His Secret Life, My Broken Trust - Chapter 17

---- Chapter 17 Alexandra Smith POV: "It's not what you think, Edward," | said, my voice shaking, as | tried to pull away from Jamie's supportive grip. "Isn't it?" he sneered, his eyes filled with a cold, triumphant fury. "You, in the middle of nowhere, with my cousin. What am | supposed to think, Alexandra?" He spat my name like it was a curse. "You can think whatever you want," Jamie interjected, his voice firm. "But you will not speak to her that way." Edward laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "Oh, playing the white knight, are we, Jamie?

It's pathetic." He took a step closer, his gaze fixed on me. "You are my wife. You belong to me. And | will not tolerate this... disrespect." "l am not your property," | shot back, my fear giving way to a surge of defiance. "And you, of all people, have no right to lecture me about fidelity." | gestured wildly back towards the villa, hidden in the trees. "Your mother is in that house right now with her lover! The man who murdered my mother at her command!" He stared at me, his expression a mixture of confusion and disbelief. "You're insane.

You're making things up to deflect ---- from your own infidelity." "Am |?" | challenged. "Go see for yourself, Edward. Go and meet the man your sainted stepmother has been sleeping with for the past twenty years." Before he could respond, a figure emerged from the darkness of the villa's long driveway. It was Dianne. "What is all this shouting about?" she demanded, her voice sharp and imperious. Her eyes widened as she saw the four of us locked in our strange, tense tableau. "Mother," Edward said, his voice strained. "Alexandra is making some...

wild accusations." "Is she now?" Dianne said, her gaze settling on me with a look of pure loathing. She walked over to Edward and took his arm, a gesture of possessive solidarity. "Don't listen to her, my son. She's a desperate, hysterical woman." She turned back to me, a cruel, triumphant smile on her face. "You'll be happy to know, Alexandra, that we've set a date for Carla's birthday party next month. It will be a grand affair. And at that party, Edward will be publicly announcing your divorce, and his engagement to Carla." | stared at her, my mind racing.

They were trying to control the narrative, to paint me as the unhinged, cast-off wife. But | had a trump card they didn't know about. Edward's father, a man who, for all his faults, still held a deep and abiding affection for me. He would never allow this public humiliation. ---- A slow, cold smile spread across my face. "We'll see about that, Dianne," | said, my voice a low, chilling whisper.