Let My Traitor Husband Drown Slowly

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The rescue boat rocked violently against the churning rapids. The rain was a cold, relentless sheet, blurring the world into shades of slate and charcoal. Beside me, the rescue worker was screaming, his voice nearly lost to the roar of the flood.

We can only take one more! You have to decide now!

I hesitated, my hand frozen on the edge of the boat. And then, it happened. Glowing lines of text began to drift across my vision like a digital fever dream.

Look at this tragic side-character, one line read. She actually thinks theyre naked because of hypothermia. She has no idea her artist husband was busy ravishing his little protege by the riverbank when the levee broke.

I cant wait for the next part, another comment scrolled by. After she saves him, hes going to realize his true feelings, shove her overboard to make room, and give the girl mouth-to-mouth. Total swoon moment. Give us the drama!

The hesitation vanished. My heart, which had been hammering with panic, suddenly went cold and still.

I remembered a week ago, finding my husband, Killian, in the corner of his studio. He had his young apprentice, Luna, pinned against the wall. Hed whispered that she was his soul, his musethat hed give his very life for her.

Luna had looked up with that wide-eyed, innocent gaze and asked, "How would you give it, Killian?"

Well, Killian. Here was your chance to find out.

I grabbed the single rescue rope and threw it toward Luna.

The situation was simple, really: Killian, the prestigious professor, had taken his favorite student on a "plein air" painting trip into the mountains. A flash flood hit. Now, they were both drifting in the freezing water, stripped bare by the currentor perhaps by something elseclinging to a log and dying of exposure.

"Jade, please! Think about this!" Parker, one of Killians other students who was on the boat with me, looked at me with a horrified, stiff expression. "Lunas already unconscious from the cold. If we pull the Professor up first, he actually has a chance of surviving!"

The floating text in my eyes hissed in agreement:

[Parker is such a loyal dog. He knows that if the Professor gets on the boat, hell definitely kick the wife off to save Luna!]

[Our sweet Luna is going to be so kind later. Shell inherit Jades entire estate after she drowns, and shell be so 'devastated' she won't even let Killian touch her on Jades death anniversary. What an angel.]

I stared at the text, a bitter taste in my mouth. Since when did being a mistress and a gold-digger count as being "kind"?

"I know... I want to save him more than anything. Hes my husband," I whispered, my voice trembling perfectly. I stared out at the dark water, looking like a woman whose heart was shattering in real-time. I let my body sway, a fragile silhouette against the storm.

"But Killian always said... he said Lunas father saved his life years ago. He told me he owed her a debt that could never be repaid."

I twisted my damp handkerchief, dabbing at my eyes.

"He told me that for the sake of gratitude, he would lay down his life for her. Hes a man of honor, Parker. I have to respect his wishes. I have to be a good example for our son!"

Without another word, I looped the rope into a lasso and flung it toward the floating, unconscious Luna. We hauled her in.

"Jade!" Killians voice was a desperate, guttural howl from the water.

He reached for us, but the current was too strong. A sudden surge of debris slammed him against a jagged boulder. His head snapped back, and he went limp, disappearing under the frothing brown water.

I looked down into the depths, a tiny, dark smile touching my lips. Don't die too easily, Killian, I prayed. The fun is just beginning.

Just as he vanished, Parker managed to snag Killians shirt with a makeshift hook made from his own belt. He started trying to pull him toward the side.

Knowing these people, I knew that if Killian got a finger on this boat, I was going over the side. I quickly grabbed my phone and dialed my mother-in-law, Beatrice.

The second she picked up, I let out a jagged, hysterical sob.

"Mom! Something terrible has happened!"

"What is it?" Beatrices voice was already sharp with irritation.

"Luna and Killian... they were caught in the flood! Theyre saying Luna might not make it! It's horrific!"

