Chapter 60 Chapter 60: Open Marriage? Part 2
Cathy's P.O.V
I made my way upstairs, but instead of going to the master bedroom, I headed to the guest room where I had shifted most of my belongings after the Christmas incident. Xavier had questioned it at first, saying married couples should share a room and the surrogate will question everything, but I had insisted on having my own space. My own sanctuary.
Now I was grateful for that decision.
I closed the door behind me and locked it, leaning against the solid wood for a moment as I tried to steady my breathing. The guest room was smaller than the master bedroom, but it was mine. The bed was made with simple white sheets, and my clothes hung in the closet. My books sat on the nightstand, and my laptop was on the desk by the window.
I had initially planned to take a long shower, to wash away the feeling of Xavier's hands on me, his lies coating my skin like a layer of grime. But as I sat down on the edge of the bed, a different idea occurred to me.
I reached for the tablet I kept in the nightstand drawer. It was connected to the mansion's security system, giving me access to all the CCTV cameras scattered throughout the house.
Xavier had installed them for security purposes, he said. To protect us from intruders. But now I was going to use them for a very different purpose.
My fingers moved quickly across the screen, pulling up the different camera feeds. I scrolled through them one by one. The front entrance, the driveway, the garden, the garage. Empty. The hallways upstairs, the study, the gym. All empty.
Then I found them.
The living room camera showed Xavier and Caroline sitting on the couch together. Not touching, but close. Too close. They were talking, their heads bent toward each other like they were sharing secrets.
I turned the volume up as high as it would go and leaned closer to the tablet, my heart pounding in my chest.
"Are you sure about this open marriage thing?" Caroline's voice came through the speakers, tiny but clear. "Aren't you going too far?"
Xavier laughed, and the sound made my blood run cold. It was nothing like the warm, affectionate laugh I used to love. This was harsh, calculating.
"Don't worry about it," Xavier said, waving his hand dismissively. "Her reputation is ruined anyway."
Caroline frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Think about it," Xavier said, leaning back against the couch cushions. "Everyone in our social circle knows she can't have children. Everyone knows she's been replaced by you, that you're carrying my baby. After I'm done spreading a few more rumors, no man in his right mind would want her."
My hands tightened around the tablet so hard I was afraid I might crack the screen.
"She isn't going to get anyone to even look at her," Xavier continued, his voice dripping with confidence. "She'll go out, try to find someone to 'vent with' like I suggested, and she'll come back rejected and humiliated. And then she'll realize that I'm the only option she has. That she needs to stay in this marriage because no one else would want damaged goods."
Damaged goods. He had called me damaged goods.
Caroline bit her lip, looking uncertain. "But what if she does find someone? What if someone actually wants to be with her?"
Xavier scoffed. "Who? Some desperate nobody looking for a quick payday? Let her have her fun. It won't matter in the end. The prenup makes sure of that."
My breath caught in my throat. The prenup. He was so confident in whatever was in that prenup that he wasn't even worried about me being with someone else.
"Besides," Xavier said, his smile widening, "once she realizes no one wants her, she'll be grateful to stay married to me. She'll accept the arrangement, turn a blind eye to us, and everything will go back to normal. I get to keep my respectable wife for appearances, and you and I can be together without all this drama."
"And the baby?" Caroline asked softly, her hand moving to her stomach.
"The baby will have everything," Xavier assured her. "The best schools, the best life and the title of the heir. And Cathy will help raise it because what else is she going to do? She's trapped."
Trapped.
The word echoed in my mind, mixing with all the other horrible things he had just said.
I sat there on the bed, the tablet still clutched in my hands, and I felt something shift inside me. The last remaining piece of whatever I had felt for Xavier Dalton crumbled into dust.
He thought I was trapped. He thought I was so worthless, so desperate, that I would accept whatever scraps of affection he threw my way. He thought he could humiliate me, use me, and I would just smile and take it because I had no other choice.
But he was wrong. I wasn't trapped. I wasn't damaged goods. And I wasn't going to play the role of the grateful, submissive wife anymore.
I needed to get my hands on that prenup. I needed to read every single word, every single clause, and figure out exactly what Xavier thought was keeping me trapped.
Because if there was one thing I knew for certain now, it was that I wasn't going to stay in this marriage. I wasn't going to let Xavier use me as his respectable front while he lived whatever life he wanted with Caroline and god knows how many others.
I was going to find a way out. And I was going to make sure Xavier Dalton regretted ever thinking he could break me.