The Abandoned Wife's Second Chance (Scarlett and Jasper) novel Chapter 153

Chapter 153

(Virginia’s POV)

+25 Points

“I’ve decided. I’m going to tell him the truth. That Scarlett isn’t his wife anymore. That she chose another man. That I’m the one who’s been here, taking care of him, loving him through everything.”

“The doctors said-”

“I don’t care what the doctors said!” The panic is full–blown now, my chest tight, spots dancing in my vision. “He needs to know. Before she manipulates him into believing their fake marriage is real.”

“Virginia, listen to me.” Blair’s voice turns firm. “If you tell him, if you shock his system with information he’s not ready to process, you could cause permanent damage. His brain is fragile right now. The trauma-”

“What about my trauma?” Tears are streaming down my face now. “What about what I’ve been through? Doesn’t anyone care about that?”

“Of course we care-”

“No, you don’t. You only care about protecting Scarlett. Making sure she gets her happy ending with Jasper, even though she doesn’t deserve him.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Life isn’t fair!” I’m sobbing now, gasping for air. “I spent over twenty years in hell with foster parents who beat me for breathing wrong. Who locked me in closets and starved me as punishment. Over twenty years while Scarlett lived in my house, wore my clothes, had my family.”

Blair tries to reach for me again, but I snatch back my hand before she can. “I know, sweetheart. I know it was awful-”

“You don’t know. You can’t possibly know what it’s like to have everything stolen from you before you even had a chance to have it.” I wipe my face angrily. “And now she’s doing it again. Taking Jasper. Taking the one person who’s always been mine.”

“Jasper isn’t property. He’s a person who gets to make his own decisions.”

“He can’t make choices right now! That’s the whole problem. He’s stuck in the past, when he still loved her, when they were still happy. But that version of them doesn’t exist anymore. Why doesn’t anyone understand this simple logic?”

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< Chapter 153

+25 Points

“Which is exactly why you can’t tell him.” Blair’s voice is gentle but insistent. “Let him heal. Let his memories come back naturally. And then, if he still wants to be with you, it will be real. Based on who you both are now, not who you used to be “.

I shake my head. “You don’t understand. By the time his memories come back, she’ll have her claws so deep in him he won’t be able to escape. She’s already making him fall in love with her all over again.”

“Or maybe he never stopped loving her in the first place.”

The words hit like a slap. I stare at Blair, betrayal burning through me.

“How can you say that to me?”

“Because it’s true.” She looks tired suddenly, older. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but you need to. Jasper and Scarlett’s marriage fell apart because of miscommunication and outside interference. But the love was always there, underneath everything else.”

“That’s a lie. He loves me-”

“As a sister. As someone he cares about. But Virginia, sweetheart, you have to ask yourself if he’s ever looked at you the way he looks at her.”

I want to scream that yes, of course he has. That he chose me over her countless times.

things get hard. That I’m the one he runs to

when s

But the truth sits heavy in my stomach. Because even when he was helping me, comforting me, he was always thinking of her. Always comparing me to her. Always wanting me to be more like her.

“I can make him happy,” I whisper. “If she would just get out of the way, I could make him happy.”

“Making someone happy isn’t the same as feeling happy at the sight of someone.”

More tears fall. I don’t try to stop them. “So what am I supposed to do? Just watch her take him back? Pretend it doesn’t destroy me every time he calls her ‘Letty‘ and looks at her like she’s his whole world?”

“You’re supposed to take care of yourself. Focus on your own self, your own happiness.”

“My happiness is Jasper.”

“No.” Blair’s voice is firm now. “Your happiness can’t be another person. That’s not how it works. You need to build a life that’s yours, independent of him or Scarlett or anyone else. Virginia, if you never learn to love yourself, how can you expect others to love you?”

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<Chapter 153

+25 Points

I glare at her, this woman who calls herself my mother. Is this how mothers talk to their daughters? By discouraging them, and making them question the purpose of their life?

“It’s easy for you to say, isn’t it? When you have a family and all?”

“And you could too, if you’d let us in. If you’d stop seeing us as the enemy and start seeing us as people who want to help.”

“Help me by letting Scarlett steal my life? No, thank you.”

Blair sighs, and I can see her patience wearing thin. “I can’t stop you from doing what you’re going to do. But I’m asking–begging–you to think about this. Really think about it. If you tell Jasper the truth right now, in his fragile state, one of two things will happen. Either you’ll cause serious damage to his recovery, possibly permanent. Or he’ll process the information and be devastated that Scarlett moved on. And that devastation will push him right back to her, because humans always run to what’s familiar when they’re in pain.”

Her words make horrible sense. I hate that they make sense.

“So I just… wait?”

“You wait. You focus on your research, your career, your own life. And you let Jasper go. When he’s healthy again, when his mind is whole, then you can talk to him all you want.”

“And if he chooses her?”

Blair’s silence is answer enough.

I close my eyes, fresh tears leaking out. “I can’t lose him. He’s all I have.”

“That’s the problem, sweetheart. He can’t be all you have. No person can bear that weight.”

I know she’s right. Deep down, under all the rage and jealousy and pain, I know. But knowing doesn’t make it easier.

“How long?” My voice is small, broken. “How long do I have to pretend everything is fine while watching them play happy couple?”

“As a mother, my advice is to stop waiting. To move on with your life. For Jasper’s sake.”

For Jasper’s sake. Always for Jasper’s sake. No one ever thinks for my sake.

I nod slowly, even though everything in me screams to run back upstairs and tell him everything. To rip away the fantasy and force him to face reality.

But Blair’s right. If I do that, I’ll lose him forever. At least this way, there’s still a chance. A small, desperate chance that when his memories return, he’ll see me differently. See us

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