They Thought I Was Just Her Husband

CHAPTER 4

Faced with his wife's unreasonable demand, Theo naturally refused.

"Impossible!" Theo's voice cracked through the tension in the room. "I didn't say anything wrong. The test results are real, which means your cheating is real too. You've already been unfaithful to me, so there's no reason for this marriage to continue. We have to divor—"

"Theo, I'm trying to talk to you nicely. Why are you speaking to me with that attitude?" She cut him off sharply. "Do you really have to keep pushing my limits?"

Her tone turned harsh again.

That superior, commanding presence of hers once more pressed down on Theo's shoulders without restraint, the weight of sixteen years of absolute authority in their home bearing down on him in a single second.

Theo fell silent, but deep down, he was bitterly disappointed.

He had thought Tracey might finally tell him the truth, show a shred of remorse, and agree to a peaceful divorce. Instead, here she was, trying to pressure him into backing down, just like she always did whenever he dared to question her.

Just despicable.

Seeing Theo go quiet, Tracey assumed he had softened, that the old habit of submission had taken over again. Her tone eased slightly, taking on that smooth, persuasive cadence she used to manage difficult people.

"Theo, I'm not trying to fight with you. I came to the hotel to stay with you last night, I had breakfast with you, and now I've even put aside my pride to talk to you properly."

She looked at him calmly, those bright, unlined almond eyes studying his exhausted face. "I've already given you enough respect. You should know when to stop. Apologize to me now, then come home with me."

She wants me to obey everything she says and keep acting like some pitiful, obedient little dog...

The thought hit him with a sudden, icy clarity. Theo held back his anger, his knuckles turning white where his hands rested on the table.

"Tracey, what the hell is wrong with you?" he said, his voice trembling with a mixture of rage and grief. "You cheated on me. You made me raise another man's daughter for fifteen bloody years, and now you're forcing me to apologize to you?"

"That paternity test has to be wrong!" Tracey snapped instantly, her composure flaring into cold frustration.

"I believe the test results," Theo said flatly, standing his ground. "If you don't, then go verify them yourself."

"I will!" Tracey's eyes narrowed into slits. "Theo, do you even realize how badly you've messed up? You went behind my back and secretly had a paternity test done without my permission. You made that decision all on your own! You crossed te line."

He scoffed, "The line?"

Her expression turned cold as ice. "The way you've treated me is incredibly hurtful. Have you even thought about our marriage? About our daughter?"

Theo almost laughed at the sheer, twisted absurdity of it, "For a marriage where I've been treated like an idiot? And for another man's child?"

Tracey could see that Theo was getting agitated, and worse, his voice was rising. He had become completely stubborn, locked into a defiance she had never seen in him before.

If they kept arguing, the staff or guests outside the private room might overhear them. Once that happened, their family scandal could easily spread to the press, destroying the immaculate image she had spent a lifetime building.

Tracey raised one hand, signaling that the argument was over. "This isn't the place to talk about this. Let's stop arguing, okay? Just come home with me first."

"Home?"

Theo looked at her, a hollow smile touching his lips. "What home do I have? That's your house. It has nothing to do with me."

He had every reason to refuse.

His wife had cheated on him, and even the daughter he had raised with every ounce of his heart wasn't biologically his. As long as he still had even a little dignity left, there was no way he was going back to that house to play the happy husband.

Besides, he had already decided to divorce Tracey. At this point, he wanted nothing more than to cut ties with her as soon as possible.

"If you don't come back with me right now, then don't ever come back!" Tracey snapped.

This time, the genuine fury showed on her face. The mask had slipped completely. After throwing out those sharp words, she snatched her bag, turned on her high heels, and slammed the door behind her.

Theo sat alone in the quiet room for a long time. He still felt somewhat dizzy from the hangover, his mind spinning with the ghost of the previous night. Leaving enough cash on the table, he dragged himself out of the restaurant, found a nearby three-star hotel, booked a room, switched off his phone, and collapsed onto the bed.

By the time he woke up, it was eight in the evening.

He had slept straight through the entire afternoon. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, Theo decided to head back to the bar from the night before.

He was there to return some money.

Lying in bed earlier, he had already figured out that the short-haired woman who had used his ID to book the hotel room was almost certainly the owner of the bar. She had also paid the room charge and deposit in cash for him, so Theo had come back to reimburse her and clear his conscious.

The neon light stuttered over the bar entrance as night set in, but just as he reached the entrance, he ran into his former classmate and current colleague at the hospital, Jake Gerber.

Jake wasn't alone. A young, sexy woman had her arm wrapped around Jake's, her body pressed closely against his as she whispered something into his ear.

Theo was about to greet him, raising a hand out of habit. But before he could speak, Jake's eyes swept past him, and he deliberately turned his head away, pretending not to see him at all as he ushered the woman inside.

Theo lowered his hand slowly with a silent scoff. Only then did he remember that someone in Jake's position—married, respectable, holding a senior hospital position—really shouldn't be seen entering a place like this with a woman who clearly wasn't his wife.

Thinking back to what had happened to himself the night before, Theo suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

If the woman who had taken him away last night had wanted to hurt him, she could easily have taken photos, published a story, and ruined his reputation overnight.

Was that woman really Tracey, like she had claimed at breakfast?

Something in Theo's gut told him no. Tracey would never have taken him to a shady garage or handled him with such quiet secrecy.

And his instinct was right.

Not far away, sitting on the sidewalk patio with a glass in front of her, a blonde woman was quietly watching him. Her short hair was tucked behind one ear, and a faint, knowing smile appeared at the corner of her lips.

Then she set her glass down, stood up, and strode toward the bar right behind him.