The Abandoned Wife's Second Chance (Scarlett and Jasper) novel Chapter 69

(Jasper’s POV)

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If I’d known James forced you to marry me, I would’ve never insisted on marrying you.

The pain is so sharp, so sudden, I actually stumble backward. My hand finds the wall behind me, needing something solid to keep me upright.

She would’ve never married me.

All this time, I thought the forced marriage was my mark of shame. The thing that made me less of a man in her eyes.

Only now do I realize…

Without James Stone’s proposition, an orphan like me would have never been able to marry someone like Scarlett Stone. She would’ve married some rich boy from her social circle and I would’ve been nothing more than another number in the crowd. Poor and way below her reach…

With no chance in a million to approach her.

The realization hits me so hard I can’t breathe.

“Scarlett.”

My voice comes out broken. “You don’t understand-”

“I understand perfectly.” She wipes her face with shaking hands. “You never wanted me. Three years of marriage and you never wanted me.”

“That’s not true.” I step toward her but she backs away, putting more distance between us. “Even without your father’s offer, I would’ve married you. I wanted you long before he ever approached me.”

She shakes her head, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. “I don’t believe it.”

“I’m not lying. I noticed you in freshman year. The girl in the blue hijab who always sat by the library windows. Long before we met at the bar, I walked by that window every time I went to class just catch a glance of you.”

Her lips part slightly, surprise flickering across her face.

“I wanted to talk to you then. God, I wanted to so badly. But what could I offer you? I was a nobody, Scarlett. A scholarship kid who worked three part–time jobs just to buy textbooks.”

“Then why?” Her voice cracks. “Why did you treat me like I disgusted you?”

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<Chapter 69

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“Because I was disgusted with myself. Every time I looked at you, I felt I wasn’t good enough. That I’d never be good enough for you.” I rake my hands through my hair. “And Virginia…she’s like a little sister to me. I promised her I would take care of her for life. But I was so focused on being there for her when she needed me that I forgot even in relationships, there needs to be clear boundaries and priorities.”

Her face hardens, and she spits. “You didn’t forget. She was your priority.”

“No, Scarlett. I admit. Virginia was important to me. But she wasn’t more important than you.” I take another step closer, desperate for her to see the truth in my eyes. “I failed you as a husband. As a man. I was so wrapped up in my own insecurities that I let you suffer while I chased after ghosts from my past.”

She stares at me for a long moment. Searching my face for something – truth, sincerity, I

don’t know what.

Whatever it is, she doesn’t find it. And if she does, it isn’t enough to soften her heart.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” Her voice goes flat, final. “The past is the past. I’m not that fragile girl anymore.”

She’s right. The woman standing in front of me isn’t the delicate wife I abandoned on that highway that night. She’s everything she should have been all along – strong, confident, independent.

Was it then, after that incident, that she slowly started to change?

“Scarlett, I want to-” The words stick in my throat. I want to say, I want to start over with you. That’s what I want to say. That’s what’s clawing at my chest, demanding to be spoken.

But I can’t bring myself to say the words out loud. Not when she’s looking at me like I’m a stranger.

“You should go.” She moves to the door, holds it open. “It’s late and I have an early morning tomorrow.”

I don’t want to go. I want to drop to my knees. Want to beg her to give me one more chance. To promise I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for my past mistakes.

Instead, I walk to the door like a man heading to his grave.

“For what it’s worth,” I say when I reach the threshold, “marrying you was the best thing that ever happened to me. Even if I was too much of an ass to realize it at the time.”

She doesn’t respond. Just closes the door behind me with a soft click that sounds like the final nail in my coffin.

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<Chapter 69

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I stand in the hallway for a moment, staring at the door that separates me from my family. From the life I should have had.

Then I force myself to walk away.

The elevator ride down feels endless. Each floor that passes takes me further from Scarlett and Lily, further from any hope of redemption.

When I finally reach the lobby, I’m surprised to find it’s fully dark outside. Hours have passed without me realizing it. Time has become meaningless when your whole world is crashing down around you.

I push through the glass doors and nearly collide with someone coming in.

Dorian Cross.

He’s carrying a paper bag that smells like Chinese takeout, and there’s a small stuffed animal tucked under his other arm. A pink unicorn that I know will make Lily squeal with delight.

“Jasper.” He stops, surprised to see me. “What are you doing here?”

I want to punch him. Want to grab him by his expensive suit and throw him out onto the street. Want to scream that this is my family, my wife, my daughter he’s trying to steal.

But I can’t. Because they’re not mine anymore, are they?

“I was visiting Lily.”

He nods, his expression stiff but not unkind. “How is she?”

“Good. All recovered from the fever now.” My voice sounds hollow even to my own ears.

We stand there in awkward silence, two men fighting over the same woman. Except only one of us is actually fighting. The other is just picking up the pieces of what I threw away.

“Jasper.” Dorian’s voice is softer now. “I know you love them.”

The kindness in his tone almost breaks me. It would be easier if he were an asshole. If I could hate him and blame him for stealing my family.

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