Ten Years of Forgotten Tears

"My wife is beautiful and sweet. Did you know that?" "If you know, you are dead." Theodore Vance ground his heel into the man's crushed fingers. His eyes were pitch black.

I woke up ten years in the future. The adopted brother who had spent my entire childhood looking at me with pure disgust was now my husband. Everyone in our circle said he hated me.

They said our marriage was a mutual hell. I decided to get a divorce. Let us both off the hook. But then I walked in on a bloody confession of his love. Chapter 1 I opened my eyes.

A crowd hovered over my bed. Among the doctors in lab coats, Theodore Vance stood out in pitch black. A tailored suit. A suffocating quiet presence.

He looked different from the Theo in my memory. A sharp spike of pain ripped through my skull. I grabbed my forehead. "Theo, my head hurts." Theo went rigid.

His calm face faltered for a fraction of a second. He stepped aside. He let a doctor approach the bed. My fingers brushed thick gauze wrapped around my head. I stared at my hands.

Did I drink too much at my nineteenth birthday party last night? Did I trip and crack my skull? The doctor checked my vitals. "Mrs. Vance sustained a head injury in the car crash.

We put in stitches. The anesthesia is wearing off, so the pain is normal." Two words slammed into my chest. Mrs. Vance. Car crash. Whose wife? What car crash?

I had just celebrated my nineteenth birthday at home. I was waiting for Theo to give me my present. e was the only person in this room I recognized. I looked at him.

My chest heaved. I waited for him to explain this nightmare. Theo averted his gaze.

He looked down at his watch. "You are awake," he said. "That is all that matters." He turned toward the door. "I have matters at the company.

I am leaving." Panic seized my throat. "Theo!" I knew he hated me. But I was sitting in a hospital bed with a cracked skull. How could he just walk away? His footsteps stopped.

He slowly turned his head. Those pitch black eyes locked onto mine. The air in the room grew heavy.

His voice dropped. "Since you finally realize you were wrong, just recover." He adjusted his cuff. "I will pick you up when you are discharged." He walked out.

He left me staring at an empty doorway. I spent two days in the hospital piecing the nightmare together. It was 2025. I had skipped an entire decade. Theo and I were married.

And the car crash. I had gone out partying. I picked up a boy toy at a club. His driving sucked and he crashed the car. I stared at the hospital ceiling. My stomach churned.

No matter which news it was, it was enough to make my vision go black and wish I could pass out and restart. You can't play me like this! This had to be a joke.

Theo had hated me since we were kids. He used to freeze me out just by walking into a room. We rarely had a single peaceful moment together. How did my parents let this happen?

The gossip said they forced him. They guilttripped him into marriage using past favors. The rumors also said I was acting like a spoiled drama queen.

If I was not blowing his money, I was bringing home boy toys. He despised me. But he was trapped by his debt to my family.

We were the most famous mutually loathing couple in high society. I buried my face in my hands. My chest tightened. A week later, Theo came to collect me.

This ten years older Theo was completely different. He radiated the oppressive weight of a powerful executive. His resting cold face was terrifying. I kept my mouth shut.

I trailed behind him to the parking lot. I climbed into the passenger seat. The heavy car door slammed shut. Theo shot a dark glare across the console.

His deep voice carried absolute authority.

Chapter 2 "I dealt with him," Theo said. "Stop pulling stunts that tank Sinclair Corporation's stock." I nodded. "Got it." A flash of surprise crossed his face.

His dark eyes lingered on me for a long beat. I looked back at him. "Where are Mom and Dad?

Why didn't they come to the hospital?" His brows snapped together. "What did you just say?" I paused. "Where are Mom and Dad?" The question flipped a switch.

The temperature in the car plummeted. The vein at his temple pulsed.

His jaw tightened. "You don't need to passiveaggressively remind me of our arrangement, Penelope," he snapped. "Are you begging for him?

What the hell is so appealing about that guy?!" His gaze pinned me down. "Do you have any idea how much the stock dropped because of your little scandal?" I flinched.

The sudden hostility knocked the breath out of me. My eyes stung.

