They Loved Me After I Left
Coralie Sullivan · Completed · 7.2k Words
Introduction
But lately, I've noticed them getting closer to Mia, Julian's secretary. Little things. Garry asking where "Miss Mia" is. Julian mentioning her at dinner. I told myself it was nothing. I kept quiet. I put up with it.
Until last week, when Garry broke his arm playing hockey. The school called Mia, not me. She was listed as his emergency contact.
That's when I knew I was done.
Chapter 1
The call came at 3 PM on a Wednesday, right when I was cleaning the apartment.
"Mrs. Langley? This is Nurse Patterson from Riverside Academy. Your son had an accident during field hockey practice."
I dropped the dust cloth. "What happened? Is he okay?"
"He's broken his arm. We need you to come right away."
I grabbed my car keys and rushed out the door, my hands shaking.
Eight years, and I still feel my heart stop when he's hurt.
I tried calling Julian from the car. Three times. No answer. Of course not. He never picked up during work hours.
My fingers gripped the steering wheel. Please let him be okay.
The school hallway was quiet when I arrived.
I could hear voices inside the medical room, Garry's voice, small and pained. My hand reached for the door handle.
Then I heard it.
"Good thing I changed my emergency contact to Mia."
My hand froze.
"Smart move, buddy." Julian's voice. He was already here.
I should've pushed the door open. But something made me stop.
"Your mother gets too emotional about these things," Julian said. His tone was dismissive. Clinical. "She's unstable. Like some kind of crazy woman. Mia handles situations like this better."
"She's basically just our housekeeper anyway," Garry said. "I don't want to be the kid with the crazy housekeeper mom."
Mia laughed. Julian laughed.
I'm standing right outside, and they're laughing.
My chest felt tight. Like someone was squeezing my heart with both hands.
I'm the crazy woman. I'm the housekeeper. I'm not his mother.
I turned around. Walked back down the hallway. Through the front doors. To my car.
My hands shook so badly I could barely start the engine.
My son changed his emergency contact. He replaced me with her.
I drove home in a daze, feeling breathless the whole way. When I got home, I slumped onto the sofa, utterly dejected.
I remembered our wedding day. How excited I'd been. How I'd believed Julian would love me eventually.
I knew he married me for my dad, for the connections. But I thought after a while, he'd really love me.
Then Dad died. Heart attack, two years into the marriage. Sudden.
And Julian turned cold.
I had Dad's shares but no position. No power. Nothing Julian could use.
I became useless to him overnight.
The room got darker. I didn't move to turn on any lights.
The memories came flooding back. After Dad died, Julian's mother pushed for a divorce. But I was pregnant, Julian decided to stay. I was grateful, I actually thought it meant he cared.
The difficult labor. Thirty-six hours of pain. And then they took Garry away immediately.
"For observation," they said.
But I never got him back.
The trauma from the difficult birth, combined with my in-laws' coldness, I developed postpartum depression. My mother-in-law used it against me. "She's too unstable. Can't let her near the child."
Four years before I could even see my son again.
And when I finally did, when I finally held my four-year-old son, he pushed me away.
"You're not my mom!"
He'd been spoiled. Taught to despise me.
"You don't deserve to be my mother!" he'd screamed at me.
It took two more years before he even started to accept me. Two years of learning everything he liked just to connect with him.
And then Mia came. Garry was six years old. That's when she became Julian's secretary.
She started undermining me immediately. Buying him chocolate and toys behind my back. Telling him my paintings were garbage.
When I complained, the whole family turned on me. I was "overreacting." I was "making trouble." I was "impossible."
Maybe I am crazy. Maybe they're all right.
I sat in the darkness for hours. Just replaying those words over and over.
"Good thing I changed my emergency contact to Mia."
It wasn't the words themselves. It was what they meant.
He'd chosen to replace me.
That's what hurts. The choice.
My chest ached. Like something was being ripped out of me. Like my heart was tearing in half.
He doesn't want me. He's never wanted me. I'm just the crazy woman who gave birth to him.
Garry's iPad lit up on the coffee table. He'd left it here this morning. A notification flashed across the screen.
I stared at it for a moment. Then, without thinking, I reached over and picked it up.
A group chat notification. A name I'd never seen before.
"Paradise Without the Witch"
Last Chapters
You Might Like 😍
Accidentally His: The Billionaire’s Wife in High Society
Five years later, Freya Myers returns to the city with a pair of exceptionally gifted twins, desperately trying to conceal their existence from the world. But when she interviews for an internship, she unexpectedly encounters Declan Castle—the very same man from years ago—as her interviewer. From then on, Declan Castle becomes a persistent, demonic force haunting her!
