I Woke Up Seven Years Later And Left My Cheating Husband Chapter 01
After finishing her follow-up appointment at the hospital, Claire Snow pushed open the door and stepped out, only to realize she had somehow arrived seven years in the future.
Disoriented and frantic, she struggled for a while before finally making it back to their villa. The second she saw Bennett Ford, she rushed forward and threw her arms around him.
“Bennett, it’s me. I’m Claire from seven years ago.”
“I missed you so much!”
“Our anniversary is coming up. Are you still going to take future me to Aspen to see the snow this year?”
But all her bright, breathless joy was met with Bennett’s silence.
Only when a clear little voice suddenly called out, “Daddy,” did Claire’s words come to an abrupt stop.
A boy of about seven or eight ran toward Bennett, shoved Claire aside, and wrapped himself tightly around one of Bennett’s legs. “Daddy, I missed you so much!”
Claire stared stiffly at the child as her ears rang.
Because this child could not possibly be hers.
She had undergone a hysterectomy a year ago.
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That was exactly why she had gone to the hospital today for a follow-up appointment.
In that instant, it felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over Claire’s head. A chill seeped up from the deepest part of her chest.
Her voice trembled despite herself. “Is he… is he a child we adopted?”
She was still clinging to one final sliver of hope.
But Bennett’s cold voice sent her plunging straight into hell.
“No,” Bennett said. “He’s my son with Mia.”
A thunderclap seemed to explode beside Claire’s ears. Mia? Mia Lane? The woman who had briefly worked as a nanny in their home a year ago?
How could she have had a child with Bennett?
Claire’s hands clenched into fists, the veins on the backs of her hands standing out as her breathing grew sharp and uneven.
“Why?”
“Did you forget what you promised me? You said it would be just the two of us for the rest of our lives, and that you would never leave me.”
Bennett’s voice lowered slightly. His patience was completely gone as he cut her off coldly, his mockery barely concealed.
“Some things really never change. Too bad I didn’t see the real you sooner.”
He sounded utterly unapologetic.
“Ever since you found out two years ago that the child was mine, you’ve acted like a lunatic. Not only did you make my affair public and turn me into a joke in D.C.’s elite circle, but you also cost the Ford family several
nine-figure deals. We’ve never recovered our former momentum.”
“When I asked you for a divorce, you said I had wasted seven years of your life and should have told you the truth the moment I had a child.”
“Fine. Since fate has given me this chance, I’ll tell you the truth now.”
“Mia got pregnant the second month after your hysterectomy.”
“That was how much I loved you back then. Even though you couldn’t have children, I never thought about leaving you. I even found another way to give the Ford family its next heir. But what about you? Your
hysterics and unreasonable behavior ruined everything.”
“Now I’ve told you the truth ahead of time. But can you really bring yourself to divorce me?”
Bennett’s tone was so provocative and indifferent that he seemed like a complete stranger. Claire could not accept that this was the Bennett who had loved her for more than ten years.
They had grown up together as childhood sweethearts. They had been so perfectly in sync that even their teachers had turned a blind eye when they started dating too young.
All their friends used to say that if those two ever broke up, they would stop believing in love altogether.
Even a year ago, after Claire had suffered an accident and undergone a hysterectomy, losing the ability to have children forever, Bennett had faced the Ford elders’ pressure without hesitation. He had used his
position as heir to Ford Group to protect her place as Mrs. Ford.
He had said, “As long as I remain a Ford, the only woman who can be Mrs. Ford is Claire Snow.”
But now, the Bennett from seven years in the future was telling her that he had cheated on her in the second month after her hysterectomy.
No. She did not believe it.
Claire stumbled back several steps, trembling all over. “You’re all playing Truth or Dare, right?”
“Bennett, tell everyone to come out. This joke isn’t funny.”
She turned in a panic and tried to flee, only to slam hard into a glass window.
A white flash burst across her vision, and then she was back in the examination room where she had just had her follow-up appointment.
Behind her, the doctor’s anxious voice called out, “Ms. Snow, are you all right?”
Claire snapped back to herself. She told herself that what had just happened must have been a nightmare,
then rushed to the Ford family estate like a madwoman, desperate to ask the Bennett of this time what was going on.
Today was Mrs. Ford Sr.’s birthday, and Bennett had gone back to the family estate the day before.
But when Claire stood outside the door that had been left slightly ajar, she saw a picture of warm family bliss unfolding in the living room framed by its vast floor-to-ceiling windows.
Bennett was holding a swaddled newborn in his arms, his face full of cautious wonder.
“He’s this tiny?”
Mrs. Ford Sr. was beaming from ear to ear. “Of course he is. He was only born a little while ago. You have to give him time to grow.”
And the familiar woman standing nearby, Mia, wore a soft, timid smile.
“Bennett, is it really okay to bring the baby home? What if Mrs. Ford finds out?”
The man who had always reserved his tenderness for Claire reached out, pulled Mia into his arms, and pressed a light kiss to her forehead.
“Don’t worry. I’ll tell her the baby was adopted.”
“It’s just unfair to you. You’re clearly his biological mother, but you can only stay by his side as his nanny and watch him grow up.”
Claire’s trembling gaze swept over every face in the living room: Bennett, Mrs. Ford Sr., Mr. Ford Sr., the Ford family patriarch, even the butler and the maids.
So Bennett was not only keeping the child.
He was keeping Mia, too.
So everyone except Claire had known the child’s real identity, while she had been kept completely in the dark.
No wonder the future version of her had gone mad after learning the truth. No wonder she had felt that years of her life had been wasted.
Claire’s face went deathly pale. She closed her eyes, and a painfully self-mocking smile curved her lips.
At this moment, she truly had to thank the Bennett from seven years in the future.
If she divorced him now, she would not have to waste too much more of her life.
There was still time.
With that thought, Claire stepped forward and pushed the door open.
The door creaked, and every pair of eyes in the room turned toward her at once.
Bennett’s expression changed instantly. “Claire… when did you get here?”
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