I dug my nails into my palms and fired back. "Why are you yelling at me?!" Even when he hated me in the past, he at least kept up appearances. Now he wasn't even trying.

The injustice of it all bubbled over. "I almost died!

You dumped me in the hospital and walked away, and I didn't say a word!" I yelled. "Now you're screaming at me for asking a simple question?

What kind of older brother acts like that!" Then it hit me. Ten years. We were married. "What kind of husband acts like that!" I corrected myself, my voice cracking.

It was too much. Waking up and going from nineteen to twentynine. From a teenager to a wife. From him being my adopted brother to my husband. Next to me, Theo went still.

The harsh lines of his face froze. He stared at me like he was looking at a total stranger. I scrubbed the tears from my eyes. I shot him a vicious glare.

Then I snapped my head toward the window. I didn't want to look at his face for another second. "You—" His voice shook.

I kept my face turned to the glass, but my ears strained to listen. Silence stretched. Nothing but the low hum of the tires against the asphalt.

I glanced over my shoulder, pretending to stretch. Theo was leaning against the headrest. His eyes were shut tight. His breathing was shallow.

He looked as if the mere sight of me physically repulsed him. Asshole. Ten years later, Theodore Vance was still a complete jerk.

I ground my teeth together and faced the window again. But against the dark tint of the glass, a faint reflection appeared. Behind me, Theo's eyes were open. They were bloodshot.

His eyelashes trembled. He stared at my back. On his lap, his hand slowly raised—reaching toward me—before dropping heavily back down. The car pulled up to the house.

He shut his eyes again. I shoved the door open. I stepped out and slammed it shut with enough force to rattle the windows.

As I stomped toward the front door, his voice drifted through the cracked car window behind me. He was speaking to the driver, his tone back to absolute ice. "Go to the hospital.

Get a copy of her medical records. Do not let her know." I paced my bedroom. My head throbbed with anger. Why did Mom and Dad let me marry him? Why did I agree to it?

I sat on the edge of the bed. I decided right then and there. Divorce. We despised each other. We were making each other miserable. I was going to cut us both loose.

I pulled out my phone and found a lawyer. I told them to draft the papers. Once I divorced Theo, I was going straight home to Mom and Dad.

I would go back to living my life as the Sinclair heiress. Chapter 3 It was strange. I scrolled through my phone, but Mom and Dad’s numbers were gone.

Even the contacts for my closest friends had vanished without a trace. If I had timetraveled, shouldn't I have inherited my memories of the last ten years?

A gaping tenyear blank spot in my brain left my stomach in knots. Exhaustion finally dragged me under.

Sometime later, a muffled voice bled through the wall from the study next door. My eyes stayed heavy and shut, but I could hear Theo on the phone.

He was talking to the lawyer I had just contacted. "She wants you to draft a divorce agreement?" Theo asked. His voice sounded bonetired. "Draft it.

It is not the first time." A long silence stretched. The faint, rapid clicking of a mouse echoed through the quiet house.

I couldn't make out every word, but I heard fragmented phrases. "…perfect recovery… no nerve damage… no amnesia." A heavy pause. "Then why…" Why what?

Why was I acting nicely to him? His footsteps approached the master bedroom. I quickly buried my face in the pillow.

Sleep pulled me completely under before he opened the door. … When I opened my eyes again, the sky outside the window was pitch black. I stretched my arms over my head and sat up.

I gasped. I almost jumped out of my skin. A dark figure sat perfectly still in the chair next to my bed. "It is me." Theo’s voice was calm.

He reached over and flicked on the bedside lamp. I squinted against the sudden harsh light. "What is wrong with you?

Why are you sitting in the dark like a ghost?" Theo reached his hand toward my face. His palm pressed flat against my forehead. "You were running a fever earlier.

How do you feel now?" I froze. "What?" I touched my own forehead. "I am not hot." I shifted under the covers. "I feel perfectly fine." I glared at him. "Maybe your hands are just freezing." I reached out to grab his hand to prove it.

Before my fingers even brushed his skin, I stopped. The corner of his mouth was twitching upward. I dropped my hand. "Theo, how old are you?

