My Ruthless Husband Begs For Mercy

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Arthur Kensington, the ruthless patriarch of the Kensington dynasty, owed the Montgomery family a life.

And Mary Montgomery, the woman who had raised me, cashed in that blood debt to force the old man into making his grandson, Cole, marry me.

But for the ten years of our marriage, Cole looked at me with nothing but absolute revulsion. To shake me off, to force my hand, he let a revolving door of women climb into his bed. I became the punchline of our elite circle. Whenever the whispers grew too loud, Cole would just look at me with those glacial, empty eyes and say, "You don't get to play the victim. You asked for this."

Everyone in New York high society thought I would cling to Cole Kensington until my dying breath.

He thought so, too.

Until the person I trusted most in this world pushed the blade into my back.

That was the moment the foundation cracked.

When I finally slid the divorce papers across the mahogany table, a quiet, genuine smile broke across my face.

It's finally over. This beautiful, hollow cage of a marriage is finally over.

I stepped onto the deck of the mega-yacht just as the party was reaching its chaotic, glittering peak.

In the center of the crowd, Cole leaned back against the plush crescent sofa, his posture a picture of lazy, arrogant grace. But it was the silhouette of the woman on his lap that made my breath catch in my throat.

She was straddling him, her posture dripping with invitation, her manicured fingers lightly tracing the nape of his neck. Men and women in designer resort wear raised their champagne flutes, chanting, "Kiss her! Kiss her!" in a rhythmic, intoxicating blur.

Paige Montgomerys cheeks were flushed, her eyes heavy with a springtime kind of lust.

Coles eyes narrowed slightly as his gaze lazily tracked over the crowd. The corner of his mouth ticked up. He didn't rush. He simply lifted a finger, pointing straight at me.

"Look over there," his voice cut through the noise, low but carrying. "Your best friend is watching us."

The crowd spun around. The pulsing music seemed to fade into a vacuum. The drunken cheers died in their throats, replaced by a collective, suffocating silence, thick with anticipation and cruel amusement.

Someone in the back drunkenly slurred, "Oh, hey, Mrs. Kensington," and a ripple of nervous, mocking laughter followed.

Paige, still seated firmly on my husbands lap, glanced over her shoulder at me. She didnt move an inch to get up.

My fingernails bit so deeply into my palms they drew blood. I stared at her, unblinking.

Deep in my chest, my heart was slowly, methodically tearing itself apart.

I never thought Paige would be the one. She was the family I had chosen. She was the one person in this cold, transactional world I relied on, the one I trusted implicitly.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to march over and shake her, to ask her why. But not here. Not now.

Paige let out a soft, breathy laugh. "Isn't this what you've always wanted to see?" She murmured to Cole, though her eyes were locked on mine. "I betrayed her. I chose you. Can you love me now?"

A fresh wave of murmurs rippled through the crowd. They were practically salivating, waiting for the explosion.

My marriage to Cole Kensington was an open secret. He flaunted his indiscretions with a brazen, almost violent kind of freedom, replacing the women on his arm as easily as he replaced his watches.

Only this time, the woman wearing his jacket was my best friend.

I forced my eyes off Paige and locked them onto Cole. My face was a mask of perfectly carved ice. My voice came out dead flat.

"The paparazzi are swarming the marina. They're waiting for the yacht to dock." I paused. "Cole. Let's go."

He tilted his head, drawing out a dramatic, considering hum.

"Hmm... No."

Taking her cue, Paige pressed herself deeper into his chest, burying her face against his neck, shooting me a triumphant, challenging smirk.

As the yacht slowly drifted toward the slip, the long lenses of the paparazzi were already waiting, a firing squad of flashbulbs bursting through the coastal darkness.

I curled my fingers inward, the sting of my own nails grounding me.

They got the shot.

I already knew the Kensington board, and Coles venomous parents, would crucify me for this.

Suddenly, Coles voice ghosted right by my ear, thick with dark amusement. He had walked over while I was staring at the docks.

"Do you like the show, Mrs. Kensington?" he whispered. "Those old vultures at the estate aren't going to let you survive this one. How about you finally divorce me, and I'll help you pack?"

