Chapter 76
Cherise looked at Hudson as if he had morphed into some two-headed alien.
Did she just hear it right? Did Hudson just apologize to her?
The high and mighty Hudson Amery, who always looked down on her, never missed the chance to show her how he was disgusted by her because she was a gold digger in his eyes, and asked her to apologize or choose divorce?
The one who was ashamed to have her as his wife? The one who didn't even want to show her off in front of his friends because he was embarrassed by her, and when he did, he mocked her and, in turn, made his friends bully her mentally and emotionally? That same one and only Hudson Amery of the Amery Group had just apologized to her?
Hudson pursed his lips when Cherise didn't give him any response and apologized again, "Cherise, I'm really sorry for everything I've put you through during our marriage and after. Especially about Emely."
At the mention of Emely's name, Cherise's mind snapped back to the here and now.
So it all came down to Emely? She should've known.
"She couldn't even apologize in person, huh?" Cherise sneered. "Always hiding behind you, her knight in shining armor who is always armed and ready to defend and protect her."
Hudson frowned and said, "You know there has never been a thing between her and me."
"Oh yeah? Not even a first love?" Cherise mocked. "The unrequited love between the younger brother and his older brother's beloved. How tragic."
Hudson's lips thinned out, and he nearly snapped at her, but he managed to calm himself down. He wanted her back and shouldn't lose his temper at any point, no matter how she mocked and taunted him.
"If she wants to apologize, she can do so directly," Cherise said, her tone filled with distaste because she knew Emely would never apologize sincerely to her and Hudson would never make her do it. "Or is she still playing the pitiful victim so I will look like the one who wronged her again?"
"I'm sorry," Hudson could only apologize again. "I shouldn't have accused you. I should have interrogated the incident properly."
"It's a few months too late, wouldn't you say?" Cherise asked, her eyes sharp, looking right into Hudson's.
"I never thought she would do such a thing," Hudson confessed.
Cherise rolled her eyes. "Of course you didn't.Some sentences are incomplete if you are not reading this novel on . Visit to read the complete chapters for free. In your eyes, Emely would always be this perfect vulnerable lady who needed your protection, while I would always be the woman who would savagely kill a baby without batting an eyelid."
Hudson frowned again. "You know that's not what I meant."
"It sure looked like it with the different ways you treat both of us," Cherise said while looking at her perfectly manicured nails as if she was bored with the conversation already.
"How many times must I apologize before you forgive me?" Hudson was getting exasperated. It seemed no matter what he said, she would take it the wrong way.
Cherise stopped looking at her nails, looked into Hudson's eyes, and smirked. "Never. I will never forgive you, Dahlia, Polly or Emely."
At least until she got her revenge, she added to herself.
"Cherise, I'm trying here-"
"Look, Hudson," Cherise cut him off. "What you guys did to me left me traumatic. Do you think I could just forgive easily?"
Hudson didn't know what to say to that. He, in a way, had a traumatic childhood because of his parents' constant fighting and how Dahlia only cared about money and status, and it carried on until now.
He couldn't possibly tell her to forgive him if he himself still hated Dahlia. It would be hypocritical for him to do so.
As if she could read his mind, Cherise said, "You hated your mother for being a gold digger, and you think every woman from the lower class is also one. If one day she apologized to you, could you forgive her? After choosing money over you?"
Cherise knew their problems were different, but she could still use that example to explain to him why she couldn't forgive him, his family, or Emely.
"Cat got your tongue?" Cherise mocked as Hudson didn't reply, and she turned to unlock her door, but Hudson grabbed her elbow.
"What now?" she asked in annoyance and yanked her arm back. Couldn't he understand that she didn't want to talk to him much less about their past?
"Why did you pretend to be weak?" Hudson asked, his frustration growing inside him. "Why didn't you fight back when we bullied you?"
"Excuse me?" Cherise gaped at him. He did not just say what she thought he said, did he?
"If you had fought back, none of those would have happened," Hudson said in desperation. "It's because you let us bully you that you suffered throughout our marriage. You could've avoided it, but you didn't!"
Cherise gasped when she heard his words. How dare he say those words to her? Without thinking, she raised her hand, and it landed hard on Hudson's cheek.
Hudson's head snapped to the right, felt a stinging pain on his left cheek, and heard the sound of a crisp slap before he knew what had hit him.
He rubbed his cheek instinctively and saw an enraged Cherise with her fists balled up tightly, her eyes narrowed dangerously at him, and her body shaking with anger.
It wouldn't surprise him if she decided to kill him on the spot now, with her being so furious.
Shit! What had he done?!
Before he could apologize or explain what he meant, Cherise's quivering and cold voice sounded.
