I stared in utter disbelief at the beautiful woman standing in front of me.
Was this my wife? I blinked. How could that be?
She’d changed so much in one short week. It was mind-baffling. I glanced at her red dress, dumbfounded. Cassandra always dressed so plain and conservatively. She NEVER wore dresses like that, not in the entire time we were married.
I’d wanted her to wear flashier clothes. I bought her expensive, sexy dresses. They only hung in the closet, unworn, the price tags still attached.
But now?
Her face was glowing. Her hair was elegant, piled up on top of her head. Her bright eyes stared at me.
She looked positively radiant.
I frowned.
She looked happy. REALLY happy. Was it because she’d left me?
My mind flashed back to the start of our relationship. We’d met at a charity gala, one that I hadn’t wanted to attend, but my grandfather had insisted.
I’d taken one look at Cassandra and decided she was the most beautiful woman in the room. I approached her, even though I wasn’t really interested in a relationship. My one true love was in a coma, and I planned on waiting for her to wake up, no matter how long it took.
But Cassandra had asked if we could grab a drink sometime. I’d agreed. Then she’d suggested we date. We did. She’d suggested we move in together. We did. She claimed she loved me, so when she suggested we get married, I’d proposed.
Ellie was never going to wake up and I had to move on with my life. That’s what I’d thought at the time. And honestly? I believe that Cassandra and I could be happy together.
That is, until I found out she was just using me for my money.
It had come as a complete shock to me, but looking back, it made sense. Cassandra never loved me, not really. She just loved my credit cards and bank account. It was an all act.
I’d been furious, of course. But I hid my anger. I didn’t kick her out or ask her to leave. She was my wife, after all. I’d made vows and I’d intended to keep them, even if my marriage wasn’t what I thought it would be.
“Excuse me,” Cassandra said, making a move to step around me. She was acting like she didn’t even know me.
I reached out and grabbed her hand.
“Wait,” I said, frantically. I’d been shocked when she hadn’t come home. This was all happening so fast, and I needed to talk to her.
“Let go of me,” Cassandra demanded. But I held onto her hand.
“We need to talk,” I started.
But she cut me off by stomping on my foot. It surprised me, causing me to let go of her hand.
“Cassandra, just…”
“Have you received the divorce papers,” she said, her face indignant.
The divorce papers? The mere mention of the divorce papers made me furious. Yes, I’d received them. And they’d gone straight into the paper shredder. She was taking this too far. I’d honestly thought she’d been bluffing about the papers, but she’d actually gone through with having them drafted up.
I hadn’t read them, of course. This was all a game. She wasn’t serious about getting a divorce. She was just angry about Ellie and trying to teach me a lesson.
“Are you happy about all of this?” I asked her. “Were you just waiting for a reason to leave me? Was this your plan all along? To use my money and then drop me?”
“Pardon?” Cassandra asked, her eyes growing wide. “I’m not the one on trial here, Jordyn. YOU’RE the one who wanted me gone. YOU betrayed ME, remember? You insulted me. Humiliated. You had an affair behind my back.” Cassandra’s voice was rising and her cheeks were flushing with anger.
“Stop it, Cassandra,” I snapped at her. “Stop acting like you’re so hurt. You never loved me. You fooled me. You worked your way into my life because you knew I had money. I know the truth now. ALL of it. Ellie’s car accident wasn’t REALLY an accident, was it?” “What are you saying?” Cassandra asked, looking genuinely confused.
“Ellie told me everything. You orchestrated her car accident. You’ve been lying this entire time. So tell me, Cassandra. Who really betrayed whom here?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cassandra replied, furrowing her brows. “I had nothing to do with Ellie’s car accident. How could you think that?”
I rolled my eyes. She looked innocent enough, but I knew the truth. Cassandra was just making excuses because she’d been caught.
Just then, Ellie came out of the bathroom. She slid up to me, linking her arm in mine. Only then did I notice that Ellie and Cassandra were wearing the exact same dress.’
I also noticed that our little argument had made a scene. All around us, people were looking. I could only imagine what they were thinking. It was so crass to argue in public like this. They were also surprised to see the two women wearing the same dress.
“Cassandra clearly has good taste,” Ellie declared loudly, also noticing that people were staring. “She chose the same dress as me.” Her tone was haughty. “Although, Cassandra’s dress is clearly a fake.”
People started whispering and gossiping. I frowned. A fake? Cassandra was wearing some cheap knock-off?
“You know, if you had no money, you could’ve just asked me for some. As you know, I have plenty. Why are you wearing a fake designer dress?” I was confused, didn’t know why she did this. But she was still my wife, after all. I didn’t like the thought of her prancing around in cheap designer knock-offs. If she had no money, I would have gladly given her some.
But before I could process what was happening, she lifted her hand and slapped me hard across the face.
