Too Late To Love Me – My boyfriend Silas Peterson was dead broke that year. I was scared I’d drag him down, so I broke up with him. Years later, he became the youngest billionaire in Dallas. He chased me hard and finally made me his wife. Everyone says Aubrey is his first love, the wife he treasures most. But only I know the truth. For three years of marriage, he brought a different woman home almost every night. He did it to shatter my heart and turn me into the joke of our circle. I used to scream and fight. Now I just quietly tell the maids to clean up after him and his mistress. He lost it one night. He grabbed me, kissed me hard, and growled, “Aren’t you jealous?” He has no idea I’m dying. Every day he spends getting revenge on me, I’m counting down how many days I have left. Today, I only have seven days to live. … I walked past the master bedroom.
From my own room down the hall, I could hear them. Loud. Wild. They weren’t even trying to hide it. I reached up and turned the photo on the wall face down. Brenda, the maid, came up beside me and held my arm. “Ma’am…” I let out a breath. “That picture is from our third year together. Before he made it big. It was my birthday.” “I saw this couple at a bakery sharing this huge, beautiful cake. I pointed them out to him. Silas said, ‘One day when I make it, Aubrey, I’ll buy you the biggest cake in the world.’” “That winter, I scooped up a handful of fresh snow and smiled at him. ‘Si, doesn’t this look like cake?’” “I never needed him to be rich. I just wanted us to stay happy.” “I kept that photo because I thought it proved our love.” “Instead, it ended up watching him cheat on me over and over.” “You’ve been through too much, ma’am,” Brenda said, steadying me. My body was shaking now. “That Sasha has no shame.” Before Brenda could say more, the bedroom door flew open.
Sasha stepped out wearing my robe. Fresh hickeys on her neck. She looked at Brenda like she owned the place. “Get me some water. I’m exhausted.” Brenda had no choice but to let go of me. Today was our third wedding anniversary. And my birthday. The first time I’d ever come face to face with Sasha. I’d heard the rumors. Silas was keeping some young college girl. Sweet and innocent—his usual type. They’d been together six months. “He bought her three million in diamonds.” “She’s the longest one yet.” “People say Silas might actually love her this time.” I didn’t think much about it until today. When they were screwing in my bedroom. The thought made my head spin. I covered my nose. Blood again. “Oh my God,” Sasha smirked. “Is Mrs. Peterson bleeding because she’s jealous? You wish you had my body, don’t you?” I fought the nausea and ran out of the house. The truth is, six months ago the doctor told me I had brain cancer. I was dying. That’s why the nosebleeds wouldn’t stop.
I swallowed a handful of pain pills and had the driver take me to my private clinic. “Your condition is very bad,” the doctor said carefully. I nodded. “Just tell me. I can take it.” “I’m not scared of dying. I’m just scared of the pain.” The doctor shook his head, his face full of pity. “Based on the tests, you have about one week left.” “There’s a new drug. Ten thousand dollars a dose.” “It can help you feel better in this period.” Ten thousand dollars. Silas never let me work. He gave me gifts I couldn’t bring out of that house. And all I spend is under his control. I only had a card under his name. But now, I didn’t want to use his card anymore. Over three years I’d saved about ten thousand of my own. That money was supposed to be for my dreams. Then it became funeral money. Now it had to buy me a few days without pain. I nodded with tears rolling in my eyes. I handed my card to the doctor. I didn’t want pain anymore. “Ma’am, I’m sorry. Your card was declined.” “Probably not enough money. Or it’s frozen.” Chapter 2 Only my husband could freeze that card. I dragged my aching body to Silas’s office building.