"So because I loved you too much and tried to be the perfect wife for you, the perfect daughter-in-law for Dahlia, and the perfect sister-in-law for Polly, I deserved to be bullied?!"
Hudson reached out his hand, wanting to pull her into his arms and tell her it was his mistake for saying those words, that he didn't mean it to come out like that, but Cherise slapped his hand away.
"Do NOT touch me!" she snapped. "For your information, Hudson, I did NOT pretend to be weak. I did not fight back because they were my in-laws, because I loved you. But that did not mean they were allowed to abuse me!"Content provided by NôvelDrama.Org.
"Cherise..." Hudson whispered and tried to reach out again, only for the same thing to happen again - his hand was slapped away.
"What if I were really a weak country bumpkin, Hudson?" Cherise continued without giving him a chance to speak. "Someone who wanted to be accepted by their in-laws so badly I was willing to do anything they asked me to. Did that mean I deserved to be kicked, pinched, punched, and stomped on by them until I was black and blue?"
Cherise was so angry that she let out everything she had never told Hudson before. He thought they only bullied her, but in truth, they also abused her physically.
"You think everything bad that happened to me during our marriage was my own fault?" Cherise's voice shook even harder, and tears of anger spilled from her eyes. "Of course you do. You are the Amery family who could do nothing wrong. When someone was bullied by any of you, it was because of our actions and not any of yours."
Hudson tried to speak again, but Cherise didn't let him.
"I thought Dahlia and Polly were evil. But guess what, Hudson? You are the worst of them all because, for you, the bullying and abuse I received was because of my own fault, because I deserved it for not fighting back, for wanting to make my in- laws and husband happy!" she spat out those words.
"And yeah, I was stupid back then because I loved you and let you guys hurt me, but I don't love you anymore, so don't expect any forgiveness from me. You just made me see everything clearly. For you, I was and never would be right."
Cherise turned around and pressed the elevator button, thanking God it opened immediately.
"Don't you dare follow me!" Cherise stared dagger at him and pressed the button to their exclusive parking lot. She needed to get away from him.
Hudson could only watch Cherise's angry face and the tears that streaked her face. Even if he wanted to follow her, his legs wouldn't let him.
He stood frozen and felt Cherise's words stabbing through his heart. Hudson really hadn't meant to blame her, but out of desperation, he had said those words.
He just wanted to know the reasons behind her not showing her true self.
Shit! What had happened to him? He was always calm and collected and always knew the right words to say in every situation, but in front of Cherise, he had turned into a victim-blaming idiotic bastard. Cherise opened her car door and slid inside, wiping her tears away angrily with the back of her hand.
She still couldn't believe Hudson had said those words to her. Did he not realize how it made him sound?
He might as well say that he supported those misogynists who thought that women who wore revealing clothes deserved to be sexually assaulted.
Cherise laughed at herself for thinking Hudson might have changed after him being nice for the whole day today. But guessed a leopard really could never change its spots.
And the audacity of him saying she pretended to be weak. She never pretended to be weak. Meek and timid, yes, but never weak.
As she had told him during her rage, she did not fight back because she wanted Dahlia and Polly to accept her as Hudson's wife.
And could he not imagine what would happen if she had fought back? They would make her life more difficult, and they would hate her even more.
God, she really was stupid to think she could make someone as cold as Hudson fall in love with her during those three years.
Maybe instead of hating Emely, she should thank her. If Emely hadn't sent her those texts or blamed her for her 'miscarriage', Cherise might have stupidly still been married to Hudson now. She took a deep, calming breath, not wanting Hudson to affect her in any way anymore.
Once she was calm and sure she could drive safely, she started her car and drove all the way to her brother's villa.
Thankfully, it was already late when she arrived, and Julian was already asleep. She didn't want him to see her red eyes or ask her what happened.
Cherise went straight to her room and got ready to sleep, cursing Hudson in her mind until she drifted off to sleep.
While Cherise was already in dreamland, Keith was ringing the bell to Hudson's penthouse.
"Why do you think he summoned us this late at night and at his penthouse? He never asked us to come here." Finley, who had come along, said. "Most probably about Cherise," Keith assumed and rang the bell again until Hudson opened the door for them.
Keith wasn't surprised to see Hudson's bloodshot eyes, but Finley was.
"Damn, what happened to you, man?" he asked as Hudson stepped aside to let them in.
They all sat in the living room, and Hudson poured them a glass of whiskey before downing his in one large gulp.
Keith saw how wrecked he was and asked calmly, "What happened?"
Hudson leaned back and spread both arms on the couch's headrest. "I hurt Cherise again."