The Wife Who Mistook Debt for Love

The year Madison took the high school entrance exam, she scored first in the entire city and was accepted into the best private school in Havenport.

She never enrolled.

She couldn't afford the tuition.

I begged my father to sponsor her education, and he did, all the way until she started working part-time in college.

During her senior-year internship, the same rich kids who had bullied her in middle school kept making trouble for her. My father made an exception and brought her into our family company, teaching her everything himself.

Madison had a gift for business.

The financial reports that gave everyone else headaches made sense to her at first glance.

I used to sit beside her with my chin in my hand, watching the serious curve of her profile. To me, she was the most amazing person in the world.

My father saw through me.

Even though he knew Madison only felt gratitude toward me, he still helped her start her own company after graduation.

Madison carved out her own place in Havenport's story in just a year.

Later, my father made a desperate business decision while trying to raise money for her treatment when my mother fell ill.

Our company nearly went bankrupt.

It was Madison who pulled us back from the ledge.

My father always called her our family's savior. He told her the debt between us was settled, and she should live however she wanted.

Instead, Madison bowed deeply and pledged with full sincerity, "Mr. Gunn, I can never repay what you've done for me. Please entrust Travis to me. I will care for him for the rest of my life and ensure he never suffers, not even a little."

That old scar between my thumb and finger began to throb, as if remembering too.

I stared at the jagged scar, a bitter laugh rising in my throat. 'So, it's possible for someone to confuse gratitude with love.'

After that, I started acting like her husband even though I didn't possess that title.

I became a quiet fixture at her company, silently staking my claim.

Madison never corrected me. She even let me choose her personal assistant, only reminding me, "Pick a smart one. That's enough."

On the day of the interviews, I noticed Gerald right away.

It was not his resume that caught my eye. On paper, he was unremarkable: divorced, no children, nothing to set him apart.

It was his eyes. They mirrored the gentle gaze of Madison's late mother.

When her mother had still been lucid, she had treated Madison well. She had been the only light in Madison's miserable childhood.

So, I didn't ask questions.

I hired Gerald on the spot.

The instant Madison saw him, her eyes brimmed with tears.

That night, she clung to me and wept until her body trembled, whispering her thanks again and again.

I felt sorry for her.

So, I made sure Gerald was often at our home. I came up with all sorts of reasons for them to share quiet moments.

I thought I was helping her heal.

I had no idea I was paving my own road to ruin.

...

When the last whispers faded, I finally resurfaced from my memories and reached for my daughter's photo, my fingers automatically caressing the glass.

Ana came over with her roasted chestnuts and asked casually, "Travis, roasted chestnuts are so good. Why don't you ever eat them?"

My hand went still in midair.

A tide of painful memories swept me under.

Chestnuts had once been a small joy my mother and I shared.

Every time my father came home from work, he would bring back a warm paper bag full of them.

My mother would peel each chestnut, cool it with a gentle breath, and place it in my waiting hand.

The year she got sick, during her last brief moment of clarity, she kept saying she wanted chestnuts.

My father drove out to buy them.

Halfway there, he got the call that my mother was dying.

In his panic, he sped through the road and crashed head-on into a semi truck.

He died at the scene.

The warm chestnuts tumbled from the bag, rolling through a pool of his blood.

That winter, I lost both parents who had loved me more than anyone else, all in a single day. I spent the first snow mourning.

Ana's eyes filled with tears as she listened to my tale. She seemed adrift before she silently slid the chestnuts out of my reach.

Her voice softened as she murmured, "Travis, don't be sad. Lily and I will always be here with you."

She paused, then tried to change the subject. "School should be out soon. Why don't we take Lily around town tonight and—"

Before she could finish, her eyes suddenly locked on my daughter's photo.

More specifically, on my daughter's eyes.

Ana's mouth fell open in shock. "Travis... Lily's mother, the one who disappeared... it isn't..."

The Birthday She Betrayed Me

I nodded.

That single gesture said it all.

Ana hesitated for a long time before finally asking in a soft voice, her eyes full of unmistakable sympathy. "Then... those rumors... Travis, how much was it true?"

I froze.

Somehow, that simple concern made my nose sting.

The feeling passed just as quickly.

I forced a smile.

The truth was, Madison and I did have a handful of genuinely happy years together.

She proposed to me the day my parents died.

She had a lawyer draw up the paperwork and transferred all her company shares to me for free.

Then she got down on one knee and swore she would give me a new family, take care of me for the rest of my life, and that I needed to stop crying because seeing me in pain was breaking her heart.

I cried until I passed out.

Madison handled both of my parents' funerals herself.

We got married when I was finally of sound mind.

There was no wedding.

Our rings were nothing more than the plain matching bands we'd worn in college.

Yet, I felt content.

I truly believed I was the happiest man alive.

I gave Madison every piece of myself.

I understood her ambition, so I never demanded much in return.

Whenever she came home late, I kept the lights burning and waited in the quiet living room. If work took her away, I packed her bags and went along, eager to help.

In those early years, she never once let me down.

Madison loved me so openly and fiercely that even strangers envied what we had.

Front-page newspaper stories, digital billboards, and public displays all carried her confession.

She wanted the whole city to know she loved me.

Alas, everything crumbled around me just as I finally began to heal from my parents' loss.

Madison was having an affair with Gerald.

The man I once called my closest friend was caught on camera, kissing her and holding her close in the secluded garden atop a revolving restaurant.