I ground my teeth together, fighting the knot of pure grief lodged in my throat. I forced the words out. "Do you really want a divorce that badly, Cole?"

In ten years, it was the first time I had ever entertained the word.

The mocking smirk vanished from Cole's face instantly. The dark, stormy depths of his eyes clouded with something unreadablesomething dangerously close to panic.

Before he could recover his armor, I looked him dead in the eye and said the words.

"Then let's divorce."

I felt like I had been holding my breath for a decade, and I had finally exhaled.

The moment the words left my lips, a profound, weightless peace washed over me. What isn't mine will never be mine. The agonizing pressure that had sat on my chest for ten years finally found a fracture, and the pain began to bleed out into the night air.

"Hedy, are you serious?" Paige's voice pitched up, entirely unable to hide her elation.

But Cole's arm, which was still loosely hooked around her waist, clamped down like a steel vise.

Paige gasped, flinching. "Ow! Cole, you're hurting me."

Cole didnt even look at her. His eyes were burning holes into mine. In a jarring, violent motion, he dropped his arm, stepping completely away from Paige. He closed the distance between us until he was towering over me.

"Let's go. We're going home," he ordered. Then, he added with a sneer, "Mrs. Kensington."

I saw the malicious glint in his eyes.

He had orchestrated this whole thing. He knew exactly what Paige meant to me. He knew that calling the paparazzi to capture this exact humiliation would ruin me, that I would be the one dragged through the mud by his family.

He had choreographed the ultimate betrayal, just to finally break my will.

I didn't flinch. I calmly looped my arm through his. "Let's go."

Cole let out a harsh, jagged laugh, the sound practically vibrating with poison.

I was used to it. I simply shut off the audio in my brain. As Mrs. Kensington, my only job in public was to remain elegant, poised, and untouched.

Soon, I told myself. Soon, I won't have to do this anymore.

The second my heels hit the concrete of the pier, I unlinked my arm from his.

Cole instantly caught my hand, lacing his fingers brutally tight through mine. "Keep up the performance," he sneered. "Don't get lazy now. The cameras are still rolling."

I furrowed my brow slightly, turning my face toward the tinted window of the waiting town car.

Whatever. Let him have his petty victories.

We rode back to the penthouse in total silence.

The second the heavy mahogany door clicked shut behind us, Cole slammed me back against the entryway wall.

In the dim, ambient light of the foyer, I could see the dangerous, chaotic energy buzzing in his eyes.

I was utterly exhausted. My soul felt hollowed out. "Cole, please. I don't want to do this tonight."

I pushed against his chest.

Coles grip only tightened. He dipped his head, his teeth grazing my collarbone in a sharp, punishing bite.

He let out a low, cruel chuckle. "Play your part, Mrs. Kensington. The old guard is still waiting for you to pop out an heir."

My body went completely rigid.

Every time he spat the words Mrs. Kensington like a curse, it was a deliberate reminder of the cage I had locked myself in. I was the one who had willingly put on these chains. I had surrendered the right to say "stop." I had always just endured it.

But not anymore.

The one reason I had compromised my entire existence had just betrayed me. I had nothing left to protect. No more collateral damage to fear.

For the first time in a decade, I shoved Cole Kensington with everything I had.

"I don't have to be Mrs. Kensington anymore, Cole."

He froze, his hands hovering in the air. He stared at me, his chest heaving, his eyes searching my face for a lie.

"Hedy... are you serious?"

My heart plummeted like a stone, heavy and cold.

"I'm giving you exactly what you want. Isn't this enough?" I whispered, my voice exhausted. "I've suffocated you for ten years. You're tired. I'm tired. Let's just let each other go."

Before the silence could settle, Cole grabbed my wrists, pinning them against the wallpaper. His body pressed flush against mine, as if he were trying to crush me into the drywall.

We stayed locked in that strained, breathless stalemate until he finally hissed, his voice vibrating with barely contained rage, "Your little hard-to-get act is pathetic, Hedy. Do you really think I'm going to let you win?"

He released me as abruptly as he had grabbed me, turning on his heel. He stormed down the hall without looking back.

I stood in the shadows, entirely bewildered.

I watched his retreating back, my mind spinning in quiet confusion.

I gave him exactly what he had tortured me for ten years to get. So why was he so angry?