Five years ago, a single, desperate mistake changed Freya Myers's life forever. Intending to secure a future with the man of her dreams, she ended up in the wrong room, stealing the 'seed' of the wrong man. That man was Declan Castle—the cold, ruthless, and enigmatic CEO of the world-renowned Castle Group.
Now, Freya has returned to the city as a struggling single mother, hiding a pair of genius twins from the world. When she lands an internship at the Castle Group, she hopes to remain invisible. But fate has other plans. Declan Castle, a man who has remained mysteriously untouched by any woman since that fateful night, instantly senses something familiar about the new designer. He has spent years searching for the woman who 'ruined' him, and now that he has found her, he has no intention of letting her go.
Forced into a high-stakes marriage of convenience with the domineering CEO, Freya must navigate the treacherous waters of high society while desperately guarding her children's true identity. Between a scheming stepmother, jealous socialites, and a series of deadly secrets, the walls are closing in.
What started as a game of cat-and-mouse and a quest for revenge soon ignites into a passion that neither can control. In a world where power is everything and betrayal is a way of life, can Freya protect her heart and her children, or will the relentless Mr. Castle claim everything she’s been trying to hide?
The Last Sempyr: Alpha's Fated Mate
Commander Ruel is the Alpha King’s deadliest weapon. A war-forged Alpha feared by armies and obeyed by thousands. Cold. Ruthless. Untouchable.
The moment his hand touches mine, everything changes.
He says I'm his prisoner, yet he keeps me chained beside his bed every night.
He says he doesn't want me, yet his wolf growls whenever another man gets too close.
Every day he fights the mate bond.
Every night he comes back to me anyway.
The man who shows mercy to no one becomes terrifyingly protective when it comes to me.
What neither of us expected is the truth hidden in my blood.
He was raised to destroy my kind.
I might be the last of them.
Now a kingdom wants me dead, a traitor wants his throne, and the only man capable of protecting me is the Alpha whose touch feels dangerously like home.
But if Ruel discovers what I truly am, he may become the one thing I can never survive.
The Unwritten Princess
My name is Mia, and everything I touch is dying.
The flowers beneath my mother's window turned black overnight. The herbs I gathered at dawn rotted in my hands. When the court wizard finally told me the truth—that someone cursed me, that my presence would kill everyone I love—I realized the prophecy everyone believed was never meant to save the kingdom. It was meant to destroy me.
So I ran. Not to fulfill some destiny, but to survive it.
Now I'm traveling with a hunter who lost his companions to the same curse I carry, chasing fragments of a prophecy the Fae sing differently. An elf took a baby from the palace the night I was born. And somewhere between the lies I've been told and the truth I'm hunting, I'm starting to suspect: What if I'm not the princess from the prophecy at all?
BROKEN TRUST
Neither of them knew she was carrying his child.
Emily’s affair didn’t just end her marriage—it erased the life she thought was guaranteed. Ryan left without looking back, carrying his anger like armor and leaving Emily alone with regret she would never outrun. Three years later, fate drags them back into each other’s world, along with a little girl who has Ryan’s eyes and a truth that shatters everything he thought he knew.
Old wounds reopen, grief masquerades as rage, and love refuses to stay buried. As parenthood binds them together and the past demands accountability, Emily and Ryan must face the question neither of them is ready to answer: is broken trust the end of their story… or the beginning of a love forged through loss, forgiveness, and brutal honesty?
How Not To Fall For A Dragon
Which is why it was more than a little confusing when a letter arrived with my name already printed on a schedule, a dorm waiting, and classes picked out as if someone knew me better than I knew myself. Everyone knows the Academy, it’s where witches sharpen their spells, shifters master their forms, and every kind of magical creature learns to control their gifts.
Everyone except me.
I don’t even know what I am. No shifting, no magic tricks, nothing. Just a girl surrounded by people who can fly, conjure fire, or heal with a touch. So I sit through classes pretending I belong, and I listen hard for any clue that might tell me what’s hidden in my blood.
The only person more curious than me is Blake Nyvas, tall, golden-eyed, and very much a Dragon. People whisper that he’s dangerous, warn me to keep my distance. But Blake seems determined to solve the mystery of me, and somehow I trust him more than anyone else.
Maybe it’s reckless. Maybe it’s dangerous.
But when everyone else looks at me like I don’t belong, Blake looks at me like I’m a riddle worth solving.
Accardi
“I thought you said you were done chasing me?” Gen mocked.
“I am done chasing you.”
Before she could formulate a witty remark, Matteo threw her down. She landed hard on her back atop his dining room table. She tried to sit up when she noticed what he was doing. His hands were working on his belt. It came free of his pants with a violent yank. She collapsed back on her elbows, her mouth gaping open at the display. His face was a mask of sheer determination, his eyes were a dark gold swimming with heat and desire. His hands wrapped around her thighs and pulled her to the edge of the table. He glided his fingers up her thighs and hooked several around the inside of her panties. His knuckles brushed her dripping sex.
