Chapter 4

The thought of leaving him, of truly being free, consumed me. My old enemy, insomnia, returned with a vengeance.

Hunter was gone for a few days, a rare reprieve that allowed me to breathe. After dropping Kaylee off at school, I decided to go to the hospital for a check-up. If I didn' t take care of myself, no one would.

And then I saw him. Hunter, with Aubrie, in the maternity ward.

Aubrie was laughing, playfully tugging at his arm. Hunter, hands in his pockets, listened patiently, a soft smile on his face. He never looked at me that way. He never listened to me with such patience.

Suddenly, his head snapped up. His eyes, sharp and intense, locked onto mine. He took a step forward, an instinctive reaction.

But Aubrie was quicker. She coiled her arm around his, pulling him back. They walked towards me, her smile triumphant.

"Krystal, darling," Aubrie purred, her voice dripping with mock sweetness. "You knew about us all along, didn' t you?"

I said nothing. My silence was her victory.

"Hunter and I are in love," she declared, her eyes sparkling.

Her happiness seemed to inflate with my silence. She tilted her head, a challenge in her gaze. "Why aren' t you jealous, Krystal? Why don' t you make a scene?"

My heart was beating steadily, no tremor of emotion. My mind felt slow, dulled by exhaustion.

Hunter grew impatient. "Krystal," he said, his voice clipped. "Go get Aubrie' s prenatal vitamins from the pharmacy."

He held out the prescription, his wedding ring glinting under the harsh hospital lights. It was a grotesque symbol of my servitude.

I slowly lifted my head. They were treating me like a housemaid. The thought ignited a spark of something long dormant within me.

With a sudden burst of defiance, I slapped the prescription out of his hand. It fluttered to the floor, a single sheet of paper.

"Why should I run errands for your mistress, Hunter?" My voice, usually so quiet, resonated with a force I hadn' t known I possessed.

The three of us froze. The years of suppressed anger, the buried temper, flared to life. This feeling... it was exhilarating. I had endured so much, even closing doors behind them, pretending not to notice their affair. This felt good.

I didn' t care about their reactions. I accidentally stepped on Hunter' s foot, then glared at him.

His laughter, loud and unhinged, filled the sterile hallway. I knew it wasn' t because of me. He wasn' t laughing with me; he was laughing at me.

I hurried away, desperate to escape. I knew I had angered him.