CRASH.

The sound of shattering glass from his study snapped me back to reality.

It didn't matter. My mind was made up.

But the moment the adrenaline faded, the thought of Paige sent a fresh, agonizing spike of pain through my chest.

My phone buzzed in my coat pocket.

I pulled it out, my thumb hovering numbly over the glowing screen.

Finally, I opened the chat from Paige. The messages were coming in rapid succession.

[Hedy, I guess you know everything now.]

[Since its out in the open, just let me have him.]

[Youve had ten years with him and he still doesnt love you. Why dont you let me try?]

[Who knows? Maybe hell actually fall in love with me.]

[I know stealing your best friend's husband is wrong, but I couldn't help it.]

[The day you introduced us, I was obsessed with him.]

[I tried, okay? I tried avoiding him, but you always brought him around. Its not my fault.]

[You practically forced us together!]

...

With every word I read, my heart turned a little more to ash.

This was the person I trusted with my life.

I let out a dry, self-deprecating laugh.

[Paige, I was so wrong about you.]

[If you want him that badly, he's yours. Take him.]

I typed the two sentences, hit send, and blocked her number.

Just like that, the sisterhood I had bled for was dead. She had sold me out for a man. I had spent my life protecting a snake.

I didn't sleep a single minute that night. When dawn finally broke, my eyes were swollen shut. I had to sit with ice packs pressed to my face for an hour just to look human again.

I let my mind go entirely blank for a few minutes, staring at the ceiling.

Knowing I had to face a firing squad today, I picked up my phone.

I opened Twitter. Sure enough, we were trending at number one. The photo of Paige straddling Cole, with me standing opposite them like a discarded ghost, was splashed across every gossip blog.

The comments were a bloodbath:

[Mrs. Kensington is so generous, letting her hubby test-drive the bestie. ]

[The Kensington Heir is wild for this. Hooking up with the wifes BFF while the wife watches? Alpha energy.]

[God, hes so hot though. If I were Hedy, Id be picking out his side pieces for him just to stay in the will.]

[Am I the only one who feels bad for Hedy? Betrayed by her husband and her best friend at the exact same time. Thats vile.]

[Lmao she deserves it! He literally never wanted her. If she hadn't used her familys sob story to blackmail the grandfather, she wouldnt even be in his orbit.]

[Right? Shes obsessed with him. Zero self-respect. If she still doesnt divorce him after this, shes just pathetic.]

[Are y'all okay?? Cole is openly emotionally abusing her, but youre dragging Hedy? Why arent we torching him and the trashy friend? Y'all are sick.]

[Look, they're billionaires. We're just here for the drama. Pass the popcorn. ]

The internet was tearing me apart.

Then, I refreshed the page, and it was gone. All of it. Erased from the internet.

The Kensington PR machine had woken up.

I heard the heavy click of the front door. Cole was back.

He didn't even look at me. "We're expected at the estate in thirty minutes."

I nodded. Of course we are.

It was the golden rule of the Kensington dynasty. Every Sunday, family dinner at the estate. Absence was considered an act of treason, punishable by whatever financial or social torture Grandpa Arthur saw fit. Even a reckless god like Cole never dared to miss it.

"Good luck in there, Hedy," Cole murmured as we walked out, a cruel, gloating curve to his lips.

When we pulled up to the sweeping gravel driveway of the Kensington Manor, Cole dropped the act entirely. He left me in the dust, striding into the grand foyer without waiting.

By the time I walked in, he already had his grandmother laughing over tea.

"Grandma," I greeted her softly, keeping my posture perfect.

"Hmm," the older woman hummed dismissively, not looking away from Cole. "Your in-laws are waiting for you in the study."

"I understand," I said quietly.

I knew exactly what was waiting for me. I glanced at Cole. He was sipping his tea, a smug, satisfied smirk playing on his lips. He didn't even bother to look up.

The moment I stepped into the mahogany-paneled study, Victoria Kensingtons hand cracked across my cheek.

The sheer force of the slap snapped my head to the side. The sharp, metallic taste of blood bloomed on my tongue.

She gracefully adjusted the rings on her fingers, instantly reverting to the picture of old-money elegance. She looked at me like I was something she had scraped off her shoe.

