazine so I could sleep.

I used to lie on that cheap mattress, tracing the edges of this very certificate.

How had I never noticed that the official state seal wasn't legally embossed? It was just a flat, discolored ink stamp.

Heavy tears plummeted onto the laminated plastic.

The feral, unhinged woman who had fought like a rabid dog to defend her territory evaporated.

I looked at Jasper with red-rimmed eyes. "Why did you lie to me?"

Under my broken gaze, Jasper faltered for a fraction of a second. His thumb unconsciously twisted the silver band on his hand.

"It wasn't a lie," he justified, his jaw tightening.

"When I founded North Voss, the financial risks were astronomical. If we had legally binding paperwork and the company went bankrupt, my creditors would have ruined your life, too."

A sickening, hollow ache crushed my chest.

I let out a dry, broken laugh. Pulling the fake certificate toward me, I unzipped my bag and pulled out a cutter.

Chaos ignited.

Jasper instantly shoved Lenora behind him, turning his body into a human shield as his thick-necked private security detail surged forward.

"If you want to take a swing, aim at me!" Jasper barked, his calm facade totally shattering.

"Don't you dare touch her."

"I'm not fighting anymore," I whispered. My voice was eerily sterile.

"Jasper, I am never fighting for you again."

Given my track record of absolute hysteria, he clearly didn't believe me. He tightened his grip on Lenora, nodding at his lead guard to prepare to disarm me.

Lenora buried her face in his jacket, weeping dramatically.

"Elowen, please! Putting a knife in my face is only going to make Jasper despise you more!"

A month ago, I would have thrown away all my dignity to carve the smugness off her face. Now? I felt absolutely nothing.

I kept my eyes on the document, dragging the sharp precision blade in a neat square. I sliced our smiling photograph out of the toxic lie he had built. Slipping the tiny photo into the hidden lining of my purse, I left the worthless paperwork on the table.

Jasper's Adam's apple bobbed. True confusion washed over his features.

The chilling absence of my usual rage unnerved him far more than a screaming match ever could.

It wasn't until I turned my back and headed for the doors that he snapped out of his daze.

"Where the hell are you going?" he demanded.

"Anywhere that has nothing to do with you."

His brows crashed together. He snapped his fingers, and his security detail immediately blocked the exit.

"I hope to God you're actually learning to behave, and this isn't just another pathetic stunt to victimize Lenora behind my back," Jasper warned.

"I'll give you one final chance, Elowen. The second you figure out how to act like a respectable, supportive partner for a CEO, my lawyers will draft official marital paperwork. We'll make it real."

He dangled the promise of legal marriage like a scrap of premium meat, entirely convinced I was still the starving stray desperate for his affection.

But I didn't want his fraudulent paperwork anymore.

And looking at the stranger standing before me, I finally realized I didn't want his love, either.