Chapter 1
After three years of marriage, Blaze Maddox still hasn’t legally registered our marriage.
Today marks his thousandth successful race – a milestone celebration that was supposed to end with us finally registering our marriage, his seventeenth promise to do so.
At the celebration banquet, while his manager kept toasting me, Blaze was busy sharing dishes and drinks with his assistant race car driver, Alyssa. Despite my high fever and near fainting from all the drinking, he didn’t spare me a single glance. My colleagues” pitying looks said it all everyone could
see who I was suffering for.
After the banquet, instead of heading to the registry as planned, Blaze broke his promise again. At
his car, he stopped me from getting in.
“Alyssa had too much to drink on my behalf. I need to take her home. Take a cab back,” he said. “We’ll have to postpone the registration. Another day.”
Without waiting for my response, he rushed to help Alyssa into the passenger seat. Eight years of dating, three years of marriage, and this was the seventeenth time he’d postponed our legal
registration because of Alyssa.
Usually, I would have broken down crying, demanding to know who his real wife was, who had really been drinking on his behalf. But this time, I just smiled softly and said, “Of course. Drive
safely.”
Blaze seemed surprised by my calm response but quickly reverted to his cold demeanor. “I“ll buy you something nice to make up for it when I get home.”
Before driving away, he carefully closed Alyssa’s window, protecting her from the wind in her drunken state. I remembered how he used to insist on keeping the windows open when I’d been drinking, even in winter, claiming he couldn’t stand the smell of alcohol in his car. Now I understood – it was just because it was me.
The San Francisco noon sun was scorching, but my heart felt ice cold. I took a deep breath and put the marriage certificate application back in my bag. After eight years, it was time to let go.
That afternoon, I returned to Elite Racing League office and submitted my resignation. My manager was shocked – I’d been the top–rated race attendant for seven consecutive years,
19:01
Now Lin in the dreads Smart
Chapter 1
“Does Blaze know about this?” he asked.
I smiled bitterly. “I’ll tell him tonight, though I doubt he’ll care.”
“You two were the company’s dream couple,” my manager sighed. “Competing in races together,
– you…” winning trophies – even the CEO attended your wedding three years ago. Everyone envied
Yes, those were beautiful memories. But memories are just memories – you can never go back.
It was past 10 PM when I got home. The house was eerily quiet and empty. Then Alyssa’s social media post popped up on my phone – she’d tagged me specifically:
“Thanks to my mentor for spending the afternoon with me. As a treat, taking him to Coldplay’s
concert tomorrow! Can’t wait!”
I knew Blaze wouldn’t be coming home tonight. It had happened countless times in our three years
of marriage.
The dizziness was relentless, hitting me at random moments. I brushed it off as stress – just another side effect of Blaze’s latest betrayal. But when I missed my period twice, I couldn’t ignore it anymore.
Now, I was standing in our villa, staring at the pregnancy test in my shaking hands.
Pregnant.
My heart pounded, this was supposed to be good news, right?
What the hell was I going to do?Blaze barely looked at me these days. Would he even care about me?
A knot tightened in my stomach. The man who once promised me forever couldn’t even be bothered
to register our marriage.
My knees gave out, and I slid down the bathroom wall, clutching the test like it was the only thing
anchoring me to reality.
After microwaving a frozen pizza, I opened my email…
