The Unwanted Wife's Return (Ex-Husband Wants Me Back) novel Chapter 314

The Promise Breaker 

MARY’S POV: 

The cake was still dripping off Alistair’s shirt when he finally spoke again. 

Not to Elowen. Not to apologize or get down on his knees and beg forgiveness from the tiny, sobbing girl who had. just decorated him in buttercream and sprinkles. No, that would have required a type of self-awareness that Alistair had never possessed, not in all the years I had known him. 

Instead, he turned to me. 

“Is this how you teach her?” 

His voice was cold and measured. The same tone he used when a subordinate at work made a mistake-not angry, exactly, but deeply, profoundly disappointed. As if I had done something wrong. As if I had driven our six-year- old daughter to throw a birthday cake at her own father’s chest. 

I opened my mouth to respond, but he wasn’t finished. 

“Don’t speak to your father like this,” he snapped, and this time his voice was aimed at Elowen, sharp and harsh.” You’re six years old. You don’t talk to me that way. Ever.” 

Elowen froze. 

I watched it happen-the way her small body went rigid, the way her tears stopped mid-stream, the way her face crumpled inward like a house caving in on itself. She had been crying before, loudly and messily, the way children cry when they don’t yet know how to hide their pain. But this was different. This was the silence of a child who has just realized that the person she loves most in the world might not love her back the same way. 

I knew that silence. I had worn it like a second skin my entire childhood. 

And I would be damned if my daughter would wear it too. 

I waited until her bedroom door clicked shut. Then I turned to face my husband. 

“You don’t have the right to speak to my daughter like that,” I said. 

My voice was quiet that surprised me, honestly. I had expected to shake. To stumble. To cry, maybe, or to scream.. But the words came out smooth and steady, like water flowing over stones that had been worn down by years of 

the same current. 

“Not ever,” I continued. “Not a single word. Before you question my parenting, Alistair, think about who made her a promise this morning and broke it. Think about who swore he’d be home for her birthday and then never showed up. Think about who was photographed all over the internet-on her birthday, Alistair-publicly confessing love to his mistress while his daughter was blowing out candles that he wasn’t there to see.”