He Made Me Cry, Then Killed Our Daughter

Douglas Delgado loved watching me cry.

Over the three years of our marriage, he manufactured one affair after another. Without exception, I swallowed my pain and quietly snuffed out each of those little sparks. Everyone in our circle called me a doormat, a lovesick fool with no self-respect.

Until the day his newest fling, some pretty little influencer, took my daughter's corneas.

My daughter. Two years old. Dead on the operating table.

I stared at the text Douglas had sent me:

"Claire lives for her looks. She's blind now. If she can't see, she'll kill herself."

"The baby's still young. The second a donor comes up, I'll get her the transplant right away."

This time, I was done swallowing it.

I called his brother immediately. "Three years ago, I married Douglas Delgado per our agreement. All I had to do was make him lose his inheritance, and you'd give me ten million dollars."

……

"I don't want the money anymore. Get me out of here, and I'll hand you every piece of evidence you need to bury him for good."

A dry, mocking laugh came through the line.

"Didn't you tell me you wouldn't work with me anymore? Something about giving your child a real family."

My eyes blurred with tears in an instant.

"She's dead."

A long silence stretched across the line before he finally spoke.

"I'm sorry. But wait until after the seventh-day memorial before you leave. Let her go in peace."

"This is partly my fault. The Delgado family will give her a proper funeral."

My eyes were raw and red. I nodded. "Fine. Seven days."

But Douglas? I would never forgive him again.

I had barely hung up when the door swung open and Douglas Delgado walked in.

"Babe, why are you on the floor? I already told you, the second a cornea's available, I'll get the baby taken care of."

He frowned slightly and brushed the tears from my cheeks.

"Your tears are only for me."

"If you cry over someone else again, I'll be upset."

There was tenderness threaded through his words.

But his voice made my stomach turn. My whole body trembled.

When the influencer's corneas had deteriorated, he'd come to me first, asking what to do.

"Doesn't it hurt your feelings that I'm this worried about another woman?"

I'd gone numb. Told him to do whatever he wanted.

Our daughter had stared up at him with those big, round eyes, reaching her little arms out for him to hold her.

Douglas had smiled.

"Sweetheart, what if I used your child to save my lover?"

"Would that break your heart?"

I'd sobbed. Begged him not to.

Douglas had gazed at me, utterly transfixed.

He kissed the tears from my face.

Then he turned and dragged my baby into the operating room.

The doctors said she was allergic to the anesthesia. I texted Douglas, pleading with him to stop the surgery. She was allergic. It would kill her.

He didn't respond for two full days.

I found out later. While my daughter convulsed on that operating table, he was at a karaoke bar, throwing Claire Barber a party to celebrate her new eyes.

He was lost in her arms, drowning in pleasure.

He'd bragged to his friends about how beautiful his wife looked when she cried.

They'd raised their glasses and congratulated him.

Because once I found out about that night, Douglas would get to watch me fall apart all over again.

Seeing that I hadn't spoken, he reached for me.

"I'm sorry, babe. I was wrong about this. I'll make it up to you and the baby, I promise."

"I just love you too much. I can't help it. I love seeing you cry..."

But the moment his hand brushed against our daughter's cold body, he froze.

It took a long time before he understood what had happened.

When he finally spoke, his voice cracked.

"Letty, what happened to her?!"

"It was just an allergy! A little rash, that's all! How could she be dead?!"

The air in the hospital room turned to stone.

The silence was so complete you could hear every single one of my tears hit the floor.