Is playing these stupid tricks on me fun for you?!" He used to do this all the time when we were kids. I would wake up from a nap, and he would spout total nonsense.

He would tell me I cried his name in my sleep and begged him not to leave. Or he would say the roof was leaking. How could someone lie with such a straight face?

He only ever dialed it back when I threatened to snitch on him. I scoffed. "Keep it up. Watch me tell Mom on you." Theo’s faint smirk vanished.

His lips pressed into a hard, rigid line. I thought he was scared. I lifted my chin triumphantly. Then he spoke. "Telling on me won't work anymore." His voice dropped.

It sounded impossibly heavy. "Yes it will," I shot back. Mom always took my side. Theo slowly raised his eyes. His pitchblack pupils looked like a vortex, ready to pull me under.

A dark, dangerous smile touched his lips. "We are married," he whispered. "This is just marital foreplay." Before I could process the words, his hand moved.

He reached toward my face. The air between us instantly grew dangerously thin. I stopped breathing. His knuckles brushed against my cheekbone.

He slowly tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. His dry, warm fingertips dragged against the ultrasensitive skin behind my ear. A sharp jolt of heat spiked through my chest.

The fine hairs on my arms stood up. My mind shortcircuited. Marital foreplay. My face burned. I shoved him hard in the chest. "Sstay away from me!" I wasn't a total idiot.

I knew what married couples did behind closed doors. But inside, I was still nineteen! I hadn't even had a boyfriend yet. No handholding, no first kisses.

And now we were skipping straight to this? Theo saw my absolute panic. He didn't back off.

He leaned in closer, invading my space completely. "Why so shy?" he murmured. "We are an old married couple." Chapter 4 He didn't move closer. He didn't even touch me.

But that naked, heavy stare said everything.

My tongue tied itself in knots. "I am not listening!" I slapped one hand over my ear and clamped the other straight over his eyes. "Stop looking at me like that.

You look like a seductress!" He opened his mouth. I cut him off. "And no talking!" This older man was full of tricks. Two sentences and he would have me completely brainwashed.

Theo let out a low, breathy sigh. He actually froze. He just let me keep my hand plastered over his eyes. I took a deep breath. My racing pulse finally settled.

I remembered my actual plan. I put on my most serious face. "Theo. Let's get a divorce." Dead silence. I waited patiently for his answer. One minute. Five minutes.

Ten minutes… What the hell? I leaned in closer. I dropped my hand from his face. "Did you fall asleep?" He wasn't asleep. His dark eyes locked straight onto mine.

He spoke in a slow, lazy drawl. "Didn't you tell me no talking?" "Uh…" I faltered. "That was earlier.

Why are you so literal?" A flicker of helpless amusement crossed his eyes. "I was afraid of making you mad." I shook my head. "You won't." I sat up straighter. "So what do you think?

Mom and Dad forced you to marry me. You couldn't fight them. I get it. But now I am the one asking for the divorce. If I tell them, they should—" "Penelope." Theo cut me off.

The amusement vanished from his eyes. It was replaced by freezing detachment. The air in the room turned to lead. He looked exactly like he did in the hospital room.

Completely unapproachable. Completely ruthless. I stared at him, totally lost. "What is your problem?" I muttered. He flipped like a switch.

His face remained a mask of ice. "Are you done acting?" "What does that mean?" He let out a harsh laugh. "Round and round we go. Back to the divorce.

You bring it up a million times a year." He leaned forward, his voice dripping with venom. "Last time I said no, you went straight to the club." His gaze flicked up to the thick gauze on my forehead.

A cold sneer twisted his lips. "What is the plan this time? Are you going to buy another man?

Or shove a woman into my bed?" "Is faking infidelity the only trick you know?" We stared at each other in suffocating silence. The hospital gossip echoed in my head.

The most famous mutually loathing couple. It suddenly made perfect sense. So this was the reality of our toxic marriage. I didn't answer.

Theo dragged his tongue across the inside of his cheek.

When he spoke again, he gritted the words through his teeth. "This new angle is fresh, though." He took a slow breath. "What did you call me earlier? Theo?

