Betrayal's Wake: A Wife Scorned

a tiny mermaid, her movements graceful and sure. I smiled behind my oxygen mask, my heart full. These moments, just the two of us exploring t

ded, her eyes wide with wonder behind her own small mask. She swam closer

wrapped around the

pu

f a moment ago was replaced by a gush of escaping bubbl

ere was a cold, deliberate focus. She looked at me, her expression unreadabl

at my throat, my movements clumsy and desperate. The beautiful, sunlit water was now a trap, a suffocating w

ar away. Just as the darkness threatened to consume me completely, a shape descended from above. It was the div

at made me cough and choke, but it was life. He held me securely

ng. The instructor wrapped a towel around me. Lily was already s

He strode down the dock, his expensive suit looking out of place among the fishing gear

Did she scare you?" he mu

was still shaking, wrapped in a scratchy towel, my hair

he demanded, his vo

throat raw. "Jake, she..

started to sob. "No, I didn't! Mommy got ang

f my daughter's head, at her small, shakin

adow falling over me. He bent down, his face inches

e of our daughter for one afternoon without some k

ve me. He didn'

mething like that?" He didn't wait for an answer. He straighten

e air I had fought for, dragged painfully back into my lungs, seemed to leave me in a single, silent

That child was my daughte

t, my legs unsteady. The

ice hoarse but steady

of surprise in his eyes, qu

an annoying fly. "Don't think I haven