From Love to Hatred: His Downfall

as their real estate empire. A wife was only officially welcomed

done m

handled all the Downs family affairs. Five years of marriage, and today was the day I wou

mask of polite indifference, greeted me. "M

ne, tired smile.

ll just wait here, I'll retrieve the trust doc

ng a little faster. This

unreadable. He placed a thick docu

be a complicat

n?" I asked, m

ts already list a spous

tomach. "I don't understand. We

e lawyer said, his eyes avoiding mine. "

mez. Hudson' s high school sweetheart. The girl

said, my voice barely a

ly, finally looking at me. "As far as the Downs Family

y voice rising. "We had a wedding

your marriage, of course. However, none of the D

oved of a lavish ceremony. He said they would come around once we had

he table. "This is a certified

in black and white. Hudson Downs and Hailey G

to steady myself. My baby, August, stirred in my arms, and I held him tighte

The name ech

fter her death. He called her his greatest inspiration, his lost love. I, a g

t' s the eyes," he would say, his

. But he had been so charming, so persuasive. He swore he loved me for

ery in our home dedicated to her memory, a monument to his gri

hard slap. He hadn't been h

in for the woman he had never let go. A placeholde

e was a lie. My life

ing but a

g me from my spiraling

, the same voice he had used for five years. "How

e even. "I'm still here. There

d dismissively. "I have to stay late at the office tonight,

screen. He was in his office, the familiar skyline of the

something else. On the corner of his desk, almost out of

he always placed on her portraits

never seen before. Dangling from it was a sm

the office. H

ng her. She

d to bite the inside of my cheek, hard, just to stay upright.

ale," he said, a flicker of what

ged to say. "August

cooed. "Get some

ort, now felt like acid. I force

ir, the leather cool against my skin. The lies were a su

not from the phone, but from a memory. I had accidentally overheard him

eryone you were an android, a perfect copy to ease my grief. The

ness associate about some strange new tech vent

ut an android. He was talking to

fool who gave him a son so he could finally secure his

s a joke. A cruel

want to cry. It made m

wyer' s assistant, who cooed over him, oblivious to the sto

le. Then I went to my car and retrieved a set of architectural transfer deeds I had prepared for a property

e power of attorney hidden cleverly

trusted me that much. Or rather, he dismissed my wor

rogance would