Consider It Done

The sight of her grandson put a big smile on Melanie's face. She scooped the boy up. "Come here, Nelson. Grandma's got kisses for you."

I sat rooted in my seat, my eyes refusing to pull away from Helen. Nathaniel kept his affair on the down low until he decided to let her into my life.

They were a perfectly happy little family, but here I was, carrying Nathaniel's baby. "You promised me heaven and earth, and this is what I get out of it? Do you think it's fun stringing me along, Nathaniel?"

That robbed all the color from their faces. Helen held her child tightly in her arms; the look on her face was filled with nervousness.

"I don't mind suffering, but I won't let my child go through the same. He's Nathaniel's and this is his family. If this family refuses to acknowledge him, then he has no father!" Helen declared, as if I were the one forcing her to make a choice.

Then, she left with the boy. Nathaniel rocketed up from his seat and went after them. Melanie glared at me with enough intensity to burn a forest, then she hurled the contract in my face.

"One and a half million is more than enough to live on comfortably for the rest of your life! The boy will join the family, and you will not do anything to stop it!"

Melanie left as well. I saw them off, my mind in a daze. Then, I bent down and picked up the contract. There was only another condition aside from the handsome sum of money, there was only one condition. I was to pretend this affair didn't exist and do nothing to stop them.

Something wrapped its arm around my throat. I tore the contract into shreds. Nathaniel had kept the affair a secret for five whole years. That was something I didn't see coming.

…

It happened one night when I came home—three months had passed since our wedding. The first thing that greeted my eyes was a house turned upside-down. I saw torn clothes, undergarments, and questionable stains all over the ground.

I walked into my bedroom. That was where I found Nathaniel in bed, naked with another woman. The scene hit me like a sledgehammer.

An affair was something I couldn't forgive.

Nathaniel staggered out of the bed and went down on his knees. With a trembling voice, he pleaded, "Please, I thought she was you! I swear… I… It was the alcohol! I didn't mean to! I swear!"

Nathaniel desperately explained himself again and again, trying to convince me. "I'll never drink again! I'll do anything! Anything, if you just call off the divorce!"

The news of his cheating reached his mother's ears. The old lady slapped her son as hard as she could and as many times as she allowed herself to. Then she bowed deeply to me.

"It's an honest mistake, Ginny. I swear he still loves you."

I didn't care about his reasons or excuses. A divorce was the only thing on my mind.

When Nathaniel saw that my mind was set, he climbed up the windowsill. "If you're going through with the divorce, I'm jumping off this building! Life is pointless without you anyway!"

That made me relent. I couldn't possibly watch him take his own life if I could stop it, so I yanked him off the windowsill. "Fine, divorce is off the table, but there will be no second time."

Although I'd relented, the affair still left a thorn in my heart. He gave me the best the world had to offer to make it up to me.

Houses, cars, the company's shares, everything.

My friends envied me.

"You must be blessed to get a man like that, Ginny."

As time went by, the people around us got in and out of marriages. They started betting on how long we could stay married.

Nathaniel came home one day and told me he had to stay overseas for a year. "Company business."

We videocalled every day, and he'd come back to see me because he knew I was still traumatized from the affair.

The man kept telling me he couldn't abandon me just because of work.

I wanted to stay with him for the rest of my life back then. Alas, the work trips and the business were all excuses so he could care for his other family.

I gobbled up his story for five years like a complete idiot.

…

Tears blurred my vision further, but I wiped them away. I looked at the signed divorce papers on the table, then I picked them up. If this was what they wanted, then they could consider it done.

Force

In the end, Nathaniel and his mother brought Helen and the boy back. Helen was protective of her grandson.

"Nelson will always be my grandson. No one's going to push him around as long as I still breathe." She kept giving me looks that said I was an evil witch who cooked children for dinner.

Helen's eyes shone smugly. The anxiety she showed earlier was gone, and she held Nathaniel's arm. "I won't take your place as Nathaniel's wife, Ms. Holloway. All I want is for my son to stay with his father so no one can call him a bastard child."

I grinned sardonically and shot back, "That wouldn't be an insult, but a description."

Helen paled, and she turned to Nathaniel like a hurt puppy. A frown creased Nathaniel's forehead. "That was crude. You're better than this," he said icily.

Something in my heart shook. I clenched my fists for a moment before slowly unclenching them. My throat was parched, and I said raspily, "I've told you, I wanted no second time."

Nathaniel held his son's arm. He shrugged me off and answered, "I've given you the papers. You can sign them. No one's stopping you, but you're still pregnant with my child." His eyes turned to my swollen belly.

"All I want is to take Nelson home. He's just a five-year-old boy. He needs his father. For God's sake, be the bigger woman. Besides, I know our baby will be happy they have a brother."

Nathaniel spoke so matter-of-factly. I could tell that he truly thought this was the most natural thing in the world, just like breathing. Still, those words had successfully snuffed out the last of my hopes.

