Love's Redemption (Chris and Maddie)

I never imagined that he lived such a hard life behind closed doors.

"But lan was only human. He got tired too. I'd catch him sneaking out in the middle of the night to smoke. And it broke my heart to see that every time. I knew it was my fault that he was so stressed," Jewel said, shaking her head slightly.

"I wanted to leave him-not just for my sake and not because I didn't love him anymore. It was because I loved him so much that I couldn't stand to see him so worn out." Jewel's words painted her in a new light.

"Well, he's not tired anymore. And he never will be again," I muttered under my breath.

Jewel caught the irony in my voice.

"Madeline, you've never lived a day in my shoes. You'll never understand what it's like," she said loudly, almost screaming.

She looked me in the eye. After a moment, her anger slowly faded.

"Madeline, as for lan's death, I swear I'd never meant to hurt lan. I just wanted him to see me betray him, so he'd finally leave me on his own. I wanted to set him free." "The car accident wasn't your doing?" I asked in a low voice.

"No, it wasn't. lan was too good to me. I'm not a monster. How could I ever hurt him?" Jewel shook her head vigorously.

"But in the end, he still died because of you."

I didn't let her off the hook, keeping her weighed down by the guilt of lan's death.

lowering her head. "I'll

if lan meets you in the next life, he'll

her, with each word more cutting than the last. If she wasn't pregnant, I might have

remembered Chris telling me that his best friend, lan, was devoted to his loved ones. He would choose his wife over his life. Ian had treated Jewel like a goddess, and Chris had never seen anyone dote on their wife the way lan

was

when that love became unbalanced, it

had lan and his love in this lifetime.

I'm not a

But I was desperate.

found

give me a break? Can you

focus returned to Chris in

a place to dive and plenty of money to spend, Does it really matter if

you?"

understand why she was so desperate to see

said, "Madeline, having a place to

got it now. She wanted to

"Jewel, you're quite greedy."