Chapter 4 - The Man I Was Told to Avoid

Evelyn

Damon’s gaze stayed on me and even as I lifted my glass and took a slow sip, hoping it would distract me, it didn’t. If anything, it made me more aware of it.

Sebastian noticed.

“Why do you keep staring at my wife?” he snapped.

Damon barely reacted, just leaned back slightly with a careless shrug. “Can’t I appreciate how beautiful she is?”

Sebastian’s fingers tightened around his glass, his jaw setting hard.

I almost laughed. So this is what bothers him.

I raised my glass again, but it slipped slightly in my hand, pouring all over me.

“Excuse me,” I muttered, already pushing my chair back.

I stayed a little longer in the restroom than necessary, staring at my reflection, pressing my lips together before exhaling slowly.

When I stepped out, I stopped.

Damon was right there, leaning against the wall like he had been waiting.

The moment he saw me, he straightened and walked toward me, I moved back instinctively, my eyes flicking to the sign beside the door.

“Relax,” he said, voice low. “You’re in the right place.”

He didn’t stop.

“Why are you acting like you don’t remember what happened last night?” he added, his eyes fixed on mine. “Who are you trying to fool?”

My brows pulled together slightly. That didn’t make sense. Tessa came for me, she took me away.

Before I could say anything, he reached out and took my phone from my hand, glancing at the screen with a faint smirk.

“You blocked me?”

I didn’t answer.

He handed it back like it was nothing. “Add it back. Be a good girl and don’t block me again, okay?”

The wink came just as easily, and then he was already walking away.

I stood there for a second, staring after him.

“What the hell…” I muttered under my breath.

I called Tessa immediately, pacing slowly as she picked up, when I pushed, she only confirmed one thing. I was in his car when she came. That was it, nothing else.

I ended the call, my grip tightening around my phone as I tried to remember, but there was nothing there, just empty space where something should have been.

By the time the event ended, I just wanted to leave.

I and Seb walked out together, and even then, I could feel it, that same gaze lingering on me, enough to throw me off balance.

“Careful,” Sebastian said, grabbing my arm before I could trip.

I pulled away lightly. “I’m fine.”

The drive was quiet, my thoughts tangled between Damon’s words and everything Sebastian had done, until his phone buzzed and he glanced at it, his expression shifting.

“Sorry,” he said, already slowing down. “I’ll have to drop you here. Something came up at work. You can book a ride.”

I got out without arguing, and within seconds, he was gone. The road was quiet. I tried booking a ride, but one after another, they cancelled. The place I was was too far.

I let out a breath, staring at my screen when it buzzed again.

That same number. I opened it.

[While you’re stranded, your husband is with his mistress. He left you on the way to be with her.]

Another message followed.

Pictures of Sebastian in the same clothes he left me with and the same woman.

My jaw tightened, my grip on the phone hardening slightly.

“I need to get away from him…” I muttered, the words slipping out before I could stop them.

My phone rang again. The hospital.

I answered immediately.

“We need you here as soon as possible,” the doctor said. “We’ve found a suitable sperm from your husband for the IVF. Please come quickly.”

For a second, everything else faded.

My breath caught, something small and fragile rising in my chest before I could stop it.

This was it. What I had been waiting for. A chance.

I could be a mom, finally.

My fingers tightened around the phone, a faint, almost disbelieving smile threatening to form—Then the images flashed back. Sebastian with her. The way he left me here.

The feeling twisted before it could settle.

My grip tightened.

Did I still want this? The question sat heavily in my chest, until I didn’t even realize how far I had drifted into my thoughts until a voice suddenly cut through it.

“Hey… get in.”

My head snapped up, my brows pulling together as I looked around, only then noticing the SUV already slowed down right beside me like it had been there for a while and I had just… missed it.

The window rolled down, and of course, it was Damon.

My expression hardened instantly, my body reacting before my mind even caught up, because out of everyone, it had to be him.

I took a small step back, my fingers tightening around my phone as if that alone could put distance between us.

He just rested his arm lazily while his eyes flicked briefly down the empty road before returning to me. “Go ahead,” he said casually.

I didn’t move.

“No cars are coming this way. Except mine.”

My jaw tightened because I already knew that. I had been standing here long enough to know that.

“You could walk,” he continued, “but you won’t get far.” I glanced down the road again, then back at him, my hesitation clear now, my thoughts clashing in a way that made it hard to stay still.

I didn’t trust him, not even a little, and everything about him screamed trouble, but standing here alone wasn’t an option either, and the annoying part was that he knew it.

I exhaled slowly, frustration slipping through before I could hide it. “Fine… I’ll get in,” I muttered, already moving before I could rethink it, pulling the door open and sliding into the passenger seat, the door shutting behind me with a sound.

I sat stiffly, my shoulders tense, my gaze fixed straight ahead.

The silence stretched through the entire ride, and when the car finally came to a stop in front of the hospital, I reached for the handle almost immediately, like staying even a second longer wasn’t an option.

“See you,” he said lightly, and blew a kiss in my direction, the window already rolling up as the car pulled away, leaving me standing there staring after it for a second longer than I should have.

“What is wrong with him…” I muttered under my breath, shaking my head slightly as I turned toward the hospital entrance, the thought hitting me just as quickly as everything else had.

Doesn’t he realize I’m married to his brother? The question barely settled before another followed right after, quieter but heavier. Is this even a marriage anymore?

I walked in, already pulling out my phone as I tried calling Sebastian, because no matter what was happening, he should be here, this was about the IVF, about us, about everything we had been trying for, but the call didn’t go through.

I tried again. Nothing. My grip tightened around the phone, already getting irritated.

So because he’s with her… he can’t even pick my calls? I swallowed it down, forcing myself to keep moving as I headed toward the doctor’s office, my steps quickening slightly, my mind trying to stay focused on why I was here in the first place, but before I could get there, a voice cut through the corridor, loud, panicked, desperate in a way that made my chest tighten instantly.

“Save her! She’s bleeding—save our child!” My steps stopped.

Slowly, I turned, my heart already reacting before my mind could catch up, and then I saw him.

Sebastian. His shirt slightly wrinkled, his hair messy, sweat running down his face as panic filled his eyes in a way I had never seen before.

Our child??