The Abandoned Wife's Second Chance (Scarlett and Jasper) novel Chapter 175

Chapter 175

(Scarlett’s POV)

My arm feels like it’s being ripped from the socket.

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Virginia’s hand is slick with sweat, her fingers wrapped so tight around my wrist I can feel my pulse hammering against her palm. Below us, the concrete floor waits. Cold and unforgiving.

I don’t understand why she caught me. Why she didn’t just let me fall.

After everything I took from her–her childhood, her parents, even the man she loved–she hates my guts. And still, she held on when she could’ve just watched me die.

“I’ve got you,” she gasps, her face twisted with effort. “I’m not letting go.”

But she’s slipping. I can feel it. Her grip loosens a fraction, then another. The muscles in her arm are trembling, giving out.

“Virginia, let me go,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady. “You can’t hold us both.”

“Shut up,” she grits out. “Just shut up and let me-”

Morgan’s voice cuts through the air like a blade. “How touching. But I’m getting bored.”

She circles us slowly, the gun dangling from her hand. “James, time to choose. Your real daughter or the replacement. Which one lives?”

The silence that follows is suffocating.

I already know the answer. I’ve always known. Blood is thicker than water. Biology trumps years of love and memories. Virginia is his daughter–his real daughter. The one he searched for, grieved for, never stopped wanting.

I’m just the consolation prize he picked up along the way.

“Don’t make me do this,” James begs, his voice raw. “Please, Morgan. Kill me instead. Take my life and let them both go.”

“Then what would be the fun in that?” Morgan crouches down, getting level with his battered face. “When you choose one, the other dies. You live with that choice for the rest of your miserable life. That is what I want. For you to be miserable for the rest of your life. Now,

choose.”

James looks up at us, and the devastation in his one good eye breaks something inside me.

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+25 Points

“I choose-” His voice cracks. He closes his eyes, tears streaming down his bloody cheeks. “I choose Virginia.”

The words land like bullets.

Virginia sobs above me, her whole body shaking. “No. No, don’t-”

But I already knew. I’ve been preparing myself for this moment since the second Morgan asked the question. It doesn’t make it hurt less, but at least I was ready.

“Pull them up,” Morgan orders one of her men. “And make sure little Virginia here doesn’t try anything stupid.”

The man leans over the railing, grabbing Virginia’s arm and hauling her up. Another one reaches for me, his grip bruising as he drags me back onto the catwalk.

My legs give out the second my feet hit solid ground. I collapse, my wrist throbbing where Virginia held it.

James is crying openly now, his shoulders shaking. “Scarlett. Please. I need to talk to you.”

Morgan considers this, then shrugs. “Fine. One last goodbye. How sweet.” She waves her gun at her men. “Untie him. But if he tries anything, shoot the girl.”

They cut James’s bonds, and he nearly falls trying to stand. His legs barely hold him as he stumbles toward me.

I stand on shaky legs, forcing myself to meet his eyes even though every instinct tells me to look away. To protect myself from seeing the truth written on his face.

“Scarlett.” He reaches for me, his hands trembling. “I’m so sorry. You have to understand-

“I understand.” I’m surprised by how calm my voice sounds. How steady. “She’s your daughter. It only makes sense for you to choose her.”

“No, that’s not-” He pulls me into his arms, shoulders quaking. “You’re my daughter too. You always have been.”

The words should comfort me. But they don’t. They just make it hurt more.

His arms tighten around me, and I feel something cold press against my wrists. The zip ties holding them together fall away, cut cleanly.

“Run,” he whispers in my ear, so quiet I almost miss it. “When I push you, run and don’t look back.”

My heart stops. “What?”

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“I love you,” he says louder now, for everyone to hear. “I love you so much. You gave me and Blair the greatest gift–a chance to be parents when we thought we’d lost everything. You are my daughter, Scarlett. Blood or not.”

I realize what he’s doing. What he’s about to do.

“No,” I breathe. “James, don’t-”

“Take care of your mother for me.” His smile is soft, sad. “And take care of Virginia. She’s going to need you.”

Then he shoves me hard, sending me stumbling backward toward the stairs.

“What-” Morgan’s head snaps up. “What’s happening?”

“Run!” James roars, lunging at Morgan.

Everything happens at once.

Morgan raises the gun. James grabs her wrist, trying to wrestle it away. One of her men shouts, raising his own weapon.

“No!” Virginia screams.

The gunshot echoes through the warehouse like thunder.

James staggers back, his hand going to his chest. Red blooms across his shirt, spreading fast.

“James!” I’m running toward him before I can think, before I can process what just happened.

He falls to his knees, then forward onto his face. Blood pools beneath him, dark and thick.

“Papa!” Virginia drops beside him, her hands hovering over the wound like she doesn’t know what to do. “Papa, no, please-”

I fall on his other side, pressing my hands against the bullet hole. Blood seeps between my fingers, hot and slick. “Stay with us. James, stay with us.”

His eyes flutter open, unfocused. He tries to speak but only blood comes out.

“No, no, no,” Tears blur my vision. “You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be fine.”

But he’s not. I can see it in the way his breathing stutters, the way his eyes are already glazing over.

“Papa, please.” Virginia’s sobbing, her hands covered in his blood. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. For

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everything. Please don’t leave me. I just found you.”

+25 Points

Jasper’s shouting something. Morgan’s backing away, the gun still in her hand. Her men are arguing, uncertain.

But all I can focus on is James. The man who raised me. Who gave me a home, a family, a chance at happiness.

The man who just sacrificed himself to save me.

“Baba,” I choke out. “I forgive you. Please, you have to be okay…”

His hand finds mine, weak and trembling. He squeezes once, a message I feel more than

hear.

Thank you, habibti. I love you.

Then his hand goes slack.

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