EX-WIFE, IT WAS YOUR LOSS NOT MINE

CHAPTER 2.

Jayden stood at the doorway, frozen. His eyes could not pull away from the sight before him.

He felt the room tilt, the walls collapsing inward, his mind frantically searching for sense in a scene that made none.

“Emily!” His voice cracked, echoing in the office, louder than he intended. “What… what is going on here?”

Emily pulled away, brushing an imaginary strand of hair from her face, her eyes sharp, and unyielding. She looked at him, not guilty or startled, but irritated.

“What are you doing here, Jayden, without an invite?” Her tone was calm, controlled, and the very stillness of it made his chest tighten.

“I… I don’t understand,” he stammered, trying to form the words. “How could you—after everything—do this?” His hands shook, clenching the papers as if he could crush the betrayal into nothing.

Emily’s lips curled, a smirk that held no remorse. “Do this? You mean live my life? You’ve come to interrupt my best moment, to witness what? You didn’t expect me to move on?”

“Move on? What do you mean by move?” he asked, incredulous. “You’re standing there, with him, kissing him, as if nothing is wrong. Do you… Do you even feel anything?”

Emily’s gaze hardened. “Feel? Jayden, whose feelings are you talking about? Haven’t you already signed the divorce papers from my father? Haven’t you received them?” Her voice was calm, almost clinical.

“Our marriage has been over for months. This isn’t cheating. This is life moving forward.”

Jayden’s stomach knotted. “Over? What do you mean by over? We—” His words faltered, disbelief and anger choking his throat. “This isn’t how marriage ends. I thought—”

“It has always been over,” Emily interrupted, her voice sharp in its certainty.

“We were never really married, Jayden, not the way you think. It was all a deal—your loyalty, my father’s plan. I never needed your love. And now… someone else makes more sense.”

Jayden’s pulse throbbed. “A better offer? Who… who is he?”

Emily turned her head toward the man beside her. His confidence was infuriating, almost mocking, and the grin he gave Jayden felt like a punch to the gut.

“This is him,” she said. “He is my future. The man I’m marrying. You should have signed the papers already. I apologize that the approval came late, but this is reality, Jayden. Accept it.”

The man stepped forward, his voice smooth, almost cruel. “Jayden, she’s mine now. You had your turn. You’re too small, too slow, too ordinary for someone like Emily. You can make money, find someone else to call your wife, but she has chosen me. She will support me. That’s the difference.”

Jayden’s fists clenched, nails digging into his palms.

He stood frozen, his chest tight as fury, disbelief, and betrayal crashed over him. He had given her his love, his trust, even built his world around her—and with one deliberate act, she had torn it all apart.

*

By the time Jayden returned home, the sky had darkened into evening. The headlights of passing cars threw shadows across his path, his own reflection in the glass seeming like a stranger he didn’t recognize.

The house that once felt like a haven now seemed foreign and empty, almost as if it recognized he no longer belonged there.

His son came running up immediately he saw him, clutching a broken toy.

“Daddy! Daddy!” The sound of his voice was pure and trusting, cutting straight through the chaos.

Jayden knelt and embraced him and in that moment the heavy pull of love and responsibility outweighed even the betrayal in his heart.

In that Instant, everything changed. Clarity cut through the haze of heartbreak.

He couldn’t let his child who has mosaic down syndrome grow up with a mother who existed more in name than in presence.

This fight wasn’t for love anymore—it was for protection, for care, for the future of the life that depended entirely on him.

When Emily arrived later, still wearing an expression of irritation and disinterest, Jayden met her in the living room.

“Emily, this isn’t right,” he began, his voice steady despite the storm inside. “Our son… he needs both of us. He needs me here since we both know how busy you always are.”

Emily sank onto the couch, unfastening her heels with deliberate slowness. Her eyes never softened.

“Our son will be fine. He does not need you to prove anything. He does not need the man you think you are. Sign the papers, Jayden. Leave. You have no claim here anymore.”

Despair washed over him, but alongside it came a sharp resolve. He would not let the betrayal define his son’s life.

“If you will not cooperate, then I will,” he said quietly, yet firmly. “I will ask for full custody. He cannot live in a home where his needs are ignored. He cannot grow up with a mother indifferent to him.”

Her face darkened, her eyes narrowing. “You will never have him. He is mine as much as he is yours. And this house,” she said, rising slowly, “your inheritance, your refuge, your sanctuary—it is mine now, as compensation for a marriage that meant nothing.”

Jayden staggered back, panic seizing him. The house, everything he had known as home, was slipping through his fingers. “You can’t… this is my home,” he protested, voice breaking. “You can’t do this.”

Emily’s expression was unyielding. “Watch me.” Her hand pressed a button on her phone. Within moments, heavy footsteps echoed through the hallway.

Security guards, faces set and eyes cold, moved toward him with certainty and authority.

Two men grabbed him, dragging him toward the door. His son’s screams tore through him, a sound that burned into his memory. “Daddy! Don’t leave me!”

Jayden tried to pull free, tried to reason, tried to plead, but authority met defiance. Emily’s commands were absolute. “Take him out. Never allow him to set foot here again.”

The cool night air hit him as he stumbled onto the street. His hands shook, his heart thundering in his chest, the world blurring around him. Home, love, family, safety—everything had just been stripped away.