Win Back My Life (Part 1)

Chapter 1

Victoria had a car accident.

As she lay on the operating table, all she could think about was the photo she'd seen right before the accident.

The one of Henry holding another woman, looking at her like she meant everything to him.

She couldn't get it out of her head - how gently he held her, the way his eyes lit up.

She'd been so shocked looking at it, she didn't even see the other car coming.

She might be his wife, but that woman was clearly the one he truly loved. Five years of marriage, and he'd never once looked at Victoria that way.

Just thinking about it made her chest ache.

Now his first love was back in the picture, and Victoria had to wonder if she even mattered to him anymore.

A thought suddenly crossed her mind. She needed to know if he still had feelings for her at all.

When she opened her eyes, she was met with a stark white ceiling, and confusion washed over her.

"You're awake," a deep, cold voice said from beside her.

Victoria turned to see a face set like stone.

His features were sharp and chiseled, his expression impossible to read. Though his eyes seemed capable of warmth, they held none of it now as they stared at her.

Victoria blinked, confused. "Who are you?"

She looked around, lost. "Where am I?"

Henry frowned. Those steel-gray eyes of his seemed to pierce right through her.

Unable to bear the weight of his stare, Victoria retreated behind a facade of timidity. "W-why are you looking at me like that?" Her voice quivered, not entirely an act. Even now, after everything, his presence could unsettle her so easily.

Henry looked away almost instantly, his voice as cold as ever. "Nothing. And... I'm just a friend of yours."

The words hit her like physical blows. Each syllable carved new wounds into her heart, deeper than any knife could reach. Five years - five years of marriage, of carefully molding herself into what she thought he wanted.

All of it reduced to "friend" in a single breath.

All those years of love and devotion had meant nothing.

Just then, the door opened, and a young boy who looked just like Henry walked in.

It was Jude Harrison, their son.

He walked straight to Henry without even looking at her. "Dad, let's go. Sarah's waiting for us to watch her show."

Victoria gripped the bedsheet tightly, his words hitting her hard.

She gave a bitter laugh. This was her own flesh and blood, the baby she'd carried for nine months. Yet here he was, refusing to even look at her while she lay injured in bed.

Like father, like son - both of them completely wrapped up in Sarah Miller.

People always said boys never really get their mothers. Now she felt the sting of what her own kid had become. Henry had always been cold, and here was Jude, turning out just like him. At home, he barely acknowledged her, and in public, he acted like she was just some housewife who didn't matter.

Victoria felt something inside her gone cold.

If they thought she was worthless, fine. She'd leave them to it.

Thinking this, Victoria made a silent decision in her heart.