"What?" Beatrices blood pressure clearly spiked through the phone. "Jade, you useless woman! You can't keep an eye on your man, and you can't even look after a young girl? Listen to meif you don't save Luna, Ill make sure Killian divorces you tomorrow. Youll be out on the street with nothing! Im coming down there now!"

"Mom, Im trying! Ill do exactly what you say! Ill save her!"

I hung up, a cold satisfaction settling in my chest. I had successfully misled her. She now thought Luna was the only one in the water.

"But the boat is full," I shouted to the air, making sure Parker heard. "We have to wait for the next sweep! I hope she can hold on!"

The real show was about to start.

Beatrice arrived twenty minutes later on a larger, overcrowded rescue vessel. She saw me straining against the rope Parker was holdingthe rope that was currently tethered to a submerged, unconscious body. Because Killian was underwater, you couldn't tell who it was.

The weight was dragging our small boat down, making it tilt dangerously.

Beatrice screamed from the other vessel, "Jade! You murderous bitch! I knew youd try to hurt her!"

"Mom, wait!" I stammered, acting paralyzed by "nerves."

"Youre pretending to be a hero, trying to save some 'stranger' while Luna is dying?" Beatrice roared, ignoring the other passengers. "Let go of that rope! Lunas life is the only thing that matters! Let the other person drown!"

Parker tried to intervene. "Ma'am, the person under the water is"

He wanted to say it was his professor. It was her son.

But Beatrice didn't give him the chance. She lunged across the gap between the boats and slapped him hard across the face.

"I know all about you, Parker! Jade, you've always been a slut. I knew from the day you married into this family youd try to ruin us. Youre probably trying to save your secret lover right now!"

She turned to the men on her boat. "A thousand dollars to whoever ties this brat up and cuts that rope! Save my grandson!"

I blinked. Grandson?

So, Beatrice knew. She knew Luna was carrying Killians child. Thats why she was so desperate.

In the face of death, human nature is a fragile thing.

Parker was tackled and gagged within seconds. I "struggled" to hold onto the rope, crying out, "Mom, please don't! Killian is"

But Beatrice wasn't listening. "Shut up! I don't care if it's your own father at the end of that rope. Hes in the way of my grandsons future!"

She grabbed a pair of emergency shears from the rescue kit. With a sharp snip, the tension vanished.

The rope whipped back, empty.

Beatrice looked triumphant. "Get us to the shore! To the hospital! We have to make sure the baby is safe!"

Well, Killian, I thought as I watched the spot where he had been submerged drift away. Don't blame me. It was your own mother who cut the cord.

Beatrice was so worried about Lunas "precious cargo" that she moved her to the faster boat, leaving me behind in the rain.

The boat drifted for a while in the silence of the receding storm.

"Jade...?"

A weak, watery voice drifted from the darkness near the bank. I froze. It was Killian. He sounded like he was coughing up his own lungs, but he was alive.

"I knew I was too stubborn to die... Jade, get help! Get me out!"

He was clinging to a low-hanging willow branch, his body a map of bruises and jagged cuts from the rocks. He was pale, shivering violentlyshaking with the final stages of hypothermia.

"Oh, Killian!" I cried out, my voice dripping with performative grief. "The boat is full! We cant take any more! Help is coming, I promise! You have to be strong!"

"Jade... pull me in..."

"I can't! But remember what you said? Lunas life is more important than anything. I made sure Mom took her to the hospital first! I knew thats what youd want!"

I looked around the boat and found some heavy gearanchor weights and broken metal parts.

"Here, Killian! Let me throw you something to help you stay afloat!"

I tossed the heavy metal weights directly toward him. They splashed heavily, missing him by inches but creating waves that battered his weakened grip. Without the extra weight, our boat moved faster, catching the current toward the landing.

Killians face, twisted in a mask of realization and fury, vanished behind a wall of rain as he let out a pathetic, pig-like squeal before being swept back into the dark.

He looked so moved, he practically fainted. I really am the most understanding wife a man could ask for.

The search for Killian made the local news every night for two weeks.