“You’re soaking wet, Genevieve. Tell me, was it me that made you this way or him?” his voice told her to be careful with her answer. His knuckles slid down through her folds and she threw her head back as she moaned. “Weakness?”
“You…” she breathed.
Genevieve loses a bet she can’t afford to pay. In a compromise, she agrees to convince any man her opponent chooses to go home with her that night. What she doesn’t realize when her sister’s friend points out the brooding man sitting alone at the bar, is that man won’t be okay with just one night with her. No, Matteo Accardi, Don of one of the largest gangs in New York City doesn’t do one night stands. Not with her anyway.
Bound by the Dragon Mafia
The head chef looked like he was silently praying for death.
I rushed forward. “Amara. Stop traumatizing these poor people.”
She spun around, delighted. “Sera! Good, you’re here. Taste this. It’s missing despair.”
The chef’s face morphed into existential crisis.
I grabbed her arm. “Put the spatula down.”
“But—”
“Down.”
With exaggerated offense, she dropped the spatula and muttered, “Fine. But if no one here has artistic vision, that’s not my fault.”
She went undercover to expose a mafia empire.
He offered her thirty nights to save her life.
When investigative journalist Seraphine Vale steps into the glittering underworld ruled by billionaire crime lord Dante Vescari, she thinks she’s chasing a story about missing women and corruption.
Instead, she uncovers a secret older than blood—an empire built on fire, sin, and dragons.
Bound to Dante by a forbidden pact, Seraphine finds herself caught between fear and desire, truth and temptation.
Each night pulls her deeper into his world of power, passion, and danger…
and closer to the monster hiding beneath his perfect skin.
Thirty nights. One bond.
And a love that might just burn the world to ash.
The Missing Mafia Princess and her CEO Mafia Don
The Hockey Alpha's Fake Girlfriend
Then there’s Rafael. Dark. Untouchable. The boy everyone talks about but no one really knows. He should be the last person Vivienne gets close to, yet she can’t look away. He pulls her in with a kind of danger that feels both terrifying and safe, like he sees the parts of her no one else can.
But Rafael carries secrets—secrets that could destroy them both. And the closer Vivienne gets, the harder it is to tell if he’s her way out… or the reason she never escapes.
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother
"What is wrong with me?
Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?
It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.
He’s my boyfirend’s brother.
This is Tyler’s family.
I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.
**
As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.
Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.
When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.
I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.
**
I hate girls like her.
Entitled.
Delicate.
And still—
Still.
The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.
Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.
I shouldn’t care.
I don’t care.
It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.
It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.
I’m not here to rescue anyone.
Especially not her.
Especially not someone like her.
She’s not my problem.
And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.
But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
Soulbound Mark
Elena is a witch who adores flowers and plants, possessing a gentle kind of magic that is tied to nature. She leads a quiet life with her family—until one day, the peace is shattered. After a ruthless vampire kills her parents to obtain their magic, she barely escapes and is forced to go into hiding.
From that moment on, she lives in constant fear and does all she can to avoid vampires, afraid that her past may catch up with her one day.
However, Elena can’t escape her fate, and it leads her straight into the arms of yet another vampire. Their encounter throws her life into disarray—not only is Ryder her enemy, but he is also her destined soulmate.
The Contract Wife: Marriage Of Malice
He didn't finish. He didn't need to.
I didn't tell him to stop.
Instead, my fingers curled into his shirt, clutching the fabric as though it was my only anchor. Something in him snapped—something he had been holding back for too long. His mouth found mine in a kiss that wasn't tender, but hungry, desperate.
I gasped into him, his hand sliding up to cup my jaw, holding me as if afraid I might vanish.
"You drive me insane," he breathed against my mouth, his lips trailing to my throat. "I can't lose you, Ella. Not you."
My head fell back, a soft sound escaping me as his fingers memorized my waist. My anger melted beneath his desperation.
"James..." I whispered, more plea than protest.
His hand caught mine, fingers threading together tightly. "I'll bring him back. I swear it. Just... don't turn away from me. Please."
The word please—low, ragged, almost broken—undid me more than anything else could have.
Ella never imagined she would marry the man she had secretly loved for years in such a way.
When her brother Theo faced twenty-five years in prison for massive embezzlement, the ruthless business tycoon James Lancaster offered her a deal: marry him in exchange for her brother's freedom.
This wasn't a fairy tale proposal, but a carefully orchestrated revenge. Because in James's heart, Ella was the culprit who had killed his sister Cecilia. He wanted her to pay the price—to atone with a lifetime of suffering.
