When She Walks Away (Teresa) novel Chapter 2

Chapter 2 I’m Done

Teresa hid the pregnancy test report before walking into the living room. The conversation between Roselyn and Charles abruptly stopped when she appeared. Breaking her usual routine, Teresa didn’t even bother with greetings as she entered.

Before she had foolishly believed that being the perfect wife and daughter-in-law would make her husband finally see her worth. But life had taught her a cruel lesson.

Even if she ripped out her own heart and offered it to the Logans, they wouldn’t spare her a glance. Five years of sacrificing everything for this marriage had left her with nothing. It was time to stop that now.

Charles knew exactly why he had come home today. He gave Barbara a pointed look and ordered, “Barbara, show Teresa out.” The whole time, Teresa stood silently in the corner, but her eyes had turned ice-cold.

Charles was the capable head of Logan Group, running everything with perfect precision. He treated his elders with respect, stood by his friends through thick and thin, managed his team with fairness, and showed genuine care for all his employees.

Everyone who knew Charles spoke of him with admiration. Their mutual friends often joked that Teresa must have performed miracles in her past life to be married to such a man.

But his kindness never reached his own wife. After five years of marriage, Teresa finally understood the painful truth. This cold, empty marriage was not what she wanted anymore.

As Roselyn passed by Teresa, she suddenly stopped and said with icy contempt, “If you can’t produce a male heir, you’ll never be a true Logan.”

Before, Teresa would have swallowed such words quietly. But those days were over. She met Roselyn’s gaze, all former obedience gone from her eyes. “Roselyn, we’re both women,” she shot back. “Since when is the baby’s gender just my fault?”

Roselyn had always treated Teresa like a meek little mouse she could push around. This sudden defiance caught her off guard, but she wasn’t about to tolerate it. Her hand shot out, the slap cracking like a whip across Teresa’s cheek. “You dare talk back to me?” she snapped. “On your knees. Now.”

There was something almost brutal in her expression, laced with the confidence that Teresa would crumble under her dominance. She knew Teresa loved Charles enough to sacrifice dignity, cast off pride, and even debase herself as a servant for the Logans.

But now, Teresa refused to just swallow her pain. Since the Logans had never valued her sacrifices or even her life, she wouldn’t yield to them any more. Her eyes hardened as they met Roselyn’s. Without a word, she stepped forward, raising her hand to swing.

But before her slap could reach Roselyn, a large hand shot out and caught her wrist. At the same time, a deep, reprimanding voice growled in her ear, “Teresa, do you really need to make things worse?”

Teresa raised her head, meeting Charles’s sharply defined features. His icy gaze prickled against her skin like needles. This was the face that had once driven her wild with obsession, but now, as she studied it closely, a quiet revulsion stirred within her.

‘How can anyone be this heartless? Being ignored, cheated on and treated like trash, I could live with that. But regarding me as some baby-making machine? Demanding another child like my life means nothing? That would kill me.’ Just thinking about it made her sick.

When she was about to say something, Charles suddenly flung her hand away with force and said coldly, “I’m not in the mood today. Ask me again next month.” With that, he took Roselyn’s arm and walked out.

For years she had done everything herself, surviving on the crumbs of Charles’s attention. His rare visits had been enough to sustain her foolish hope, but now she knew better.

A bitter smile touched her lips as she remembered she had once been her family’s treasured youngest daughter, so fiercely protected that she had never needed to lift a finger for anything.

After dinner, Teresa went straight to the study and drew up divorce papers. The Sullivans were well-off, and as a pediatrician, she could easily provide for Yolanda. But five years of silent suffering had earned her nothing but a cold, indifferent husband. So she made it clear that Charles would surrender half of their marital assets, plus 700,000 monthly in child support.

Teresa stopped writing when she got to the part about Yolanda. She didn’t know who her daughter would choose to live with. Realizing she had to ask Yolanda first, she picked up the unfinished divorce papers and left Brocade Villa right away.

After Yolanda’s birth, Charles purchased Joyacre Villa for his daughter. Teresa had been Yolanda’s full-time caregiver for four years before resuming her hospital work. But as her professional responsibilities grew, she found fewer opportunities to be with her daughter.

Over the past six months, she had been doing specialized training at a major regional hospital in the neighboring city. The only times she had seen Charles recently were when her foolish heart hoped another baby might anchor her drifting husband.

She was always busy, but still swapped shifts with coworkers, working three straight overnight shifts just to see Charles. It never entered her mind that she couldn’t have another baby by herself. If she was too busy, Charles could have come to her. But he always chose the other woman instead.

A little after nine in the evening, Teresa took a taxi to Joyacre Villa. As she was getting out of the car, her phone showed a new video notification from YatesDaily, one of her regularly watched accounts.