Chapter two

Sophia stood frozen in the doorway.

“Damien.”

His head snapped in her direction. The moment he noticed her, he quickly pulled away from the woman and grabbed the towel lying beside the bed, wrapping it around himself.

“Sophia, what are you doing here?” he said with anger.

“What am I doing here? Isn't today our anniversary?”

He didn't answer.

Sophia scoffed, the sound bitter even to her own ears.

“You didn't remember?”

Her gaze shifted toward the woman still lying on the bed, her hand propped beneath her chin as she watched them with an almost amused expression.

“And who is she?” Sophia demanded, pointing at her.

“A friend,” Damien said flatly.

His voice was quiet, almost emotionless, and Sophia almost laughed at the absurdity of his answer.

“A friend?”

She stared at him in disbelief.

“You call her a friend when you were both naked in the same bed?”

Tears welled in Sophia's eyes, but she stubbornly held them back.

She refused to cry in front of him.

Not yet.

“You said you dated me because of a bet.”

She watched his face carefully.

For a brief moment, guilt flashed across his features before his expression hardened.

“Damien?”

A small part of Sophia still wished he would deny it.

Maybe he would laugh and tell her it had all been a joke.

Maybe he would pull her into his arms and tell her she had misunderstood everything.

But Damien's lips pressed into a thin line.

He said nothing.

Sophia's heart sank.

“So it's all true.”

Her voice trembled.

“You dated me because of a bet.”

“And he enjoyed every last bit of it.”

The woman chuckled from the bed.

Sophia's eyes shot toward her, fury surging through her veins.

She looked back at the man she had dated for three years.

The man she had loved.

The man she had once imagined sharing her entire life with.

Something inside her shattered all over again.

“Why?”

Her voice shook, and she hated herself for sounding so weak.

“You weren't supposed to hear anything about that,” Damien said coldly. “But it's time I stopped playing this game. Yes, it was all a bet. I planned to break up with you after winning, but you just didn't want to let go.”

Sophia's chest tightened.

That was because you said you loved me.

He had whispered those words in her ear every night before she went to sleep.

He had held her close and promised her that she was the only woman he wanted.

How could all of that have been a lie?

“Come on, Sophia. Don't tell me you actually thought we were something.”

His words cut deeper than she expected.

What was I supposed to think?

What was she supposed to think when every one of his actions had told her otherwise?

When he made her believe she was the perfect woman for him?

When he remembered every little thing about her?

When he had made her feel loved?

After everything she had done for him, she had sacrificed three years of her life.

What had she not done for Damien?

She had given him her love, her attention, and a shoulder to lean on whenever he needed one.

She had skipped important events just to stand beside him.

She had supported him when he was struggling.

She had celebrated his victories as if they were her own.

And this was what she had received in return.

Betrayal.

“I never forced you to give me your time, attention, or whatever,” Damien said. “You did all of that because you wanted to.”

The woman who had been in Damien's bed moments earlier slid off the mattress, clutching the sheet around herself as she walked toward him.

She slipped her hand into his.

He didn't pull away.

“Babe, forget about her,” she said dismissively. “What's done is done. I know she wasn't supposed to find out this way, but we can't turn back time and change anything.”

Her words hit Sophia like a slap.

But it was Damien's silence that truly shattered her.

He didn't let go of the woman's hand.

He didn't even look ashamed.

The man who had once promised her forever stood there like a stranger while her heart broke at her feet.

Sophia had nothing to say to the woman.

The only person she needed answers from was Damien.

“She just called you ‘babe,’ and you didn't say anything.”

Her gaze dropped to their intertwined hands before lifting to his face.

“You're holding hands.”

Damien said nothing.

He simply stood there, his hand still entwined with hers, as though Sophia were invisible.

“You said she was just a friend.”

Sophia's voice trembled.

“Friends with benefits? Is that what she is? Because friends don't hold hands like this.”

“Watch your mouth.”

The woman tightened her grip on Damien's hand.

“We're not friends with benefits.”

She turned toward Damien.

“Tell her to be careful with the words she uses.”

“Sophia,” Damien began.

But she cut him off before he could say another word.

“Sophia, what?”

She snapped, her voice breaking.

“Are you going to tell me to shut up now? To stop talking?”

A bitter laugh escaped her lips.

“Or are you going to tell me that I'm creating a scene out of nothing?”

“Yes, you're making a scene,” Damien said with a sigh. “Can you stop behaving childishly for once?”

“Behaving like a child?”

Sophia stared at him in disbelief.

“Because I asked you who she was?”

She shook her head, her eyes dropping once again to their intertwined hands.

“You barely gave me an answer. All you said was, ‘She's just a friend,’ and you're still holding her hand.”

She swallowed hard.

“Is she really that important to you?”

Her voice became softer.

“More important than I ever was?”

Damien stared at her.

He said nothing.

Sophia let out a hollow laugh and nodded slowly.

“Okay. I should have expected that.”

She swallowed hard, fighting against the tears threatening to spill.

“I mean, you're full of surprises, Damien.”

Her chest hurt.

“Today is our anniversary. You promised to propose, but here you are, standing beside her.”

“Proposal?”

Damien let out a mocking laugh.

“So you really thought I was going to get down on one knee and propose to you?”

He shook his head.

“Don't be delusional. We're not in the same league. We never were.”

The woman let out a mocking laugh and glanced at Damien.

“You know how desperate women like her can be when it comes to climbing the social ladder with a rich man.”

She looked Sophia up and down.

“I mean, for her to think she actually had a chance with someone like you, Damien? That's almost funny.”

Sophia stared at her.

The woman barely knew her, yet she spoke about her as if she were nothing.

Who the hell did she think she was?

Sophia had had enough.

She had spent the last few minutes standing there and allowing this woman to speak to her however she pleased while Damien stood by and did nothing.

Consumed by fury, Sophia raised her hand.

She didn't even know what she intended to do.

But before she could react, Damien grabbed her wrist and yanked her backward.

Her heel caught on the hem of her dress.

She lost her balance.

The next thing she knew, she was on the floor.

“Don't you dare lay a hand on her,” Damien said, fury blazing in his eyes.

Sophia stared up at him.

She had never seen him like that before.

“Are you serious right now?”

Her voice trembled with disbelief.

“You're protecting her?”

She pushed herself up slightly.

“Damien, didn't you hear what she said? She was indirectly calling me names, and yet you're taking her side?”

“Enough!”

His shout echoed through the room.

“You're overreacting. You're always so clingy. Do you know how irritating that is?”

Sophia stared at him.

“Irritating?”

She pressed her lips together, fighting back tears.

“I'm the one being clingy now?”

Her voice cracked.

“You've been cheating on me with her, Damien. Don't stand there and act like I'm the problem.”

She shook her head.

Her hands trembled at her sides as tears finally spilled down her cheeks.

“There's no way you can tell me I'm imagining this or making it up. I walked in and saw the two of you together.”

The woman looked between Damien and Sophia.

Confusion briefly flashed across her face.

Then she looked at Damien.

“Babe, she doesn't know?”

Sophia's heart sank. She slowly turned toward Damien.

“Told me what?”

Her voice was barely above a whisper. Then she raised her voice.

“What is she talking about?”

Damien stared at her for a long moment. Something unreadable passed through his eyes.

Then his expression hardened. “You really want answers?”

He stepped closer. “Fine.”

Without another word, Damien moved toward the woman beside him.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against his side.

Then he looked directly at Sophia.

“This is Desiré.”

Sophia's breath caught.

Damien paused for a moment.

Then he delivered the words that finally crushed whatever remained of her heart.

“My fiancée.”