When She Turns Her Back (Teresa and Charles) novel Chapter 82

Chapter 82

A couple of minutes later, Teresa opened the hotel room door.

Charles didn’t even look back at her. He just strode down the hall. “Follow me,” he said, his voice flat.

His tone gave nothing away, and Teresa couldn’t read his expression at all.

All she could do was follow.

At the end of the hall, Charles pushed open the door to the stairwell. He went in, and Teresa followed.

As the door clicked shut, he blocked it with his body, clearly intending to keep Troy out.

Teresa watched it all happen, her heart pounding with a mix of shock and fear.

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In their five years of marriage, she had loved and respected Charles. After deciding on the divorce, she’d started to let go of that love and respect, to stop caring.

But she had never, ever been afraid of him like this.

Leaning against the door, Charles lit a cigarette. The flame from the lighter illuminated his grim face for a second, his features hard and completely devoid of warmth.

He looked menacing, and a chill went down her spine.

He took a long drag before finally looking down at her. “You’re coming with me,” he said through a plume of smoke.

Teresa just stared at him. Any thought she’d had about him being hurt or angry vanished, replaced by a bitter, laughable truth.

So this is it, she thought. A man who truly doesn’t love you doesn’t even care if you cheat on him.’

If it had been Naomi who’d done something to betray him, he’d be losing his mind right now–furious, heartbroken, completely. unhinged

Her heart plummeted. She wanted to cry, to laugh, but she couldn’t do either. She just felt numb.

Charles started down the stairs. When he noticed she wasn’t following, he turned back. “Teresa, my patience is wearing thin.”

It was both a warning and an instruction.

But Teresa didn’t care anymore.

He’d never cared about her, so why should she start now?

When he’d first shown up at the door, she’d actually felt a pang of guilt.

Maybe she shouldn’t have done this, not before the divorce was final.

But looking at him now, she realized how foolish that was. It was all in her head.

She numbly followed ham down the stairs.

Somehow, they made it to the parking garage. Charles got into the driver’s seat without so much as holding the door for her

It was always a different story with him. He treated her and Naomi like two completely different people.

If it had been Naomi, he would have opened her door, shielded her head as she got in, arranged her dress, and buckled her seatbelt for

her

Teresa got into the back seat. She had no idea where he was taking her, and they drove in complete silence.

Charles didn’t say a single word about her and Troy

He seemed to be in a hurry, driving fast. In the rearview mirror, she could see his jaw was clenched, his lips pressed into a thin line. His phone kept ringing, the screen lighting up again and again, but he ignored it.

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Chapter 82

Teresa couldn’t see who was calling, but she was sure it wasn’t Naomi. He would never ignore a call from Naomi.

When the car finally stopped, Teresa realized he’d brought her to Riverdale Hospital, where she worked.

He got out and walked toward the entrance without waiting, just telling her to keep up.

He led her to an observation room in the ER. Through the partially open door, Teresa saw a man lying on the bed in the center of the

room.

A closer look revealed it was Hector.

Teresa froze, a wave of confusion washing over her. She reached out instinctively to push the door open.

But Charles grabbed her arm. “I need to talk to you.”

Her eyes were red as she turned and glared at him. “What do you want to talk about?”

Charles narrowed his eyes. “Get Hector to perform a surgery.”

At those words, it all clicked into place.

She understood why he had suddenly returned to Riverdale, why he had tracked her down at the hotel, and why he was in such a rush. Everything he was doing was for this surgery.

And whoever needed it, she knew, was far more important to him than his own wife.

In their five years of marriage, Teresa had felt the sting of Charles’s coldness more times than she could count.

She remembered the time Yolanda was barely a year old, crawling all over the place. Teresa had come down with a high fever, her head was throbbing, and she felt completely drained of energy.

Yolanda was a handful, constantly getting into things, and Teresa just couldn’t keep up. She texted Charles: [Can you come home and help with the baby? I have a fever and I can’t manage.]

His reply came back quickly: [Take some medicine. I’m not a doctor. Sharon is there, have her put Yolanda to bed.]

Reading those words felt surreal. She knew what each word meant, but strung together, they felt like they were from a stranger.

She fell into a depression after that. It was only later that she found out why he hadn’t come home: he was out avenging some slight against his assistant.

He cared about a lot of people. As his wife, Teresa didn’t even make the list.

How pathetic was that?

Snapping back to the present, Teresa looked up at Charles. “Who’s the surgery for?”

Charles was evasive. “You don’t need to worry about that.”

Teresa didn’t press “I can’t make decisions for Hector,” she said. “Besides, he’s a patient himself right now. We don’t even know his condition or if he’s cleared for surgery.

“It’s an extremely urgent surgery, Charles said bluntly. “I’ve asked around. He’s the only one who can do it”

For a moment. Teresa zoned out, remembering what Hector had told her–to trust him, that he could handle Jason Gould coming after

him

Maybe this surgery Charles was talking about, the one only Hector could perform was the key

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