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You Chose Her: Now Watch Me Leave

You Chose Her: Now Watch Me Leave

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10 Chapters
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I was the Hayes heiress, the silent engine behind my husband's startup, and the woman carrying his child. But while I sat in the waiting room, rubbing my six-month-pregnant belly, Michael was on Instagram posting a photo of his "friend" Selena's baby with the caption: *My little Prince, Michael II.* He claimed it was a joke. He claimed I was hormonal. But when Selena fell ill with leukemia, the mask finally slipped. He didn't just ask me to get tested for a bone marrow transplant; he begged me to cut myself open for the woman who treated me like an intruder in my own marriage. I asked him the only question that mattered: "If we were both dying, who would you save?" He didn't hesitate. "Selena." He lied to me about a business trip to Singapore so he could donate his kidney to her. He wanted to be her hero. He didn't know that while he was under anesthesia saving her, I was alone in a cold hospital room, losing our baby. When he finally woke up, expecting my devotion, he found the villa stripped bare. On his desk sat a signed divorce decree and a medical report: *Fetal Demise.* Underneath, I left one final note: *He would have had your eyes. But you were too busy looking at her.* I didn't just leave him. I took my money, erased my existence, and vanished into thin air.

Contents

Chapter 1

I was the Hayes heiress, the silent engine behind my husband's startup, and the woman carrying his child.

But while I sat in the waiting room, rubbing my six-month-pregnant belly, Michael was on Instagram posting a photo of his "friend" Selena's baby with the caption: *My little Prince, Michael II.*

He claimed it was a joke. He claimed I was hormonal.

But when Selena fell ill with leukemia, the mask finally slipped.

He didn't just ask me to get tested for a bone marrow transplant; he begged me to cut myself open for the woman who treated me like an intruder in my own marriage.

I asked him the only question that mattered: "If we were both dying, who would you save?"

He didn't hesitate. "Selena."

He lied to me about a business trip to Singapore so he could donate his kidney to her. He wanted to be her hero.

He didn't know that while he was under anesthesia saving her, I was alone in a cold hospital room, losing our baby.

When he finally woke up, expecting my devotion, he found the villa stripped bare.

On his desk sat a signed divorce decree and a medical report: *Fetal Demise.*

Underneath, I left one final note: *He would have had your eyes. But you were too busy looking at her.*

I didn't just leave him. I took my money, erased my existence, and vanished into thin air.

Chapter 1

Olivia POV

The caption on the screen didn't just hurt; it was sharp enough to slice my throat open.

*My little Prince, Michael II.*

I sat in the sterile, fluorescent-lit waiting room of my OB-GYN, my hand resting instinctively on the heavy swell of my six-month-pregnant belly.

I should have been scrolling through ultrasound photos, marveling at fingers and toes. Instead, I was staring into the abyss of my husband's secret Instagram account.

There was no mistaking the man in the photo. It was Michael. The jawline I had kissed a thousand times. The broad shoulders I had draped in Italian wool, paid for with my family's money.

And the woman leaning into him wasn't me.

She was petite, dark-haired, and looked up at him with a terrifying, intimate familiarity. But it was the baby in Michael's arms that sucked the air right out of the room.

The infant had his eyes. His nose. The shape of his mouth.

My stomach cramped hard-a physical blow to match the emotional evisceration.

I couldn't breathe. It felt as though my lungs were being filled with wet cement.

I was the Hayes heiress. I was the silent engine behind his startup. I was the one who had opened every door, introduced him to every investor, and smoothed every path. I was four months older than him, but I had spent our entire marriage shrinking myself down so he could feel like a giant.

My trembling finger hovered over his contact, then pressed dial.

One ring. Two rings. Voicemail.

"Sorry, Liv, in a meeting. Love you."

I looked back at the photo. Posted ten minutes ago.

He wasn't in a meeting. He was playing house.

*

When Michael came home that night, he carried the scent of rain and expensive vanilla perfume on his skin.

He strolled into the living room, undoing his tie with that easy, charming smile that used to turn my knees to water. Now, looking at it, I saw only a porcelain mask.

"Hey, beautiful," he said, crossing the room to where I sat rigid on the sofa. "Sorry I missed your call. The board meeting ran long."

He leaned down to kiss me.

I turned my head. His lips grazed my cheek-cold and perfunctory.

He didn't even notice the rejection. He just placed his large, warm hand on my stomach.

"How is he? How is our legacy?"

He rubbed my belly, but the touch felt possessive, not loving. Like a banker checking the vault, not a father greeting his unborn child.

"I saw a photo," I said. My voice sounded brittle, like dry leaves being crushed.

Michael froze. His hand stopped its motion.

"A photo?"

"On Instagram. A baby. You called him Michael II."

He didn't panic. That was the most terrifying part. There was no stutter, no bead of sweat. He just let out a short, incredulous laugh.

"Oh, that?" He stood up, walking to the wet bar to pour himself a drink, his back turned to me with practiced ease. "That's Selena's kid. My college friend. You know her. Her husband left her, Liv. She's going through hell. I'm the godfather. It's just a joke."