Beatrice didn't care. She didn't even realize he was missing at first; she was too busy hovering over Luna in the private wing of the hospital.

The nurses were less than impressed.

"She was carrying twins," one whispered to me in the hall. "But if they hadn't been so... active... during the storm, her uterine wall wouldn't have been so compromised. They were caught in the act when the water hit. The bacteria from the floodwater caused a massive infection. Its a miracle shes alive, but the babies..."

Luna was in a coma, bleeding out from complications.

Then, after fifteen days, they found him.

Killian had survived by eating whatever washed up in the debriscontaminated, rotting scraps. His wounds had turned gangrenous, untreated and festering in the humidity. By the time he reached the ICU, he was swollen beyond recognition.

Even the people in the "bullet chats" didn't recognize him. The "God-like Artist" now looked like a piece of waterlogged meat.

Looking at him, I remembered the early days. We were childhood sweethearts. We were happy, once. But then his art took off, and I became the "boring corporate wife" who didn't understand his soul. He found his "soul" in the wide eyes of his students.

Last month, when Lunas ex-boyfriend leaked explicit photos of her online, Killian had stepped up. Hed used his "artistic expertise" to testify that the woman in the photos wasn't Luna. He claimed it was me. His wife.

When I confronted him, he had pinned me by the throat against our bedroom door.

"Jade, I gave you the dignity of being a professors wife. Why must you hurt her? The uploader confessed you hired him out of jealousy. Im just letting you take the fall to balance the scales. I owe her my life. If she wanted my head on a platter, Id give it to her."

I had slapped him then, with every ounce of strength I had.

When I woke the next morning, he was gone, leaving a note saying he was going to a "remote gallery opening." In reality, they were hopping between cheap motels and riverside campsites, playing out their tawdry fantasy under the guise of "art."

The doctor in the ICU shook his head. He was trying to find a polite way to say Killian was a wreck. His bones were shattered, protruding through the skin in places, and the infection had reached his marrow.

"We can stabilize him," the doctor said, voice low. "But hes been out there too long. Hell never walk again. Hell be lucky if he retains any mobility in his arms."

I wiped a stray tear, pulled two hundred-dollar bills from my purse, and tucked them into the doctors pocket. "Please, just keep him alive. Thats all that matters."

"Jade...?" Killian croaked from the bed. He sounded like a ghost.

I rushed to his side, clutching his bandaged hand. I made sure to squeeze just hard enough to find the broken phalanges beneath the gauze.

Killians pupils dilated. A muffled scream tore through his throat. He shook with agony, but he was too weak to pull away.

"Its my fault," I whispered, leaning close to his ear, my voice a silk-wrapped blade. "Don't worry, darling. You're in such bad shape... Ill take care of everything. The house, the studio, the accounts. I'll handle it all."

Fear flashed in his clouded eyes. He understood. Everything he had builthis reputation, his wealthwas slipping into my hands.

"Don't thank me. I did what you asked. I saved Luna first. Sadly, she lost the babies, and youll never walk again, but I know youd make the same choice a thousand times over. After all, were one soul, aren't we? I know you better than anyone."

His throat hitched. "Jade... you... monster..."

He tried to curse me, to ask if Id done it on purpose. Instead, he just choked on a mouthful of black bile.

The floating text was buzzing:

[The wife better watch out. MarcusI mean Killianis the protagonist. Hell have a miraculous recovery once the baby is born, and then its over for her!]

[Wait, today is Lunas due date! Here comes the miracle!]

Right on cue, the sound of a thin, wailing cry echoed from down the hall.

"My Luna is a fighter!" Beatrices voice boomed in the corridor. She strutted past the door, throwing me a look of pure venom. "Shes given us a beautiful grandson, unlike some barren women I know"

She took the bundle from the nurse and suddenly, the bragging stopped. A heavy thud followed as Beatrice collapsed onto the linoleum.

"What... what is this monster? This can't be my grandson! Youve swapped him!"