Married By Duty Freed By Betrayal Chapter 15
Maleah found herself in a state of quiet contemplation, her fingers idly flipping through the wedding documents she held. Outside, chaos erupted, but she remained undisturbed, trusting Rutherford’s intentions even though she had no inkling of what lay ahead. The noise seemed distant, a mere backdrop to her thoughts.
Suddenly, the front door swung open with a force that echoed through the villa. Agassiz stormed in, his face a mask of determination, though it was tinged with desperation. He had devoted countless days to tracking down Maleah’s new address, combing through every lead in the hope of finding her. Each property he inspected had turned out to be a dead end, a frustrating exercise in futility.
But finally, a breakthrough: he discovered this villa by sifting through property records under Maleah’s name. As he read her name on the document, a wave of regret crashed over him, drowning him in self-reproach. How had he allowed himself to feel so inadequate?
In all their years together, he had never once gifted her something that truly mattered. Meanwhile, Rutherford, with his cold demeanor, had enveloped her in a cocoon of protection that Agassiz had failed to provide. The realization gnawed at him, a bitter reminder of his shortcomings.
As Agassiz hurried into the room, his eyes locked onto Maleah, who sat elegantly on the sofa. His gaze dropped to her flat abdomen, a sight that sent a jolt of anguish through him. “Maleah, did you really abort our child? How could you be so cruel…” The words escaped him like a wounded animal’s cry, raw and filled with pain.
Days had passed since he had delved into her medical records, but only now, confronted by her slender figure, did the weight of reality settle in. The termination had occurred on the very day she had signed the divorce agreement. The juxtaposition of those events felt like a cruel twist of fate.
He couldn’t understand how she had maintained her composure then, only to make such a heart-wrenching decision behind closed doors, leaving him no opportunity to alter their course.
As soon as the last syllable left his lips, Rutherford erupted into a chilling laugh, a sound that sent shivers down Agassiz’s spine. “Cruel?” he mocked, his voice dripping with disdain.
With a swift gesture, he summoned his bodyguards, who surged forward, pinning Agassiz to the floor with a merciless efficiency.
Agassiz glared up at Rutherford, rage boiling within him. “What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded, his voice a mix of defiance and fear.
Rutherford’s response was a single, cold command: “Beat him.”
In an instant, the guards unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks. Agassiz, the Faulkner heir, had never imagined he would find himself in such a humiliating position. He had underestimated Rutherford’s ruthlessness, and instinctively, he raised his arms to shield his head. Yet, his eyes remained fixed on Maleah, searching for even the slightest hint of compassion in her expression.
But the woman who once fretted over his every scrape now wore a mask of indifference, leaving him feeling utterly abandoned. Pain coursed through his body, but the ache in his heart was far deeper, a wound that throbbed with every passing moment.
With tears brimming in his eyes, he pleaded, “Mia, do you really… not care about me at all anymore?” His voice cracked, filled with desperation.
Before she could respond, Rutherford rose to his feet and delivered a brutal kick directly to Agassiz’s abdomen.
“Agh!” Agassiz cried out, doubling over in pain, blood spilling from his mouth as he gasped for breath.
But Rutherford was far from finished. He continued to rain blows upon him, each kick sending fresh waves of agony through Agassiz’s body. He writhed on the floor, instinctively clutching his abdomen, overwhelmed by the pain.
Rutherford’s foot pressed down on Agassiz’s face, his sneer a testament to his triumph. “You feel pain now? Do you have any idea how much pain Mia endured when she aborted the child?! Do you know how close she came to death? How many critical condition notices I had to sign?! You married her and discarded her like trash—what right do you have to call her cruel?”
With one final, vicious kick to Agassiz’s chest, he sent him sprawling across the floor, helpless and defeated.
Agassiz tumbled several feet, yet his gaze remained stubbornly fixed on Maleah. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he gasped, desperation lacing his words.
Maleah’s voice was calm, almost mechanical. “I did tell you. The day your father whipped you, I told you.”
Time seemed to freeze as Agassiz’s mind raced back to that day. He remembered how pale Maleah had looked, how his mother had accidentally pushed her, causing her abdomen to collide with the armrest of a chair. He had noticed her discomfort, but his focus had been consumed by his own turmoil, the desperate need to gain his father’s approval for Ophelia.
He had always assumed Maleah could handle her struggles alone, never wanting to burden him with her pain. So, he had turned a blind eye, dismissing her suffering.
Later, after their separation, she had called him, her voice uncharacteristically weak, begging for help. But he had been too wrapped up in Ophelia’s own complaints, choosing to prioritize her over Maleah, hanging up without a second thought.
Then came the fateful encounter at the hospital, where Rutherford had informed him that the divorce was finalized ahead of schedule. The image of Rutherford, bloodied and radiating a terrifying intensity, had seared itself into Agassiz’s memory.
A chilling realization struck him: “All that blood… was it Maleah’s? She was nearly dead then. How helpless… how terrified she must have been…”
And what had he been doing at that moment? Celebrating the fact that he could finally finalize the divorce and marry Ophelia.
Agassiz felt the color drain from his face, regret flooding through him like an unstoppable tide. “I’m sorry… I didn’t know… I had no idea it was that bad…” His voice trembled, thick with emotion.
Maleah observed his tears, a flicker of something passing over her features, but she ultimately spoke with a painful clarity. “If not for Rutherford, I would be dead now. Do you still think we can go back to how things were?”
In the aftermath, Agassiz was unceremoniously thrown out of the villa.
The torrential rain poured down, drenching him in despair.
As the villa gate closed behind him, Agassiz sank to the ground, staring blankly at the entrance, tears mingling with the rain that streamed down his face.
Inside, Maleah peered through the curtain, her heart heavy as she took in the pitiful figure outside, before turning her attention back to the wedding arrangements. She didn’t spare him another moment of her time, resolute in her decision to move forward.
