Died For Their Vows, Back For My Revenge Chapter 03
Sirens ripped through the street.
The men who’d been leering at me seconds ago scattered like roaches.
“You called the cops?”
Tessa froze solid, every muscle in her body locking up.
I nodded. Then I pointed at Nolan’s unconscious body. “Somebody spiked a drink. Figured that was worth looking into. Unless you’re totally fine with someone ending up dead tonight?”
All the blood drained from Tessa’s lips. Something vicious flickered behind her stare.
But before the police could even start questioning anyone, my parents came rushing over.
Tessa threw herself into their arms. I don’t know what she said through all that crying and shaking.
My mother’s face went hard. She walked straight toward me. I opened my mouth. I didn’t even get a single word out before her palm cracked across my cheek. “How long are you gonna keep this crap up!”
A blinding white roar filled my head. My eyes burned red-hot.
Everything I’d swallowed down across two lifetimes, it all detonated at once.
“Who’s keeping what up? Tessa spiked that drink. If Nolan hadn’t taken it for me, I would’ve been assaulted! And you’re standing here blaming me?”
My mother’s face stayed frozen. She looked at me like I was nothing. A cold laugh scraped out of her throat.
“Of course. Raised out in the sticks for twenty-some years. You’re sneakier than you look. Always so dramatic. You take one little thing and blow it up into some twisted attack on your sister. It was just her friends messing around.”
She finished talking, and then she and my father shielded Tessa and got into their car.
That entire ugly scene. From the first moment to the last, I was the only one who lost.
I blinked my stinging eyes. My heart went very, very cold inside my chest.
By the time I got home, Nolan was already awake.
Tessa hovered beside him, playing sweet.
“Nolan, I had no idea someone put something in my drink. If you hadn’t been there, tonight would’ve been a nightmare. Thank you.”
Nolan looked exhausted. He pressed a hand against his throbbing head and told her it was fine.
Then he saw me. He shot upright.
“When were you going to tell me you’re pregnant? If it hadn’t come up at the bar, were you just never going to say anything?”
“You’re pregnant?”
Tessa’s head whipped toward me. Her hand shook around the glass of Alka-Seltzer she was holding.
My stomach tightened. The baby was already a month along. But I hadn’t planned on telling him.
I pulled my lips into something resembling a smile. “I’m not pregnant. It was a false alarm.”
“You lied to me?”
Rage twisted Nolan’s face. He crossed the room and grabbed my arm. “If I hadn’t said I was pregnant, would you have taken that drink for me?”
Nolan’s face locked up. He couldn’t find a single word.
Tessa’s expression crumpled into wounded outrage. She pointed at me, her voice a sharp, shaking blade. “Lydia, how could you lie about something like that? Nolan loves kids. What you did, that’s just cruel. That’s so messed up.”
She dug her fingernails into my shoulder. Hard. “Apologize to Nolan. Now.”
Pain tore through me. I flinched and threw her off.
I never expected Tessa to just crumple straight to the floor like a puppet with cut strings.
“Lydia Barrett!”
Nolan’s roar shook the walls. Pure fury radiated off him.
I yanked up my sleeve and shoved the red, swelling fingermarks in his face. “She put her hands on me first.”
Nolan didn’t even look. He scooped up the sobbing Tessa, shoved past me, and walked out.
If this had happened in my last life, I would’ve already panicked. I would’ve chased after him, apologies already spilling out of my mouth.
Because I was terrified of him leaving me.
Our marriage was something no one ever thought would work.
Even if Nolan was the one who proposed to me back then.
I don’t know if he ever regretted it. But I was exhausted. Bone-deep exhausted.
Nolan didn’t come home that night.
I didn’t reach out to him either. For the first time, I just didn’t.
A few days later, my parents messaged me.
My birthday with Tessa was coming up.
We shared the same birthday. They always said it was a joint celebration.
But the cake was always Tessa’s favorite. The venue was always Tessa’s choice.
Every single happy birthday was sung toward Tessa.
I was just set dressing. Nothing more.