Husband?" He chewed on those words before spitting them out. But looking at the tight clench of his jaw, I got a weird feeling. He wasn't just angry. He was savoring it.

I scrutinized his hard face, looking for a crack in his armor. Before I could find one, he violently pushed himself out of the chair. The sudden movement stirred the air.

His voice cracked like a whip. "Drop it, Penelope." He loomed over me, his eyes burning with a dark, obsessive intensity. "We are never getting a divorce." The final word hung in the air.

Theo spun on his heel and stormed out of the room. I watched his broad back disappear through the doorway. I blinked in absolute confusion. The man was a total psychopath.

I just suggested a divorce. He went on a massive, unhinged rant and then stormed off like I offended him. I curled my lip in disgust.

Chapter 5 "Hmph." I mocked his deep, dramatic voice. "He was perfectly happy chatting with me two seconds ago. Why is he faking this tough guy act?" "We—are—never—getting—a—divorce.

Watch me!" I threw off the covers and climbed out of bed. My stomach rumbled. I needed food. I needed my strength if I was going to fight him for this divorce.

For the next few days, Theo pulled a complete disappearing act. He didn't come home. He wasn't at the company.

I carried the divorce papers around like an idiot, hitting dead end after dead end. My patience finally snapped. "What is his problem?" I kicked my bedroom door. "He hates me.

But he won't sign the papers." "And he won't give me a single reason why. Theodore Vance is a complete bastard!" He did this all the time when we were kids. He always made me guess.

He never told me why he was mad. He never told me what I did wrong. But the second I tried to coax him, he would accept it! Now he was pulling the exact same garbage as a husband.

No wonder we were getting a divorce. Just as I hit my breaking point, my phone buzzed. An anonymous number sent me a pin on a map. A single text followed.

It said Theo was probably there. I stared at the screen. I decided to try my luck. I gathered my security detail and marched out the door. I was the Sinclair heiress.

If this was a trap, I wasn't walking in blind. We arrived at the location. My bodyguards formed a tight circle around me.

I clutched the divorce papers to my chest as we swept the area. We searched the entire block. It was dead empty.

Not even a stray dog in sight. "It was a setup," I hissed. "Damn it." I turned to leave. One of the bodyguards shouted. "Mrs. Vance!

There is a hidden door here!" He pried the heavy metal door open. A pitchblack, narrow corridor stretched out in front of us. Faint sounds echoed from the far end.

I had eighteen massive bodyguards at my back. I swallowed my fear and stepped into the dark. As we moved deeper, the voices grew sharp and clear. "I was wrong.

I was wrong!" a man sobbed. "Please spare me…" A dark, icy scoff cut through the damp air. I shuddered at the sound. I knew that laugh anywhere. I reached the end of the corridor.

I peeked around the concrete corner. Theo stood a few feet away. His side profile was facing me. He wore all black. His dress shirt sleeves were rolled up past his elbows.

Thick veins coiled over the tight, corded muscle of his forearms. His broad shoulders tapered down to a narrow waist. He always wore those suffocating threepiece suits around me.

I had absolutely no idea he was built like that. A man was sprawled on the concrete at Theo's feet. His face was a bloody, swollen mess. He was unrecognizable.

The bodyguard closest to me leaned in. "Mrs. Vance," he whispered. "That is the guy who caused your car crash. I heard the others say it was premeditated. Mr.

Vance had us tracking him for days." The tension drained out of my shoulders. A wave of relief crashed over me. So I hadn't actually picked up a boy toy.

I couldn't stomach the thought of actually cheating on him. "Ahhh!" The man on the ground released a bloodcurdling scream. My head snapped back. Theo had raised his foot.

He brought the heel of his expensive Louboutins down hard. He slowly ground his shoe into the man's crushed fingers. "I will only ask you one question," Theo said.

The man thrashed in agony. He nodded frantically. "I will tell you! I will tell you everything!" Theo stared down at him.

The air around him turned suffocatingly black. "My wife is beautiful and sweet.

Did you know that?" His voice dropped to a quiet, lethal whisper. "If you know, you are dead." The man froze. Absolute confusion wiped the pain from his face for a split second