The Price Of His Obsessive Betrayal

ike me. I soon discovered this wasn't just an affair. He'd been secretly feeding me b

their children into our home as the "nann

fire, he left me to d

erheard him calmly planning to harvest my skin

as a placeholder; he

d my own death, leaving him to the ruins of his pe

pte

Henso

cannily like me. My eight-year marriage to Augustine Herrera, the meticulously orga

etail when he was a teenager. I remembered him telling me about it on our third date. He' d smiled, a rare, soft curve of his lips, as he described charting out his education, h

ays. When he said we would marry by age twenty-seven, we did. When he said he would list his company by

l, by thirty-five. We had been trying for years, a shared struggle that felt like the deepest, most intimate

"I know how much you want this. I promise, we'll keep trying." His eyes would hold a distant sad

ther, and that our time would come. I truly believed his pain was as real as mine. I thought w

the moment I saw him th

th long, dark hair, and a small, distinctive tear-shaped mole just below her left eye. She looked so much like me it was like staring into a distorted mirror.

cene. "Oh, Mr. Herrera, congratulations again

in

y skull, hollow and mocking. Twins. The very thing Augustine h

m her, holding it with a tenderness I had only ever seen him direct at his laptop. He looked from his

, whispered something to him. He nodd

d, her voice soft, barely audible through

e babies. "How about Elias for

A cold dread seeped into my bones, a chill d

ull of youthful dreams. He had pointed to those names, his finger tracing them on the page. "These are per

l sounds. Now, those names belonged to different children, children born t

ide me, her voice kind, her hand on my arm

g, a choked sound

"He's been buzzing with excitement. It's been a long journey for t

lse in Augustine's life. But I was never part of this plan. I was the placeholder. The substitute. The wife

nto my hand. "Asia asked me to pass this along. She thought y

fe. The shirt was made of incredibly soft organic cotton, a pale yellow. My finger

ad said it was a symbol, a promise of the future children we would have. I had cherished it, keeping it tucked away in a special drawer, wai

ny clue, any piece of information that could explain this agonizing betrayal. A doctor

ice raspy. He turned, his smile

erhaps even pity, in his eyes. "You know, sometimes, fertility issues aren't always what they seem. There are... many

hospital gown complementing her delicate features. She caught my eye, a smirk

eed a moment." She extended her hand, palm up. "Augustine left his wallet in the room. Could

ey to pay for their children. The audacity w

or his wife." She met my gaze, a triumphant glint in her eyes. "You might want to check your own supplements, honey. You never know what surpri

into place with horrifying clarity. The subtle hints from Dr. Chen, Asia's veiled warning about "vitamins," the years of unexplained

my head. My hands trembled as I fumbled for my car keys. I drove home o

r bottle, I found them. Tiny, white, perfectly round pills. Not my usual iron supplements. Birth control pills. My heart hammered aga

s.' And his 'vitamin' regimen for his wife." He hadn't been giving me vitamins.

t in. I remembered the small voice recorder I kept in my bedside table, a habit from my early journa

n after recording a note for myself, and I hadn't realized it had continued to r

ns. You were always meant to be the mother of my children, the true partner in my life plan. Carmel was... a necessary placeholder. A tem

orary solution. My body started to shake uncontrollably. The rain outside began to lash against the window

returned. My entire marriage, my love, my sacrifices, my dreams of a family-all a carefully

o another woman. The rain poured, washing over the world outside, but it coul

rm clouds, painting the sky in shades of bruised purple and grey. When the sun finally rose, a cold,

ine's father, Augustine Senior, a man I respected deeply. "I need

nd, then a sigh. "I knew this day would

d to marry her, have children with her?"

him for another man after college. Augustine was devastated. You were there, weren't you? After the accident, when I needed help, wh

in a moment of his desperation and my unwitting kindness. I had been his father's nurse after a bad fall, a

ice breaking slightl

elief mixed with sorrow. "Come to me, Carmel. We'll figure it out." The