Behind the Book Series, Part 3: The Cost of Being Chosen

M. Marie Walker
Sep 6
4 min read

In the Shadows of Betrayal: My House Series

“And in the end, we were all just humans... drunk on the idea that love, only love, could heal our brokenness.”

— Christopher Poindexter

Some stories don’t come wrapped in resolution.

Some stories bleed.

This isn’t a love story.

Not yet.

It’s a reckoning between two people who once held each other like lifelines—until grief made them strangers.

Until betrayal made them enemies.

Until silence made them ghosts.

Jason and MyIesha aren’t here to perform healing.

They’re here to speak it.

To unravel it.

To show you what it looks like when love isn’t enough to stop the breaking—but might still be enough to start the rebuilding.

This is their truth.

Unedited.

Unadulterated.

And if you’ve ever loved someone through the ache, or lost yourself trying to hold what was already slipping—

You’ll hear yourself in their words.

Step in.

But don’t expect comfort.

Expect honesty.

Jason:

They say being chosen is a gift.

But what if the people who chose you never stayed long enough to see what that fuckin' gift cost?

My parents chose me once.

Then they gave me away.

To Aunt Gigi.

She raised me like I was hers.

The night she was shot, I stayed by her hospital bed until she made me leave—told me to go home and get some sleep.

She promised she’d see me in the morning.

But that morning never came.

Complications from her wounds took her before I could say goodbye.

And that’s when I learned:

Being chosen doesn’t mean being protected.

It doesn’t mean being loved through the worst of it.

MyIesha:

Jason chose me.

I know that.

Even when I stopped trusting him, I knew he loved me.

But love isn’t a shield.

It doesn’t stop betrayal.

It doesn’t stop grief from turning your body into a goddamn battlefield.

When we lost our first baby, I changed.

I couldn’t breathe the same.

Couldn’t laugh the same.

Couldn’t touch him without remembering what we lost.

So, I pulled away.

And he didn’t fight for me—he found comfort somewhere else.

Jason:

I was grieving too.

But I didn’t know how to say it.

Didn’t know how to hold her when she felt like glass.

So, I broke.

And I broke us.

Jakyra was familiar.

She was there.

And I was to goddamn weak... but it was no excuse for my fuckin' behavior.

That night turned into a secret.

That secret turned into a pregnancy.

And that pregnancy turned into a truth I couldn’t bury.

MyIesha:

We found the shit out together.

Thanksgiving night.

We had just announced our pregnancy—finally a moment of light after so much darkness.

And then Jakyra said she was pregnant too.

Tried to pass it off like the baby was Mike’s.

But Mike knew.

He saw through it.

And when he asked for a divorce right there in the middle of their living room, everything cracked open.

Jason didn’t even know until that moment.

Neither did I.

It wasn’t just betrayal.

It was humiliation.

It was grief layered on grief.

It was the kind of truth that doesn’t whisper—it explodes.

And in that explosion, I stopped recognizing the man I loved.

MyIesha (continued):

Jason didn’t just cheat.

He shattered something sacred.

He let another woman carry what we lost.

And the worst part?

Everyone found out.

Not from him.

Not gently.

But in the kind of way that makes you question if you were ever truly loved.

Jason:

I never stopped loving Iesha.

But I stopped showing up.

Stopped being the man she needed.

And now I’m standing in my own self-inflicted wreckage,

asking for grace I don’t deserve.

MyIesha:

He keeps saying he chose me.

But choosing someone means staying when it’s hard.

It means holding them when they push you away.

It means not turning their grief into your excuse.

Jason:

I didn’t just betray her.

I betrayed the version of me that promised to be better than my parents.

I became the man who left someone bleeding.

Just like they left me.

MyIesha:

I’m not asking him to be perfect.

I’m asking him to be honest.

To stop hiding behind fucking guilt and start fighting for redemption.

Not just for me.

But for the child who still reaches for him.

For the love that still lingers in the silence.

Jason:

I’m trying.

Not to erase what I did.

But to prove that I can be more than my worst moment.

That I can be the man who's worthy of her trust.

Fully.

Without fear.

Without excuses.

💬 Your Turn

Have you ever been chosen—but left bleeding?

Have you ever loved someone who couldn’t hold your grief, and instead added to it?

Drop your truth below.

Whether it’s rage, reflection, or a story you’ve never told—this space is yours.

Because healing doesn’t come from being chosen.

It comes from being seen, being fought for, being held through the breaking.

And if you’re ready to speak—

We’re here.

We’re listening.

We’re with you.

📌Coming Soon: Part 4- When the Body Betrays and the Mind Follows

Next, we step into the quiet—where MyIesha battles the mirror and Jason drowns in thoughts he won’t speak. Part 4: “When the Body Betrays and the Mind Follows” is for anyone who’s ever felt unseen, and ready to hear what healing sounds like.

About the Author

M. Marie Walker is a multigenre author known for crafting deeply layered stories that explore love, loss, loyalty, and the quiet ache of redemption.

With a voice that shifts effortlessly between contemporary drama, romantic suspense, and psychological thrillers, she weaves narratives that don’t flinch from the raw or the tender. Her characters breathe with emotional truth, inviting readers into moments that feel lived-in and unforgettable.

Whether it’s navigating the silence after betrayal or peeling back the layers of identity and healing, M. Marie writes with heart, grit, and undeniable depth. In the Shadows of Betrayal is her latest offering—a haunting exploration of what it means to stay in the same space where everything fell apart.

In the Shadows of Betrayal

To be released November 27, 2025

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