"A joke," I repeated, the words tasting like ash.

"Yes. God, Olivia, don't be like this. You know how paranoid you get with the hormones."

He walked back and dropped a small velvet box into my lap.

"I got this for you. For being such a trooper."

I opened it. Diamond earrings. Cold. Hard. Expensive guilt.

"Selena is having a brunch tomorrow," he said, taking a sip of his whiskey, watching me over the rim of the glass. "She wants to meet you. She feels terrible that you might misunderstand. You should come. It would be good for you to get out."

He was testing me. He was betting on my blind devotion. He was wagering that the pathetic, love-struck Olivia would fold, as she always did.

I snapped the velvet box shut.

"Okay," I said. "I'll go."

*

The next morning, the shower was running.

I knew his schedule. I knew his passwords. I knew everything about him, except the things that actually mattered.

I walked into his study. It smelled of leather and secrets.

I didn't have to dig deep. His arrogance was my greatest asset; he thought I was too trusting, too stupid to ever look.

In the bottom drawer of his mahogany desk, tucked under a stack of quarterly reports, lay a leather-bound journal and a box of photos.

I opened the journal, my heart hammering against my ribs.

*October 14th.*

She looks so much like Selena it hurts. But she has the money. I need the Hayes capital. Once I have the company, I can fix everything for us.

I flipped the page, my vision blurring.

*January 3rd.*

Olivia is pregnant. It's disgusting seeing her get big. But I need an heir to secure the trust fund. Selena understands. She knows Olivia is just a vessel.

*A vessel.*

I wasn't a wife. I wasn't a partner. I was an incubator with a bank account.

My hands shook so violently I almost dropped the book.

I found a photo at the bottom of the box. Michael and the dark-haired woman-Selena-from years ago. They looked wild, passionate. Alive.

In our wedding photos, Michael looked satisfied. In this photo, he looked in love.

"Olivia?"

I shoved the book back into the drawer and slammed it shut just as Michael walked in, a towel wrapped low around his waist.

"What are you doing in here?" His voice was sharp, a warning shot.

"Looking for a pen," I lied. I turned to face him, forcing my features into a mask of calm I didn't feel. "Ready for brunch?"

He scrutinized me for a second, searching for cracks, then smiled. "Yeah. Let's go."

*

The brunch was held in a garden that cost more than most people's lifetimes.

Selena was there, holding the baby.

She was beautiful in a sharp, predatory way. When she saw Michael, her eyes lit up. Not with friendship. With ownership.

"Michael!" she cooed.

She walked over, the baby on her hip. "And this must be Olivia."

She looked me up and down. I felt heavy, swollen, and exhausted. She looked pristine.

"He talks about you all the time," Selena said, her voice dripping with fake sweetness. "How you're so... supportive."

"I try," I said, biting the inside of my cheek.

Michael walked over and tickled the baby under the chin. The baby giggled.

"Hey, buddy," Michael whispered. The tenderness in his voice was a knife twisting in my chest. He had never used that tone with my belly.

"He looks just like you, Michael," a guest commented as they walked by.

Selena laughed, tossing her hair. "Doesn't he? It's the eyes."

She looked at me, a challenge burning in her gaze. She wanted me to know. She wanted me to scream so she could call me crazy.

I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen. My baby kicked, hard. Even he knew.

I looked at Michael. He was beaming at Selena and the child. He looked like a man who had everything he wanted.

I was just the wallet standing in the frame.

"Michael," I said softly.

He turned to me, annoyance flashing in his eyes for a split second before he smoothed it over. "Yes, honey?"

"I need to sit down."

He guided me to a table, but his eyes never left Selena.

A waiter placed a document folder on the table. Michael slid it toward me.

"Oh, I almost forgot," he said casually, as if discussing the weather. "The lawyers sent over that updated trust agreement for the baby. We need to sign it before the weekend for the tax benefits."

I looked at the document. It wasn't a trust agreement. It was a post-nuptial modification. It gave him control over my shares in his company if I became "incapacitated."

He thought I wouldn't read it. He thought I would just sign, like I always did.

I looked at Selena, who was watching us from across the garden, a smirk playing on her lips. She knew. They had planned this.

Get the money. Get the control. Discard the wife.

Something inside me snapped. It wasn't a loud break. It was quiet, like a dead branch falling in the snow.

I picked up the pen.

I wasn't just signing a paper. I was signing the death warrant of my marriage.

"Of course, Michael," I said, my voice steady.

"Anything for our future."

I signed my name.

But as I capped the pen, I made a silent vow.

He wanted my money? He wanted my legacy?

He would get nothing.

I touched my belly.

*I will burn your perfect little world to the ground, Michael. And I'll start with the match you just handed me.*

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Chapter 1
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Chapter 2
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Chapter 3
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Chapter 4
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Chapter 5
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Chapter 6
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Chapter 7
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Chapter 8
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Chapter 9
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Chapter 10
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