Ten Years of Marriage, Ruined By LiesChapter 1
Everyone said I was the one Mark Hansen had always longed for, his first love.
So when I filed for divorce, they all criticized me, saying I had forgotten our love, our history.
But only I knew what really happened during the tenth year of our marriage.
That was when he became entangled with a younger woman, someone who looked eerily like me.
"I'm just her personal trainer. What’s with all the drama?" he snapped, dismissing me with the wave of his hand.
In that moment, fury burned inside me. I ripped the wedding ring off my finger and hurled it at Mark. The sound of metal clinking on the floor was oddly satisfying.
“Don’t you dare call me dramatic!” I shouted. “I’m done pretending.”
——
Mark’s face darkened instantly and he lunged forward, grabbing my wrist with enough force to make me wince. His eyes were wild with anger, but I wasn’t afraid.
"What is it now, Jane? What are you trying to prove?"
I didn’t respond, my gaze shifting to Kath Saunders, the woman standing behind him. Her face—a disturbing replica of my own—seemed to taunt me. I walked straight up to her, my heart pounding with adrenaline and slapped her hard across the face.
The sting of my palm against her cheek echoed through the room. Kath gasped, clutching her face, tears welling up in her eyes as she whimpered, “Why would you do that, Jane? I don’t understand...”
Her voice was soft, pitiful, dripping with false innocence. She even had the nerve to step behind Mark, looking at him like she was a wounded little bird.
“Mark, why is she so mean to me?” she sniffed, her lip quivering, playing the victim to perfection.
I could feel Mark’s rage bubbling over as he stepped in front of her protectively, shielding her as if I were the intruder in our marriage.
“Jane,” he growled, “Kath and I have a professional relationship, nothing more! She’s my paragliding student, for God’s sake. Of course, there’s going to be some physical contact! But your mind always goes straight to the gutter.”
I scoffed, unable to believe he had the audacity to lie to my face.
“Oh, I’m the one with a dirty mind?” I said, my voice trembling with anger. “So those pictures I saw? Her clinging to you like she’s your wife? Was that just part of the training too?”