Unwanted Wife, Unseen Torment

hit me, a familiar,

leeding

the ten

y husband, Liam Stone, w

ooked like hi

was no d

he light from the hall. Beside him stood a woman, her face a near

flat, empty of any emotion. "She'

t me, his eyes w

on her lips. She was wearing a white designer dre

am continued, his words like

ess stained with a fresh patch of red. I d

lt numb, except for the dull, persistent throb in

y hands steady despite the turmoil inside

ack into t

his hands tangled in her long, dark hair. It was a

r. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe. A part of me, the par

ce cut through the haze. He pulled away f

nd placed the wine

drop of red wine splashed ont

an ac

theatrical, hig

ruined! This is a

st I didn' t have time to react. His hand shot

he snarled. "You

as an accident," I whisper

infully in my hair. He aimed the camera at my face, then panned down to

d a live

Ten, a hundred, a thousand.

e Miller? She

ng woman. No wonder her

s so useless she can

through the room, b

loe Miller. She can' t even do a s

ace closer to

clean," h

iliation was a physical th

ed, my voice barely a wh

ip tig

efer to serve more than just one of my guests tonight? I can make a

heavy and vile. He meant it.

white fabric, the red stain, and the thousan

eyes and lea

and cheap perfum

und. He finally let go of my hair

d the b

dripping with disgust. "And don

nother sharp pain shot through my abdomen, an

rass. It was the tenth time. Ten miscarriages. Ten times he h

understood. This would never end. He would n

h left my body, a new re

e Arthur Stone. L

oken. I couldn' t give L

to l

sed up, that I couldn't bear childre

ed with a grief that mirror

ya found the small, simple ur

ashes of my nine m

his precious Maya, kicked me

o of my most private moments with Liam, moments I t

sn't

, who he claimed was anemic. He took

my bank

the hospital, my body w

rel. My mother' s jade hairpin, my last connection to her, was tur

, his arm protectivel

n the yard, one for each lost child, were gone. Uproo

Ma

was t

the country. He filed the

ceived them, so sure I

as w

vered Maya' s lies, the truth about her, t

to win

late. I was gone, and

iness collapsed.

, was a reclusive, crippled beggar, haunting the grounds

my name in

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