"Hedy, you are an absolute embarrassment," her voice was hushed, but it carried the weight of a whip. "A woman who can't even keep her husband out of her own friend's bed? How do you call yourself a Kensington?"

"If I had known you were this pathetic, I would have fought Arthur to the grave before letting him marry Cole to you!"

"It is a tragedy."

I kept my head lowered, my fingers curling tightly into my palms.

"Hedy," she sneered, "if you are truly this incapable of making my son care for you, then do us all a favor and divorce him before you humiliate us any further."

I snapped my head up. I looked her dead in the eye, my voice steady and unshakeable. "Okay. I'll divorce him."

Victoria physically recoiled, her eyes widening in sheer shock.

Even Richard Kensington, who had been silently nursing a scotch by the window, frowned deeply. "Are you serious?"

"Completely," I said, my tone as solid as stone.

Richard stared at me for a long moment before waving his hand dismissively. "Wait outside."

I stepped out into the corridor, leaning against the cool plaster. Through the heavy oak door, their hushed, frantic argument bled into the hallway.

"Why are you attacking the girl?" Richard hissed. "Your son is the one acting like a degenerate!"

"Who else am I supposed to blame?!" Victoria shot back. "Cole never behaved like this before he was chained to her!"

"If you hadn't let Arthur force him to marry a woman he actively despises, none of this would be happening! Do you have any idea how miserable my boy is?"

Richard sighed, the sound heavy with exhaustion. "You think you know your own son? Victoria, if Cole didn't want to marry her, do you really think Arthuror anyonecould have forced him to say 'I do'?"

"And now she's actually asking for a divorce. Mark my words, all hell is about to break loose."

Victoria paused, her voice faltering. "That's... that's impossible. If Cole actually cared for Hedy, why would he torture her like this?"

"Because he's an idiot," Richard muttered. "And he's going to keep playing these sick games until the girl finally runs."

Right. As if Cole Kensington could ever love me.

I turned and walked down the long, gallery hallway. At the far end, Cole was leaning against a marble pillar, a half-smoked cigarette dangling between his fingers.

I didn't look at him. I tried to walk right past him.

His hand shot out, wrapping around my wrist like a shackle. His other hand drifted up, his thumb brushing callously over the stinging, red imprint his mother had left on my cheek. He clicked his tongue.

"Tsk. That's it?"

"A little light on the punishment, don't you think?"

His voice was a low, velvet purr, masked in lazy amusement. I couldn't read his eyes.

My gaze met his, utterly hollow. "I told them I want a divorce."

Coles hand froze. He took a sharp, deep drag of his cigarette. "And what did they say?"

I shook my head. "Nothing definitive."

Because as long as Grandpa Arthur was breathing, Richard and Victoria had no real power. If I wanted out, I had to wait for the patriarch to return from his trip.

"Right. As if those cowards have the spine to say no," Cole muttered, his voice dropping into something cold and vicious. "Fuck. You brought this all on yourself, Hedy. You deserve every bit of it."

He dropped my wrist, turned, and walked away without another word.

He left me there, bracing myself for the rest of the daya grueling marathon of the Kensington relatives pulling me aside, using "marital advice" as a thinly veiled excuse to degrade me.

I took it all. Calmly. Quietly.

I was just waiting.

When I finally escaped the estate, I had my driver take me to the private care facility in the Hamptons.

Halfway there, my phone rang. It was the head nurse.

"Mrs. Kensington, I'm so sorry. It's an emergency. Mrs. Montgomery's condition has crashed. You need to get here immediately."

My stomach dropped into a bottomless gorge. My hands shook as I dialed Paiges number over and over. Voicemail. Voicemail.

Finally, as I was sprinting down the pristine, sterile hallway of the facility, Paige answered.

"Paige! Get to the clinic right now! Your mom is crashing!" I screamed into the phone.

Paige let out a dramatic, mocking sigh. "Hedy, really? You let Cole surround himself with supermodels for a decade, but the second it's me, you throw a tantrum and start cursing my mother?"

"I know my mother's chart, Hedy. She's fine."

"And even if something was wrong, she's got you! God knows she's always loved you more than her actual daughter anyway. She's the one who traded you to the Kensingtons like livestock!"

