They Thought I Was Just Her Husband

CHAPTER 5

Theo went straight back to the bar, his mind heavy with unanswered questions. He walked up to the counter and asked to see the surveillance footage from the night before, desperate for any proof of who had pulled him out of his drunken stupor.

"The cameras?" The woman behind the bar didn't even look up from the glass she was wiping down. She was blonde too, her hair pulled back into a messy bun that did little to hide her sharp, dismissive eyes. "They're basically just for show, honey. Wiring's shot, half of them aren't even plugged in. I'm not going to be able to help you."

Theo stared at her for a moment. With the dull, throbbing weight of his hangover still lingering, his guard was down, and a question slipped out before he could stop himself.

"Was it you who took me to the hotel last night?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Theo realized how inappropriate he sounded.

The bar owner paused, threw her head back, and laughed out loud. "Me? No, no, no," She looked him up and down, clearly amused. "If I wanted to sleep with you, I could've done it right here in the staff lounge. Why would I bother taking you all the way to a hotel?" She grinned teasingly. "Besides, I like eighteen-year-old pretty boys. Not greasy middle-aged men like you."

Theo’s face darkened with embarrassment. He turned and walked toward the exit, thoroughly annoyed with himself for even asking in the first place.

Just as he reached the heavy front door, he passed a blonde woman coming the other way.

Theo’s gaze lingered on her for several seconds. She was tall and slender, her long golden hair falling loosely over her shoulders. Her skin was fair, her features delicate but striking, with a pair of hazel-colored eyes that gave her face a cool, slightly mysterious beauty.

There was something vaguely, yet hauntingly familiar about her.

But after being mocked by the bar owner moments earlier, Theo realized he couldn't stop every blonde woman he met to ask if she was the one who had slept with him last night. So he said nothing and quietly walked past her into the evening air.

Theo returned to his car in a gloomy mood. He pulled out his phone and stared at the outgoing message sent from his device the previous night.

Could I really have sent that to Tracey without even realizing it?

After sitting in silence for a while, he sent a message to the head of the inpatient department at the hospital, requesting a few days of emergency leave. In his current mental state, seeing patients or holding a scalpel would only increase the risk of making a fatal mistake and causing a medical dispute.

Thinking about his ordinary position at the hospital, Theo felt a wave of bitterness and regret wash over his chest.

Back then, he had graduated from medical school at the top of his class and entered the university hospital with infinite promise. Within two years, he had earned full prescribing privileges, completed his master's degree, and qualified as an attending physician. If he had pushed forward to earn his doctorate and join the research faculty, his future would have been extraordinarily bright.

But then he met Tracey Teague.

For Tracey, Theo had given up his academic and research dreams without a second thought. He had chosen full-time clinical shifts that paid an immediate salary—money he used entirely to support Tracey during those long, uncertain years when she couldn't land a single acting role.

And what had he gotten in return?

He scoffed bitterly at his own stupidity.

His wife had cheated on him. The daughter he had raised for fifteen years wasn't even his. He had been utterly deceived...more than a decade of effort, sacrifice, and devotion had ultimately amounted to nothing.

His chest ached badly. He felt humiliated and miserable, and he didn't want to see anyone.

Theo stayed holed up in the hotel room for several days, letting the hours bleed together in the dark.

Then, on the fourth evening, the door to his room suddenly opened with a key card. Tracey walked in.

"Theo, you're not coming home, and you're not going to work either. What on earth are you hiding in here for?"

Tracey scanned the space. There was no sign another woman had been there, save for a half-eaten takeout meal on the coffee table. Her eyes landed on her husband lying on the bed. Seeing how worn-out and depressed Theo looked, Tracey immediately became dissatisfied, irritation rising inside her.

Theo wasn't happy to see her either. He sat up slowly with a frown, "I'll live however I want. What does it have to do with you? I already told you last time—we're getting divorced."

He stood up, opened his briefcase, and pulled out two copies of a divorce agreement. He handed them straight to Tracey. "Since you're here, sign the papers. Tomorrow morning we can file everything and get this over with."

"You..." Tracey stared at the documents, her eyes wide with disbelief, "You already prepared divorce papers? You're seriously determined to divorce me?"

She hadn't expected Theo to actually bring up divorce again. She hadn't come here to end their marriage; she had come to persuade him to go home so they could return to the way things had been.

Theo answered without hesitation. "Didn't I already show you the paternity test? Hope isn't my biological daughter. You had her with another man. You cheated on me and betrayed me."

He pointed to the papers. "So yes, we're getting divorced. Everything is written clearly in the agreement."

"Theo, I'm going to say this one more time—I did not cheat on you, and I did not betray you!" Tracey's face went red with pure fury. "If you keep making false accusations against me and damaging my reputation, I can sue you for libel. Don't think being my husband means you can slander me however you please."

Then her voice softened entreatingly. "Theo, stop this, come on. Come home with me. I need you...Hope needs you. Our family needs you."

If she hadn't mentioned Hope, Theo might have kept his temper under control. But hearing her use the child he had been tricked into raising made a sizzling rage erupt inside his chest.

Still, he wanted to deal with this calmly. Hearing footsteps passing through the hallway outside, he deliberately lowered his voice. "Tracey, I've already handed you clear evidence. Why do you keep choosing to ignore it? Hope is not my daughter."

"You're completely hopeless!" Tracey snapped, the gentle act evaporating instantly. "I've swallowed my pride to tell you to come home and you refuse, so fine! Don't ever come back!"

She turned and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

Theo walked slowly to the window and pulled back the curtain. Tracey's luxury car was parked below. She remained there for about thirty minutes—obviously waiting for him, giving him one last chance to change his mind.

Theo pulled the curtains shut, switched on the television, and fell asleep.

***

When he woke up the next morning, part of his pillow was cold and damp with tears he had shed in his sleep. Just then, his phone on the nightstand rang. Assuming it was Tracey, he answered without checking the caller ID.

"Tracey, I told you—"

"Theo Hanks," a man's deep, rich voice interrupted sharply through the speaker. "We need to talk about your wife, Tracey cheating on you. Let's set a time and place to meet."