And of all days, I had to find out about it on my birthday.

I spent hours setting the table with Madison's favorite dishes, dressed in the suit she once gave me. I waited the whole night, calling her again and again.

She answered every single time.

Every time, her voice was soft and reassuring. "Work dinner. Be good. I'll be home soon."

Gerald had even spent his entire year-end bonus buying me a designer watch, with a note attached: 'Happy birthday to my best friend.'

That night, wrapped in what I thought was happiness, I truly believed I had it all.

I never imagined the two people I loved most would be the ones to break me.

The moment I saw those headlines, I unraveled.

I tore down the streets, blinded by tears, barely missing two cars as I sped through the night.

I didn't care about anything else. I just needed answers.

When I reached the restaurant, Gerald was there, opening Madison's car door with practiced ease. I flung my own door open and charged toward them.

Madison immediately stepped in front of him, her eyes cold and showing no guilt. "Travis, what are you doing?"

Gerald peeked out from behind her, still wearing that same gentle expression as he greeted me.

The Anderson family heirloom necklace hung around his neck, the one Madison knew I secretly adored but never dared to wear. A dark red mark glared back at me right next to it.

Something deep inside me shattered.

I lunged at him, wild and desperate, fists flying harder with every blow.

"I treated you like family!" I shouted. "I looked after you like a brother! Why would you do this to me?"

Gerald burst into tears, stumbling behind Madison, but in his eyes I saw a glint of triumph.

Madison shoved me aside with all her strength and rushed to comfort him, her touch gentle as he sobbed in her arms.

I crashed onto the pavement, clutching my stomach as pain tore through me. As I raised my head, I saw them clinging to each other. My lungs refused to work.

Madison spun toward me, fury in her eyes, ready to unleash her anger until she froze. She saw blood spreading quickly across my shirt.

I was hospitalized.

The stab wound I had gotten just days earlier while protecting Madison had been torn open by Madison herself.

The Daughter She Never Knew

Madison took me to the hospital and stayed by my bedside.

She looked exactly like the woman I used to know—deeply worried, devoted, apologizing over and over.

"Travis, I'm sorry. I was wrong. I promise I'll never hurt you like this again."

I slapped her.

I hit her, yelled at her, called her every nasty name I could think of, and wished her dead.

Madison took it all in silence, her eyes red as she tried to calm me. "Don't get worked up. Your health comes first."

I screamed that Gerald would pay for this.

That was the first time Madison ever truly lost her temper with me, and her palm cracked across my face.

Her voice turned ice-cold. "Travis, I'll make you wish you were dead if you so much as touch him."

Watching her protect the man she cheated with made something poisonous grow inside me.

After that day, she never came to see me again.

She and Gerald became inseparable.

My phone filled with anonymous messages—photos of them in bed and cruel captions from people enjoying the show.

I destroyed our home, breaking furniture and tearing apart everything related to Madison. I also burned our wedding album.

Once I recovered, I reached out to one of my late father's old friends and had Gerald blacklisted across Havenport.

I exposed every detail of their affair.

Gerald became a public enemy number one overnight. Meanwhile, Madison lost several key business deals.

Afterward, she targeted me, kidnapping me and confining me in a hotel room for months. She tied me to a bed and forced herself on me while everything was recorded on camera.

Then, she blurred herself out of the footage and released only the clips of me losing control.

The internet instantly moved on from Gerald's scandal.

I became the butt of the joke.

The same people who used to flatter me cut me off overnight.

My father's company, already dying, lost its last remaining client and collapsed for good.

The day my reputation was destroyed, Madison finally let me go.

All the hatred I'd been carrying exploded.

I took a knife and stormed into Madison's company headquarters, slashing Gerald and cutting Madison's arm.

As I stood there, screaming like a madman, Madison signed away my father's shares in the company for practically nothing.

Everything my father had spent his life building died in that moment.

I pleaded with her, reminding her of everything my family had done for her as I begged her to show even a hint of conscience.

Madison only looked down at me with contempt. "Your family's favor was repaid the day I saved your father's company."

Her expression turned colder. "You hurt Gerald? Fine. I'll make this slow."

That was also the day I met their son, Noah Henson.

That was when I realized the truth.

Their affair hadn't started recently; it had started the moment I hired Gerald.

There had been no wedding because Madison didn't want Gerald to feel hurt, nor a diamond ring for the same reason.

Gerald had even arranged those public love declarations himself.

It was a smokescreen, a performance meant to deceive me while they played a happy family behind my back.

I had been the jester of their court for years.

By then, my heart no longer ached. There was only hatred.

That was the night I planted explosives in the mansion.

I had planned to die with Madison, but that night I softened because of the only person I had left—my daughter.

I detonated the explosives, faked my death, and disappeared from Havenport forever.

...

Ana was crying so hard her shoulders shook as she listened to my story.

I wiped her tears away, then headed outside to meet the kindergarten shuttle bringing my daughter home.

Ana followed behind me, her voice hoarse from crying as she cursed Madison for being a monster.

I had just grasped my daughter's small hand and turned around. The sight before me made me freeze in my tracks.

A familiar figure stood right in front of us.

It was Madison.

The container of soup slipped from her hands and crashed to the ground.

Her pupils contracted as her gaze locked onto my daughter. Her voice came out barely above a whisper. "This child..."

Her eyes snapped to mine. "Whose daughter is she?"