The Mistress Accused Me of Being the Homewrecker novel
She said, As a fellow woman, I'm giving you one last chance. Write a statement promising to cut ties with my husband and get rid of the child, and I'll withdraw the lawsuit. I won't make you pay.
So in her mind, I was the mistress.
A sudden chill ran through my body, but I forced myself to look calm as I met her gaze.
However, she mistook my silence for guilt, her posture growing even more condescendinglike a legitimate wife scolding an interloper.
"You're an educated woman. You don't want me blowing this up and ruining your entire social life, do you?"
A cold smile tugged at the corner of my lips.
She had investigated everythingeverything except the fact that I had a marriage certificate with the man she called her husband.
Just then, a message from Gerald popped up on my phone.
[Stella has a strong sense of morality. If she finds out she's actually the other woman, she won't be able to bear it.]
[I'll make it up to you. For now, just go along with her.]
Two short linesand they shattered me completely.
I took out my marriage certificate and slid it across the table toward her.
"Miss, you missed a rather important detail."
She froze.
Her expression twisted, but she still snatched up the document and opened it quickly.
When her eyes landed on the registration information, her face turned even uglier.
Her fingers trembled as she held the booklet.
I watched her quietly, though the storm in my chest was no less violent than hers.
This was the first time I'd ever had to deal with Gerald's infidelity.
And I knew it would also be the last.
The woman finally set the certificate down and pushed it back toward me. Thenpretending to be perfectly composedshe opened her bag and took out another marriage certificate, sliding it to me.
"Ms. Ruiz, do you think I'd sit here in front of you if I weren't absolutely certain?"
I picked it up and opened it.
My hands trembled when I saw the date.
May 20th.
The same day we registered our marriage.
The pain was suffocatinglike my heart was being crushed from the inside.
"You forged this," I said quietly. "Trying to cover up your lie?"
Stella kept her 'rightful wife' posture, lifting her chin proudly.
I met her eyes without backing down. "Why don't you ask your husband whether it's real or fake? Or better yet, why don't the three of us talk together?"
She clearly hated my attitude, as if I were provoking her.
"Gerald is busy. I won't let him waste time on trivial things like this."
"I won't be swayed by you. I trust him."
As she spoke, she somehow began convincing herself instead of me.
"Men always have mistresses. Which rich, powerful man doesn't? Who hasn't tasted what's outside?"
When she said "tasted," she dragged out the word deliberately, turning it filthy.
"I came today to show you respect as the mistress."
"But if you keep shamelessly clinging to my husband, don't blame me for what happens next."
Her gaze sharpened, waiting for me to break and admit fault.
I let out a soft, cold laugh.
"Ms. Barnes, has it ever occurred to you that you might be the other woman?"
"I think both of us are victims here. We shouldn't be fighting each other. All of thisevery bit of itstarted because of Gerald."
"He's the one who owes us an explanation. Not you to me, and not me to you."
She sneered, looking at me like I was a stubborn fool refusing to accept reality.
"So you thought you were the real wife? Fine. Let me convince you."
She unlocked her phone and played a video.
On the screen, I saw my mother-in-law, my husband, and my brother-in-law celebrating Stella and Gerald's fifth wedding anniversary.
There was also a little boyaround three years oldwhom I had never seen before.
But then the little boy in the video opened his mouth and called Gerald "Dad."
And he called Stella "Mom."
My mother-in-law put twenty million worth necklace around Stella's neck, addressing her affectionately as her daughter-in-law.
My brother-in-law laughed as he called her "Sister-in-law."
I felt as if I'd fallen straight into an ice cellar.
My blood froze.
Every nerve in my body tightened with a sharp, suffocating pain.
So everyone knew.
Everyone accepted and supported Gerald's cheating.
Everyoneexcept me.
I was the only one they lied to.
The only fool in their eyes.
And when everything finally came to light, Gerald wasn't scared, wasn't ashamednot afraid of hurting me.
He was only worried I might hurt her.
Nevernot oncedid I imagine that the man who had always been gentle and obedient with me could betray me like this.
It felt like falling from the clouds straight onto concreteno buffer, nothing but the raw, tearing pain of impact.
Stella put away the video, completely confident as she stared at me.
"So? Still planning to cling to him?"
I blinked back my tears and forced a laugh. "No. I won't."
"But I do want to show you something."
I held up my phone and showed her the messages Gerald had just sent me.
[Stella has a strong sense of morality. If she finds out she's actually the other woman, she won't be able to bear it.]
