Betrayed by My Trash Husband, Surrender Myself to the Devil-Chapter 14: A Broken Woman

Claudia POV

All I could do was stare at him while holding back my sobs. Maybe there was a part of me that wanted to work out this marriage somehow, but then I realized there was nothing to salvage, because Miles didn’t want it in the first place.

To be called a naïve bitch after giving all my dedication was truly a cruel joke. He made it seem as if my sacrifices amounted to nothing.

Miles finally turned around and sank back into his seat, staring at the sports channel, then waved the beer bottle at me, "My offer still stands, by the way. I’ll ’pardon’ you in front of the officers and send you to therapy. Once you’re out, you can be my fuckmaid."

"And if you refuse—" Miles turned to face me again, a wicked smile on his face. "—then you’ll be in prison. I can’t guarantee Aurora’s safety once you’re not here, Claudia."

I had never been so enraged in my life. I wanted to go over there and slap him for what he had just said.

But he could easily overpower me, and even if he beat me, nobody would trust my words.

Why?

Because I had already been branded as an unstable woman who pushed two innocent girls into a coma.

They would think I was just acting crazy again by falsely accusing my ’distressed’ husband for abuse.

So I buried that rage deep in my heart and returned to the master bedroom.

Luckily, the master bedroom was untouched. Perhaps he wasn’t in the mood to sleep while being stared at by the big family picture hanging across the bed.

I locked the door and went straight to the wardrobe.

There was no way in hell I would stay in this place with that bastard and Clarissa, so I began packing.

I didn’t know where to go next, since I had no friends or family. But even staying in a motel indefinitely, or living in my car, was better than seeing my cheating husband.

After I finished packing, I went straight to the bathroom. I took off the dress I had been wearing since yesterday.

It was a special dress Miles had given me for our first anniversary. I had worn it intentionally because it was Aurora’s special day, and I thought Miles might be in the mood for after-party sex since we hadn’t been intimate in a long time.

I stared at the silver dress for a long time before crumpling it and tossing it into the trash can, then stepped into the shower.

As the rain shower trickled from the top of my head down to my toes, I closed my eyes and began recalling all the torture Clarissa and the rest of my second family had inflicted on me.

The curling iron, the beer bottle, the boiling water, and there were many more to count.

I recalled every single moment to remind myself how much I had endured—and successfully escaped.

Until Clarissa came back into my life once more, now as Miles’ second family, complete with a daughter older than my own.

She wasn’t only targeting me anymore. She was targeting Aurora too.

So I couldn’t run away a second time when my daughter’s life was on the line.

My body trembled as I clutched my arms, one with a fresh bruise from Miles’ beer bottle, and the other bearing a permanent scar inflicted by Clarissa’s curling iron.

I didn’t know whether I was trembling from rage over what they had done to me, or fear of what they would do next.

I had held my sobs in front of Miles, but as the rain shower hit my face, I finally let go and cried hysterically. This might be the only time I could cry after everything that had happened.

"Why can’t they just leave me and my daughter alone? Why would they go so far just to ruin me?!"

The question kept repeating, but I had no answer. Even now, I still didn’t understand why Clarissa and Miles went so far just to make me suffer.

I took the longest shower of my life, letting go of all my grief, because I refused to cry in front of anyone again after this.

As I put on my cardigan and jeans, I glanced unintentionally at the vanity table, where my makeup products were scattered everywhere.

I spent the whole afternoon dressing up and doing my makeup for Miles yesterday. But now, I had no willpower to do it anymore. There was no reason for a broken woman like me to make herself beautiful.

Yet when I looked at myself in the mirror, I saw the obvious eye bags and puffy cheeks from lack of sleep and crying too much.

"No wonder Miles cheated on me. I guess I’m too ugly now..." I muttered, forcing an ironic smile at my reflection.

If the twenty-four-year-old version of me heard that, she would have slapped me in the face. No matter how many problems I had back then, I always believed myself to be naturally beautiful.

I was proud of my mother’s lineage. She was gorgeous, and I inherited her features. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Yet one cruel night was enough to shatter everything I once was proud of.

I became nothing but a husk of my former self, unsure if I could ever recover from this.

But in the end, I still sighed and applied a little of everything to mask the weariness on my face.

Once I was done, I swept all my makeup into my bag and left the room, dragging my suitcase behind me.

I walked down the long corridor to find Miles sprawled on the couch, snoring comfortably. The television blared at full volume to match his loud snore, as if he hadn’t just smashed a beer bottle against my arm not long ago.