He Thought I Cheated, Beat Me Until I Lost Our Baby, Then Learned It Was His

Chapter 2

I picked up Connor's phone, my hands shaking.

The screen showed a chat between him and Mark's wife.

Mark, Connor's old college buddy. I'd met his wife a few times. Thought we were friends.

But in the messages, she told Connor that Mark and I were having an affair.

At first, he didn't believe her.

Then she sent a photo.

A pair of lacy underwear.

My stomach twisted.

I knew that underwear. I'd worn it the night before Connor left for his business trip.

This had to be a mistake.

"Connor, that's not my underwear," I said quickly.

His expression darkened.

"Oh yeah?" His grip tightened on the phone. Then, in a flash, he grabbed me by the hair, yanked me forward, and shoved the screen in my face.

"Take a good look, bitch. If it's not yours, then whose is it?"

Another photo.

This time, I saw the detail I'd missed before, embroidered along the waistband, in delicate cursive, were two words: Connor's Only.

The blood drained from my face.

"This… This doesn't make sense," I whispered. "I threw that pair away after showing them to you. There's no way, "

And then it hit me.

Pamela.

Connor's mother had a habit of going through my closet.

I'd caught her once. Came home early from work and found her, naked, digging through my wardrobe.

When I confronted her, she just laughed and said she'd walked into the wrong room.

But after she left, I found one of my lace panties on the floor.

Had she… taken more?

I looked up at Connor, my voice shaky but firm.

"I know who wore them." I swallowed hard. "It was your mother."

For a second, there was dead silence.

Then,

"You fucking bitch."

His face twisted with rage as he kicked my leg out from under me.

Pain shot through my knee as I collapsed to the floor.

"You could've blamed anyone," he seethed, "but you accuse my mom?" His eyes blazed with fury. "She's old enough to be your mother, what the hell is wrong with you?"

Before I could react, his palm cracked across my face.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

The blows came so fast, my ears rang. My vision blurred.

"Connor, stop!" My mom lunged forward, grabbing his arm. "Please, there has to be a misunderstanding, just talk to her, "

"Get the hell off me!" He shoved her aside.

She stumbled backward, crashing onto the floor with a painful thud.

"Mom!" My chest tightened with panic.

She had a back injury, if he made it worse…

"You psycho!" I screamed at Connor. "If anything happens to her, my dad won't let you off!"

My dad. A cop. Someone Connor knew not to mess with.

But he didn't care.

His eyes were wild. "Your mom gave birth to a whore like you, so she must be trash too. Maybe your dad should be thanking me for teaching her a lesson."

By now, the commotion had drawn a crowd outside.

Neighbors whispered among themselves.

"What's going on?"

"Robert's daughter cheated on her husband, from the looks of it."

"No way, Robert's a straight-up guy. His daughter wouldn't do that."

An older man in the crowd finally stepped forward. "Son, no matter what happened, hitting a pregnant woman isn't right."

Connor turned to him with a sneer. "Mind your own damn business, old man. Let's see how you react when your wife spreads her legs for someone else."

Then he raised his voice at the crowd.

"This is my family's business. Even if the cops show up, it's just domestic violence, nothing they'll do shit about. And if anyone tries to get involved…" His gaze swept over them, cold and deadly. "I'll deal with you next."

The murmuring stopped.

One by one, the onlookers backed away.

Satisfied, Connor turned to me, his gaze dropping to my belly.

"It's bad enough you cheated," he spat. "But you really thought I'd raise some other man's kid?"

I'd never seen him look like this before.

Caldwellke a predator, circling its prey.

Instinctively, I covered my stomach.

"Connor, please," I said carefully. "I swear, I never betrayed you. If you don't believe me, let's call Mark. Let's ask him exactly how that underwear ended up in his bed."

Connor let out a cold, humorless laugh.

"Mark?" His lips curled in disgust. "Oh, so it's Mark now? First-name basis, huh? You waiting for him to come rescue you?"

His gaze flicked to the wall. My dad's whip hung there.

Before I could react, he grabbed it, winding it tightly around his hand.

"Tell me the truth, Emma." His voice was eerily calm. "How long have you been fucking him?"

"I didn't!" I cried.

"Caldwellar."

He raised the whip.

I shut my eyes, bracing for the pain.

The crack of leather against flesh echoed through the room.

But,

I felt nothing.

I opened my eyes.

My mom was in front of me, shielding me with her own body.