Ten Years of Regret Chapter 02
The wedding was at Ridgecrest Resort, built halfway up a mountain.
No cell signal. No way to call a cab.
A kind server handed me an umbrella, her eyes full of pity.
I thanked her, then struggled downhill, one hand holding the umbrella, the other dragging my heavy gown.
Cold rain soaked me sideways, biting to the bone.
The back of my heels were raw and bleeding.
Finally, my phone got signal. A dozen messages popped up at once.
All from Chase Montgomery.
Every single one demanding to know why I was so hard on Ivy when he’d already explained she was just like a sister to him.
I ignored him. A second later, an unknown number sent me a video.
In the video, Chase held Ivy’s hand while she got checked out. He kept kissing her fingers, his eyes red, begging her not to be hurt.
I remembered when I first found out I was pregnant. I’d passed out from low blood sugar in the shower.
Broke my leg. My stomach hurt like hell.
I was terrified. I called him, needing him.
He just iced me out , “What am I, a doctor? Calling me won’t help.”
I stayed in the hospital for two weeks. He never showed up.
Later I found out that, on the day I fell, Ivy cut her hand cooking. The doctor said she might have a scar. She cried like crazy.
So Chase poured all his rage and sympathy into punishing me.
I stopped walking and let out a bitter laugh.
I woke up way too late, and now I’m stuck in this humiliating mess.
I was trying to book a ride when Chase’s call came through.
After screaming at me like a maniac, he was breathing all ragged and heavy.
Said Ivy almost had a heart attack because of me, and I needed to get my ass over there and apologize right now.
I struggled to keep my thin umbrella steady in the wind. “I’m still at the resort,” I said quietly.
As I spoke, lightning split the dark sky, followed by a crack of thunder.
Chase’s voice changed. “It’s pouring. They left you there? I’ll come…”
Then Ivy started crying in the background. “Cora must be so mad at me. Maybe I should’ve just died overseas…”
Chase immediately softened, murmuring to calm her down.
Then back to me, sharp with anger. “You brought this on yourself. What are you complaining about? Five minutes. If you’d just been a little more gracious, I wouldn’t have had to leave you.”
Something inside me snapped. I smiled slightly and cut him off.
“Let’s get a divorce. I’m not apologizing to Ivy. I was never the one in the wrong. You two were.”
If they couldn’t let go of each other, why did he ever come after me?
He was the one who confessed first. He said he wanted to spend his whole life with me. That’s why I chose him so completely.
Ten years. Were their feelings and youth precious, and mine worth nothing?
I hung up. Soon after, I managed to flag down a taxi.
Sitting in the back seat, another text from him lit up my screen:
[Face it, Cora. You mess up, you pay. Ten years of being my plaything, you’re used goods. Who else would want you? And don’t forget, you schemed to get pregnant with my kid.]
I stared at the words.
I thought I’d already been hurt as much as possible today. Turns out there was more.
I rolled down the window and let the cold wind hit my face. My foggy, aching heart slowly cleared.
I told the driver to turn around. We went straight to the hospital.