A Wife, A Placeholder, A Lie

A Wife, A Placeholder, A Lie

Wo Ruo

5.0
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The frantic beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound as my son, Leo, struggled for every breath. Anaphylactic shock, the doctors said. A severe, unexpected allergic reaction. My world reeled as the nurse cried, "We need O-negative blood, now! The blood bank is running low." Just as despair threatened to swallow me, my friend Chloe stepped forward. "I'm O-negative. Take my blood. Take as much as you need." Relief washed over me, a gratitude so immense it felt like pain. Hours later, with Leo sleeping peacefully thanks to Chloe' s heroic act, Liam, my husband, praised her as a "selfless hero." But then, I overheard Chloe's voice, cold and sharp, "I had to prick the little brat with that bee stinger. And I had to make sure he ate the crushed nuts. It was a mess, Liam." My hand froze on the faucet. Liam' s voice, low and intimate, soothed her. "Now everyone sees you as a hero. The perfect, caring woman. We just need to wait a little longer." Chloe whined, "I'm tired of watching her play mother to my son. I want my life back. I want our life back." My son. The words slammed into me, shattering my reality. He said it again: "Our son." My entire marriage was a meticulously crafted lie, a cage adorned to look like a home. Every loving glance, every tender touch, every shared laugh – a performance. I wasn't a wife; I was a placeholder. I wasn't a mother; I was a nanny. My sweet Leo, a prop in their cruel play. Liam was building a family, a life, not with me, but with her. I was just the convenient, naive stepping stone. My blood ran cold. I wasn't just heartbroken; I was a pawn in an elaborate, sinister game. With trembling hands, I pulled out my phone and pressed record. I needed proof. I needed a record of this monstrosity.

Introduction

The frantic beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound as my son, Leo, struggled for every breath. Anaphylactic shock, the doctors said. A severe, unexpected allergic reaction. My world reeled as the nurse cried, "We need O-negative blood, now! The blood bank is running low." Just as despair threatened to swallow me, my friend Chloe stepped forward. "I'm O-negative. Take my blood. Take as much as you need."

Relief washed over me, a gratitude so immense it felt like pain. Hours later, with Leo sleeping peacefully thanks to Chloe' s heroic act, Liam, my husband, praised her as a "selfless hero." But then, I overheard Chloe's voice, cold and sharp, "I had to prick the little brat with that bee stinger. And I had to make sure he ate the crushed nuts. It was a mess, Liam." My hand froze on the faucet.

Liam' s voice, low and intimate, soothed her. "Now everyone sees you as a hero. The perfect, caring woman. We just need to wait a little longer." Chloe whined, "I'm tired of watching her play mother to my son. I want my life back. I want our life back." My son. The words slammed into me, shattering my reality.

He said it again: "Our son." My entire marriage was a meticulously crafted lie, a cage adorned to look like a home. Every loving glance, every tender touch, every shared laugh – a performance. I wasn't a wife; I was a placeholder. I wasn't a mother; I was a nanny. My sweet Leo, a prop in their cruel play. Liam was building a family, a life, not with me, but with her. I was just the convenient, naive stepping stone.

My blood ran cold. I wasn't just heartbroken; I was a pawn in an elaborate, sinister game. With trembling hands, I pulled out my phone and pressed record. I needed proof. I needed a record of this monstrosity.

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Music Row Betrayal

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My deadbeat cousin Andrew, always one gig away from stardom and a thousand dollars away from a loan shark' s wrath, begged me to save his skin. He needed a meeting with Mr. Hughes, a ghost in the Nashville music scene. Against my better judgment, leveraging years of hard-won respect, I pulled strings and secured him a miracle: a 10-minute slot with the industry giant. Moments before this life-changing meeting, Andrew' s mother, my aunt Maria, stormed into my apartment. She snatched a stack of my jobless cousin' s demo CDs he'd given me "for free" and shrieked they were collector' s items, each worth a thousand dollars-demanding $10,000 from me. My parents, true to form, urged me to just "keep the peace." Then, Andrew himself called. He didn't deny anything. Instead, he smugly claimed he' d given me the CDs out of pity and that he and Mr. Hughes were "tight," betraying every ounce of trust. Before I could even breathe, Maria lunged, smashing my phone and shoving me down the concrete stairs, leaving me bruised and humiliated, while my parents stood by, silent. Why did they always put their spineless desire for "peace" above my dignity, my safety, my career? Why did I always have to be the one to pay, to suffer for their toxic family? Lying on the cold floor, seeing the shattered screen of my phone with three missed calls from Mr. Hughes's assistant, something inside me finally snapped. I slowly stood up. I wasn't just pulling out of the deal. I was about to unleash a reckoning.

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