I knocked and walked in. Sasha was there too—she worked as his secretary now. They said he was in a meeting, so I sat outside on the cold leather chair and waited. Sasha kept staring at me. She acted like she hadn’t seen me at the house that morning. In her fake sweet voice she said to the other staff, “That’s the boss’s wife? She looks so ugly and dried up. Like she’s already dead.” “You all say I look like her. Where? I’m way prettier.” The glass wall showed my reflection. Pale face. Baggy coat. I hadn’t had the energy to dress up in months. The pain had made me thin and tired. Of course I looked bad. I was dying. One coworker pulled Sasha aside and whispered, “She just didn’t bother with makeup. If she did, ten of you couldn’t touch her. And stop messing with her. The boss loves her more than anything. You piss her off and he’ll destroy you.” Sasha didn’t like hearing that Silas loved me. She rolled her eyes in my direction. She brought me a cup of tea and said in her little-girl voice, “Mrs. Peterson, how come the boss makes you wait so long? That’s weird. Every time I come, no matter how busy he is, he drops everything for me. He says I’m the most important person in his life.” “He cancels meetings and dinners just to take me shopping. Last time he bought me new heels.” “But he told me not to wear them too much.
He said I look hot in them, but he doesn’t want me to get tired walking with him.” “Mr. Peterson is so sweet to me. I thought he was like that with everyone…” She smiled. Big and bright. She looked just like the young me. I thought about it. Silas really was different with Sasha. He used to bring home a new woman every night to test me. He got bored fast—two days, maybe two weeks. Then he moved on. But Sasha? He kept her in her own place. He took her to dinner, movies, shopping. He gave her money and real attention. They acted like a normal, happy couple. I smiled at her gently. “You’re so important to him. So how come he keeps you as his dirty little secret? You should tell him to divorce me and marry you.” Sasha’s face turned red. She hissed, “The one who isn’t loved is the third wheel. You’re the extra!” “You only got him first by a few years. Now you’re old and ugly. What do you even have left?” Her coworker tried to pull her away. Sasha got so mad she tripped on purpose and fell hard. The teacup shattered. Blood poured from her hand. Silas saw it through the glass wall of the meeting room.
He dropped everything, ran over, and scooped her up. The second he walked in he snarled, “Who the hell hurt her?” The nice coworker stepped back, scared. I smiled coldly. “I did. She deserved it.” Sasha cried and yelled, “Yes, it’s my fault! I fell in love with the wrong man and she called me a homewrecker!” “But Mr. Peterson, as long as you love me, I’ll stay by your side forever. No one can tear us apart.” Silas wiped her tears and cooed, “Aw, baby, you’re crying like a little kitten.” He really was different with her. I looked down. “You froze my card. I want my ten thousand back.” “Not just frozen,” he said with a nasty smile. “I emptied the account.” “Before we got married you promised me anything I wanted. Now you’re going back on it?” I laughed. “You said if I married you, money would never be a problem.” “Aubrey, you’re still so greedy,” he said, holding Sasha tighter. “You left me when I was poor. You came back when I got rich.” I almost cried. After all these years he still didn’t know I broke up with him so I wouldn’t ruin his future. He never knew how much I loved him. Silas ignored my tears. “You want money? Fine.
Get on your knees and apologize to Sasha.” He wanted to buy my dignity for ten thousand dollars. “You have a few bucks and you still act disgusting, Silas. You make me sick.” Sasha fake-cried, “You can curse me, but how dare you curse Mr. Peterson? He’s perfect.” I clenched my fists and smiled. Then the pain hit hard. I turned and walked out. “I don’t need your money anymore.” “Silas,” I said over my shoulder, “I’m really curious what your face will look like when you find out what that money was for.” “Stop acting,” he snapped. “How long do you think you can last without my card?” He laughed and carried Sasha away. I went home, threw out everything they had used in my room, took some sleeping pills, and passed out. For the next few days I either slept, popped pain pills, or erased every trace of myself from the house. I didn’t want to leave him anything. One night my phone rang. I answered, half asleep. “Aubrey,” Silas said. In my foggy dream I was back in our early days. I smiled sweetly. “Si, it’s snowing hard. I want cake.” I rolled over and fell back asleep before he could answer.