[I'll compensate you. For now, just play along with her.]
Her face twisted again.
Her eyes reddened, and she burst into angry tears.
She immediately dialed Gerald.
"Tell me, who's the mistress here?! Gerald, you scumbag! Get over here right now and clean up your mess!"
Before he could say a word, she hung up.
The arrogance in her voice made it obviousGerald spoiled her regularly.
I had been his childhood sweetheart.
Ten years of love, five years of marriage.
Even at my angriest, I had never spoken to him like that.
"Sorry... I didn't know my husband lied to you," she said, wiping her tears with a silk scarf. "My attitude earlier was a little harsh."
Heat rushed through meanger, disbelief, grief blending into something nearly uncontrollable.
I stared at the silk scarf in her hand.
My mother's scarf.
Her final design before she passed away.
Someone had once offered fifty million for the design rights, and I still refused.
I always treated that scarf like a priceless treasure, placing it in the safest, most precious spot in my dressing room.
It was the last thing I had of her.
Whenever I missed her, I would hold it close and inhale the faint scent that reminded me of her.
My hands shook violently as I snatched the scarf away from Stella.
My eyes stung as I glared at her.
"This belonged to my mother. Why do you have it?!"
She flinched, startled. Confusion spread across her face.
"Gerald bought it for me. He said he paid twenty million for it."
Then her gaze suddenly shifted behind me. Her face twisted with rage.
"Gerald! You are going to explain this Right now!"
The private room was filled with tension.
When Gerald walked in and saw the two marriage certificates on the table, he didn't spare me a single look.
Instead, he immediately pulled Stella into his arms, trying to calm her.
"I'm sorry, wife. I... I lost my mind for a moment."
Wife.
He called her wife.
I stood there like a jokea pathetic joke stabbed through the heartwatching my husband, who once held me so tenderly, whispering endearments to another woman.
"She's your wife? Then what about me? What am I?" I choked out.
I laughed, and then the laughter dissolved into tears. I wiped them away roughly.
When Stella shoved him aside, I used all my strength and slapped him across the face.
Gerald looked at me, silently beggingasking me to give him a way out, to save his dignity.
"Aliyah," he said quietly, "I'm sorry. I lied to you. You are the mistress."
A hollow laugh escaped me.
Then, right in front of him, I pulled out my phone.
"Hello, is this 911? Someone is involved in"
Before I could finish, he snatched the phone and ended the call.
He frowned, annoyed. "Stop making a scene. I told you I'll compensate you."
Hearing his words, Stella softened instantly. Worried the situation might damage his reputation, she turned to me and spoke gently.
"Ms. Ruiz, this is my husband's fault. We're willing to compensate you," Stella said.
Compensate?
A heavy weight pressed against my chest.
"And what exactly are you compensating me with?" I sneered.
She frowned in deep thought for a full five minutes before answering, "The Vasquez family will give you three hundred million. We'll help you immigrate. With that money, you can live whatever life you want."
"Just don't come back to the country again. For a failed relationship, three hundred million is a good deal."
I stared straight into Gerald's eyes.
He said nothing. He let his mistress treat me like I was the mistress.
I inhaled slowly, forcing my trembling emotions back into my chest.
"Gerald, I'm giving you one last chance. Tell uswho is the mistress? Whose marriage certificate is fake?"
"If you don't clarify it, then tonight the three of us are going to make the front-page headlines together."
"You don't have to love me. You can fall for someone else and divorce me. But you don't get to treat me like a fool."
"Everything that happened today... I'll take it as the price of being your childhood sweetheart."
Gerald frowned deeply, glaring at me for "making things worse."
But faced with my unwavering gaze, he finally spoke the truth.
"Sorry, Stella. The marriage certificate between you and me... It's fake. I'm sorry."
Smack!
Stella trembled with rageas if her world had collapsedand slapped him hard.
I continued, my voice was cold, "No wonder after we registered our marriage that day, you rushed off saying you had something urgent. Turns out you were going to comfort her."
"And on our wedding nightdid you spend the first half with me, then use some 'emergency at work' excuse to go keep her company?"
Stella couldn't take it. She broke down and ran out.
Gerald didn't even glance at me.
He chased after her, and didn't return all night.
I didn't care.
I was used to it.
My work involved late-night scientific research; my schedule was always nocturnal.
And that became the perfect cover for years of his cheatingsomething I never suspected.
On his laptop, I prepared a divorce agreement.