Before I could even breathe, the line went dead.

I gripped the phone so hard the glass creaked, shoving open the door to the ICU.

Mrs. Montgomery was lost in the sheets, a frail, skeletal ghost of the woman who had raised me.

Tears instantly blinded me. "What happened?" I choked out. Two days ago, she was sitting up, laughing with me.

The attending nurse looked at the floor. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Kensington. Somebody left the television on... she saw the morning gossip broadcasts..."

I froze.

"Hedy..." a papery, wheezing voice called out from the bed.

I threw myself into the chair beside her, grabbing her fragile hand. "I'm here. I'm right here."

She weakly patted the back of my hand, her cloudy eyes filling with tears.

"Hedy... I am so sorry. I am so sorry for what Paige did to you... I failed her. I failed you."

"If her heart hadn't failed... if we didn't need the money... you wouldn't have had to sell your life to Cole Kensington..."

"I ruined your life, my sweet girl..."

With every word, the monitors around her beeped more frantically, her lungs fighting for air.

I wiped the tears slipping down her sunken cheeks, forcing my voice to stay soft and steady. "No, no, please don't say that. I chose to marry him. You didn't force me. Please, don't carry this."

"If you hadn't taken me in when I had nothing, I would have died on the streets. I owe you everything."

She just cried harder, her chest heaving.

"We dragged you down to hell with us... and now my own flesh and blood does this to you... I am so sorry, Hedy."

"Listen to me... I called Arthur... I told him to let you go. Divorce him, Hedy. Go find a beautiful life... you don't have to suffer anymore..."

My vision blurred completely. I forced a bright, trembling smile. "I'm not suffering. Being Mrs. Kensington is great. The money, the clothes... it's a good life."

She stared at me for a long time, the heartbreak evident in her eyes. Finally, she turned her head away.

After a long, suffocating silence, she whispered, "Hedy... can you bring my daughter to see me? Just once?"

I nodded frantically. "Yes. I'll get her."

But my calls went straight to voicemail. I dialed Cole. Nothing.

In a panic, I called Coles executive assistant.

The assistant hesitated before admitting, "Mr. Kensington took Ms. Montgomery on a private jet to Iceland. To see the Northern Lights."

The phone slipped from my ear. The tears I had been fighting finally broke, spilling over my cheeks in hot, silent waves.

Mrs. Montgomery saw my face. She knew.

She let out a soft, hollow laugh. "It's alright. Don't punish yourself anymore, my sweet girl. You don't owe us anything anymore..."

She closed her eyes.

And she never opened them again.

I collapsed over her bed, weeping until my ribs felt like they were shattering.

After Mrs. Montgomerys funeral, Grandpa Arthur sent his private security to drag Cole and Paige back from Iceland.

In the great hall of the Kensington estate, the air was thick with terror.

I stood in the corner, completely numb.

Cole was forced to his knees on the Persian rug. Paige had been banished to the cemetery to sit by the grave.

Grandpa Arthur stood over Cole, gripping his heavy, silver-tipped mahogany cane. He raised it and brought it down across Coles shoulders with a sickening crack.

In the past, whenever Arthur lost his temper and struck Cole, I would throw myself over him. I had taken those hits to my own back to protect him.

Today, I stood by the wall, watching the man I loved take a beating, and I felt absolutely nothing.

Grandpa Arthur, seeing that I didn't even flinch to defend Cole, realized the truth. My spirit was utterly broken. I was gone.

Panting, leaning heavily on the cane, Arthur looked down at his bleeding, bruised grandson. "Tomorrow," the old man rasped. "You will sign the divorce papers."

Cole, slumped on the floor, snapped his head up. Shock rippled through his dark eyes.

Then, his face contorted into pure, venomous rebellion. "I absolutely will not! Who gave her the right to just walk away when she feels like it?!"

Arthur brought the cane down again. "You don't get a choice! You tore that girl's heart to shreds, and you think she's ever going to look at you again?!"

I stepped forward and bowed my head to the old man. "Thank you, Arthur."

The patriarch sighed, suddenly looking his age. "My boy failed you, Hedy. Go."

I picked up the suitcase I had packed days ago, and I walked out the door.