Before I could say anything, he added, "Mom and I have decided to throw a ball next week. Nelson will be calling you his godmother after that. No one can call him a bastard anymore."

I shoved my sadness down before it could show. He'd thought that far ahead, huh? "I'm not playing along."

Nathaniel chuckled. "Sure, then you're getting a labor induction done at the hospital right now."

My head jerked up. My fury surged forth as I roared, "Are you mad? The baby's not even eight months along!"

Nathaniel was calm, but the words that came out of his mouth were filled with malice. "I'm the baby's father, and I have the right to approve that. It's only a baby if you've given birth to it. If you haven't, it's nothing more than a ball of flesh.

"Think about it. You can either take up the mantle as Nelson's godmother or get a labor induction. Of course, you can refuse, but I can always use force."

Then, he left with his other family.

We stayed out of each other's way after that disagreement, and Nathaniel never came home.

Now that the truth was out, Nathaniel kept updating his socials. That was something he'd never done before. Most of the photos were of him and his family.

Even the captions nearly told everyone they were a real family. My friends saw his new posts, and all of them wanted to know the story behind the scenes.

"Who's that woman in his stories, Ginny? And that boy looks just like him. Is he…"

"Is that woman his…"

I had no energy to answer my friends' questions. The one friend who knew about that night five years ago told me, "Your marriage is in a crisis, isn't it? I hate to say I told you so, but you shouldn't have forgiven him back then. Cheaters never change."

A bitter smile twisted my lips. My friend had seen through Nathaniel's act like he was glass, yet I stupidly placed my faith in him after his betrayal.

Cruel Man

A week flew by. The homecoming party was grandiose, gathering most, if not all, the bluebloods in the city. Nathaniel was holding my hand, our fingers intertwined. He hissed quietly, "You've had enough time to think it through, so don't make a scene."

I said nothing, nor did I give him a moment of my time.

Then, the boy came up to me. Before everyone's eyes, he held my hands and called me his mother.

Finally, I spoke up. "I'm not your mother, and I'll never regard you as my son."

That was a bombshell, and it sent waves rippling across the room. The guests exchanged looks, but the gist of the story hit them almost immediately. When they looked at Nathaniel again, there was only disdain and contempt in their eyes.

The disgraced Nathaniel turned blue and white with rage. His hand clamped down on my wrist. "What are you doing? You can either acknowledge him as your son, or it's the hospital with you!"

He was insistent. He was already a father, so it escaped my understanding as to how he could say something so inhumane. He knew how hard I'd worked to get this baby.

I subjected myself to countless medicines, forcing myself to swallow all sorts of ungodly bitter pills. I took injection after injection just to boost my chances.

Now, he was going to throw my baby away for his love child. I answered, "I will not raise another woman's son."

Helen looked as if I'd just thrown a basin of dirty water at her. Then, the screen in the hall lit up, and the first thing that came up was a photo of Helen and Nathaniel in bed. The screen began to scroll. The photos were taken five years ago.

Chaos galloped into the hall right away. Nathaniel froze, his eyes on the screen. Helen jabbed a finger in my face, her own face flush with crimson anger.

"I know you hate me, Ginevra, but you shouldn't have shown everyone those photos! I know it was my fault five years ago! Nathaniel got drunk and thought I was you, but that doesn't mean you can do this! Hate it all you want, but Nelson is still Nathaniel's son!"

Her words painted a vivid picture for all the guests.

"Ah, so the boy's a love child. That explains it."

"My, my. What juice drama."

Muffled chuckles sneaked into the air. Nathanie hastily told the staff to turn off the screen before slapping me hard.

I could taste metal in my mouth, and my mind was in a daze. When I raised my head, I met Nathaniel's eyes. They were filled with hatred. His chest was heaving with rage, and he ordered someone to drag me to the hospital.

I thrashed and squirmed and tried to fight back, but the bodyguards' strength overpowered mine.

…

A wave of pain stabbed through my stomach, and I felt blood flowing from my lower body. On the way to the hospital, the doctor tried to give me an injection that could save the baby.

Nathaniel blurted, "Perform an induced labor. I don't want the baby."

My mind exploded. "I didn't do it!"

Nathaniel sneered. "It doesn't matter. This is a lesson. I'll teach you to never lay a hand on them!"

My baby was going to die because of this monster. I wailed and begged, "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have done that, but the baby's innocent! You can't kill them! You're the father! Please don't do this to me, Nathaniel!"

My pleas fell on deaf ears. Nathaniel shoved me into the operating room. The baby was stillborn. My baby girl died before she could even see the world.

I lay on the chilling operating theater, my face buried in my hands. I cried my heart out. The tears just wouldn't stop. After a while, a giggle fell from my lips despite the tears rolling down my cheeks.

…

I tossed the divorce papers onto a bench in the corridor and dragged my battered body away, carefully embracing the small body of my daughter in my arms.

I gave him a second chance five years ago, and all I got out of it was nothing but hell on earth. I would not make the same mistake again. I refused.