Just as I finished, a WhatsApp notification popped up.
[Mr. Vasquez, should I continue arranging night shifts for Madam? Her medical results weren't ideal.]
My heart tightened.
The message was from my direct supervisor.
I opened the chat.
It wasn't long, but every message was the sameGerald repeatedly instructing him to give me night shifts.
Even three years ago, after my miscarriage, when my body was weak, he still told them to keep me on exhausting late-night laboratory work year after year.
I sat before the computer, drained and hollow, rereading the chat over and over.
By the time Gerald returned, his face was weary and tense.
He checked several rooms before Wilma told him I was in the study.
The moment he opened the door and saw the laptopand my lifeless expressionhis face tightened with a sudden alarm.
He rushed to me, half-kneeling as he grabbed my hands.
His eyes were bloodshot. He must have spent the whole night comforting Stella.
"Wilma said you haven't eaten since yesterday. Can you eat something? Please?"
He spoke as if nothing had happened. As if we were still the same couple.
But now, his voice only made my stomach twist in revulsion.
I pulled my hands away from his grip.
My voice was icy calm. "Let's divorce. I can see clearly nowyou love her. You even have a child already."
"I love you too. Stop it. I am not divorcing you." He cut me off suddenly, expression turning serious.
I stared at him, unable to understand this man anymore.
My gaze toward him grew more and more filled with contempt.
"Gerald, you're spineless."
"I will never respect a man like you."
He suddenly laugheda laugh filled with defiance, or perhaps complete indifference.
That afternoon, my mother-in-law came to "persuade" me.
The same old lineswhich man doesn't cheat? Men just play outside, it's normal.
She even said the marriage was shaky because I hadn't given them a child.
I had always respected her. But today, I splashed a full cup of coffee across her face.
She shot up in fury. "Are you insane?!"
Yes, I was going insane because Stella had attempted suicide.
Unable to accept that she was the mistress, she swallowed a handful of sleeping pills. She was rescued just in time, barely clinging to life.
Gerald, panicked and heartbroken, dragged me to her hospital bed and forced me to kneel.
"Apologize to Stella!"
"If not for you, she wouldn't have done this!"
"She's two months pregnantdo you have any idea?!"
"You almost killed her!"
His grip was brutal, digging into my shoulders until sharp pain shot down my arms.
My knees pressed against the cold tiled floor.
His voice trembled with rage as he forced the command out.
I pulled my shoulder back stubbornly, but I couldn't break free of his hold.
"I said apologize! Didn't you hear me?!" he thundered.
My silence only enraged him more. His shout startled Stella awake.
Her voice was weak but dripping with grievance. "Stop pretending. No amount of 'sorry' can make up for the pain I've endured... or the child I lost."
A bitter laugh escaped me. "Why should I apologize? You two are the ones who wronged me!"
Stella's anger sharpened. "You didn't manage your husband. He lied to me because of you! If it's not your fault, then whose?"
Gerald rushed to her side, heart aching as he comforted her.
"It's my fault and Aliyah's fault. Stella, calm down. Don't get worked up."
He held her like she was a fragile princess, every movement gentle and full of affection.
He used to hold me like that.
Every sweet memory suddenly turned into blades, slicing my heart open piece by piece.
Thena sharp pain stabbed my lower abdomen.
Warm blood slid down the inside of my thigh.
I gasped and instinctively moved toward the door to call for a doctor.
But Stella pushed Gerald away in a petulant fit.
"Why should I be the only one suffering? We're both your women! Why am I the one losing children, the one going through stomach-pumping misery?!"
Just to appease her outrage, Gerald turned to a bodyguard.
"Give my wife half a bottle of sleeping pills too. Then have the doctors save her."
My mind went blank, thunder exploding in my skull.
Had those words truly come out of his mouth?
"Gerald, II'm bleed"
Before I could finish, the bodyguards forced the pills down my throat and carried me away.
I felt like a fish on a chopping boardcompletely powerless.
Back inside the ward, Stella scolded him.
"What are you doing?! I didn't tell you to do that!"
"If you want to prove your sincerity, divorce her! That's the attitude you owe me!"
He coaxed her gently.
"Be good. Other than the marriage title, I can give you everything."
Hours later, she finally fell asleep from exhaustion.
Gerald rubbed his temples, lit a cigarette, and headed toward the emergency room.
"What happened to my wife?" he demanded.
The doctor handed him a fileand what he said next would haunt him for the rest of his life.
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