After Ten Years of Marriage, His Shocking Secret Revealed

On our wedding anniversary, while my husband, Xavier Torres, was away on a business trip, he sent me a message asking for a divorce.

I replied calmly, "Okay."

Three days later, after finishing work, I returned home.

To my surprise, his assistant, Loretta Young, was on the sofa, her clothes disheveled and her eyes red and swollen from crying.

"Mrs. Torres, I'm so sorry. We were just playing games that day, and I took Mr. Torres's phone to send you that message."

Xavier comforted her for a long time and then turned to me.

"The poor girl is terrified. Don't you have any sympathy? I think we should just let this go."

I was so angry I laughed. I had already prepared the divorce papers, and he wanted me to just forget it?

I watched coldly as Xavier, with an apologetic look, held Loretta by the waist and escorted her out.

She clung to him as if she had no bones, leaning into his arms.

It was clear she didn't take me, Xavier's wife, seriously.

But then she looked at me with a frightened expression and spoke so pitifully that I was almost moved.

"Mr. Torres, you should spend more time with Serena. I know I was wrong. Serena looks so angry!"

Xavier looked deeply distressed as he comforted her.

"It's okay. It's late. Let me take you home first.

"I'll talk to her when I get back. It's all my fault for making her so unreasonable."

I fought the urge to slap him.

In the past, Xavier would never tolerate women like her flaunting themselves in front of me. He would always back me up.

Now, it seemed I was the unreasonable one.

I sneered.

"Take her to bed, why don’t you!"

Loretta blushed, and Xavier glared at me.

"Serena, what are you talking about? Have some manners!"

I yawned, trying to hide the tears in my eyes.

My words came out icy cold.

"Are you still here? Do you want to stick around and hear more rude comments?"

Loretta burst into tears and ran out the door. Xavier shot me a furious look and chased after her.

I laughed until tears came to my eyes.

Men were so fickle. After only three years of marriage, he didn’t have the patience to comfort me anymore.

It was late at night when Xavier finally returned, reeking of alcohol and carrying a takeout box.

He sat down beside me, opened the box, and gently slid it in front of me.

"Serena, are you hungry? I brought your favorite barbecue."

I picked up the fork and poked at the food. There wasn't much left, and it was clear these were leftovers.

The vegetables were mixed with chopped onions, which I hated.

Without a word, I closed the box and threw it in the trash.

I pulled out the divorce agreement from my bag and placed it in front of him.

"Xavier, can you please take some time to finalize the divorce?"

My indifferent tone seemed to provoke him. After a moment’s hesitation, he grabbed the agreement and ripped it to pieces.

His face contorted with anger, and his hand, pointing at me, trembled.

"Serena Wright, you’ve gone too far. Keep this up, and you’ll regret it!"

I didn’t respond. I just got up and went to my room.

Some truths were too tedious to spell out.

Last month, while he was on a business trip, I saw his hotel booking details by accident.

He had booked a single room with Loretta.

In that moment, I realized the man I had loved for ten years had betrayed me, both physically and emotionally.

The only reason I'd held on this long was because my mother was seriously ill, and I didn't want to worry her.

Half an hour later, Xavier finished his shower and came into the room.

I was at my desk, reprinting the divorce agreement.

He came up behind me, draping his arms around my shoulders, a diamond necklace dangling from his fingers.

"Serena, I got this for our anniversary. Do you like it?"

I took it and tossed it onto the table.

I noticed tonight that Loretta was wearing the same style of necklace.

Xavier had carelessly bought two identical gifts.

Instead of being upset by my lack of enthusiasm, he smiled softly.

He gently kissed my earlobe.

"You don't like it? Let's go pick out something else together tomorrow..."

"No need."

I pushed him away and handed him the freshly printed divorce agreement.

"When are you free to finalize the divorce?"

He crumpled the thin paper into a ball, his face emotionless.

"Stop it. If your mother knew, she would..."

I looked up, fighting back tears.

"It doesn’t matter. My mom...she’s no longer with us."

Half a month ago, Xavier called me after work to say he had an appointment and that I shouldn’t wait up.

But then I saw Loretta’s latest social media post. In it, there was a beautiful birthday cake, and Xavier was placing a birthday hat on her head.

The caption read as followed.

"It's my 23rd birthday, and I'm so happy to have someone I love with me!"

That night, I cried myself to sleep.

In the middle of the night, the hospital called to tell me my mother was in critical condition.

It was pouring rain, and I waited ages for a taxi.

By the time I reached the hospital, my mother was already covered with a white sheet.

I knelt by her bed and cried until I passed out.

When I woke up, I knew it was time to let go of this marriage.

Xavier's knuckles turned white as he gripped the crumpled paper.

He didn't ask why I hadn’t told him.

He knew. I had made dozens of calls that night, and he had heartlessly ignored them all.

After a long silence, he finally spoke again.

"It's better that she's gone. If she knew you were acting like this, she'd have pissed off to death."

His cold words hit me right where it hurt.

I couldn't hold back any longer and slapped him across the face.

We had been in love for ten years, through countless arguments, but I was always the one who gave in.

Xavier's expression turned icy. He grabbed his coat from the hanger and walked out without a word.

He expected me to apologize and beg him to stay, like I always did before.

But this time, I stayed silent and let him leave.

Everyone saw our relationship as a fairy tale.

No one could believe that the top student in school, the model student loved by teachers, would end up with a troubled teenager who was always at the bottom of the class, smoking and fighting.

Xavier was an illegitimate child, lacking any real discipline, and was notorious for dragging down the class average.

Frustrated, our teacher, during a routine seat change, paired me with him in a socalled onetoone assistance program.

With a sincere intention to help, I began tutoring him, explaining each problem patiently.

Every time, he would raise his fist, threatening to beat me if I annoyed him.

But even with tears in my eyes, I didn't give up and kept trying to help him.

Maybe my persistence got through to him. Eventually, he gave up resisting and reluctantly laid his head on the desk, listening as I explained over and over.

A month later, in the exams, his scores shot up, and he moved up to third from the bottom.

Excited, I packed a bag full of snacks and went to his house to encourage him.

But when I arrived, I found his mother beating him with a belt, screaming and berating him.

"You useless thing! I should have drowned you in the toilet!

"I thought being a son would make the Torres family care about you! But you're so worthless they won't even look at you!"

Summoning all my courage, I rushed over and stood in front of him.

"Ma'am, you can't talk to him like that. Everyone has their own strengths!"

Xavier pushed me away from behind and kicked me twice, his blows vicious and desperate.

"Go away! I don't need your pity!"

Afterward, he tossed all the snacks I brought him into the trash and shredded the notes I had painstakingly prepared for him after staying up all night.

My friends all told me I was crazy for wasting my time on someone like him.

But it was also Xavier who, without hesitation, jumped in to save me when I fell into the water.

He used every ounce of his strength to pull me to shore, holding me tightly as I shivered uncontrollably.

For once, his usually arrogant face was filled with fear.

He buried his head in my neck and sobbed.

"Serena, I'm sorry. I just can't say it out loud. You mean so much to me!

"I don't want to lose you. Can you let me protect you from now on?"

He stayed by my side in the ambulance, gripping my hand all the way to the hospital.

The doctor joked and asked if he was so nervous because I was his girlfriend.

Blushing, he nodded, begging the doctor to save me as if we were in a TV drama, making everyone laugh.

After that day, he started working hard, determined to get into the same university as me.

He said I was so naive that I’d definitely get bullied without him around.

But now, he was the one bullying me.