INICIAR SESIÓNCharlotte's pov
That was it.
There was only so much humiliation that one person could take.
And after 10 long years I had finally reached it up to my neck.
I pushed him off me, the force of my hand plus the unexpectancy throwing him off balance and giving me a chance to escape. He stared at me with a widened expression standing widgetally in front of him as near as the day I came into this world.
“Babe what's wrong?”
My left eyebrow twitched.
“Are you really going to play dumb?” I stomped around the hotel room picking up articles of clothes that I could still slip on my body and wear out Intel to become a social pariah.
He came behind me but I screamed.
“If you touch me…” I warned him about my entire face going red and letting intentionality carry the rest of my words as I continued picking up my clothes and putting them on.
He had enough sense to put on his briefs, watching me with a look that modeled bemusement with slight surprise.
“Are you really going to work out on me on our anniversary?” He said when I was finally fully clothed. “All this time you have been nagging that I never do anything for our anniversary, you've been whiny ever since you saw your gift and now you're just going to leave?”
So he wasn't even going to address the fact that he called out my sister's name while supposedly making love to me?
There was so much to unpack but I decided to start with the so-called gift that he was huffing and puffing about right now.
“Jacob, I have planned cruises, all paid vacations, camping trips …all of them paid out of my own pocket with my own money for us–for you!” I spread my hand gesturing across the hastingly arranged hotel room.
“And this…our bedroom is a million times better than this place, if you had just made me dinner placed all of this yourself instead of paying someone $5 to do it, I would have burst into tears of utter joy,”
He started to scratch his head viciously, “Why is it that nothing I ever do is good enough for you? You said I should have arranged a surprise for you. I did. Now what's the problem?”
It was like all the words I said previously had flown right past his head.
Tears finally gathered in the corner of my eyes as if they were holding a meeting.
“Do you know something, Jacob?” I said with a sad tilt of my head, “even with this pathetic setup to mark a decade of marriage I would have still stayed by your side, I would have continued to and you are more and more in this humiliation ritual that I call a marriage…as long as I could delude myself to believe in that a part of your heart belong to me not even all of it…”
Confessing all of this was so humiliating but I wanted to get this baggage out of my chest.
“Then you called out her name…” my voice cracked, “after 10 years you still call out the name of the woman that broke your heart, how am I supposed to get over that Jacob? How am I supposed to sleep next to you at night knowing that she's the one you hope to wake up next to?”
“I do love you, Charlotte!”
“More than her?”
He looked down, not even meeting my eyes.
I wiped away the tears with a tip of my fingers, the rest dried up just like my feelings for him.
“I can't keep doing this anymore…” I said ignoring the alert to look on his face, “Jacob, I want a divorce.”
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
If anyone ever told me that I would end up in front of the Green family Villa again 10 years ago I would have laughed in their face, showed off my ruby ring and said; “That's impossible, he picked me!”
Ten years.
Just thinking about it was heavy on the mind.
I had been a teenager back then and now I was a grown woman.
I had a bag slunk over my shoulder packed with only the essentials before I headed back home, my feet lingered by the door for the longest time before I got the courage to push past it.
My mind had already spun 1,000 different scenarios that I could work into but none of them was my parents on their knees with Cecilia casually flipping through channel after channel in the living room as they cried with tears running down their face.
Cecilia was the first to notice me.
“Twin,” she called with fake fondness, “you're back,”
The casual way she threw those words at me really ticked me off. It was like I was just coming from a trip to the convenience store.
The smile she had on right now reminded me of the same smile she had on my wedding as she acted as my maid of honor. Throughout the whole ceremony she was barely holding back from laughing out loud, as if my wedding was nothing more than a circus parade.
And I guess she was right.
In the end I had wasted so many precious years of my life, keeping her toy entertained, hereby and within reach.
It wouldn't be long before he came crawling back to her.
Then they would repeat their toxic cycle all over again.
“Yes I'm back,” I affirmed her words even as it formed a lump in my throat, “.. but what's going on here?” I said a gesture towards our parents. They looked at me with a spark of hope in their eyes
“Charlotte, thank goodness you came around, please say some sentences to your sister,” my father pleaded with me to get up on his feet, “is about to ruin the entire green family,” he said, moving his arms in dramatic waves up and down his face.
Mother was equally if not more over the top.
“Yes, please talk to her Charlotte…you're one of the only people that can get through! Tell her that she can't cancel her wedding to THE Hayden Maxwell”
(EPILOGUE)The mornings were quieter here.It wasn’t like in the hollow or empty way.It just felt… softer.I stood by the window, one hand resting lightly against the frame, the other settled over the gentle curve of my stomach.The sun had just begun to rise.Soft light spilling across the street.People moving slowly.Shops opening.Life beginning again.It always did.No matter what happened the day before.No matter who didn’t make it to see it.A small breath left me.Not forced this time.Just… natural.Behind me, the house was already awake.I could hear movement downstairs.Margaret was probably making by breaksfast.Routine.Normalcy.It had taken a while to get used to that word again.Normal.It didn’t mean perfect.It didn’t mean everything was okay.It just meant… continuing.And that was enough.For now.My fingers pressed slightly against the glass as my gaze drifted outward.It had been weeks.Not long enough for the pain to disappear.But long enough for it to settle
CHARLOTTE POVEverything felt far away.Like I was there…But not really there.Voices came and went.But it was all blurred or muted.I was in a far different world…People moved around me, but I couldn’t focus on any of them long enough to understand what they were doing or why.All I could feel—Was the hole and the void that Hayden left me with…“Ma’am… ma’am, can you hear me?”A voice broke through finally.I blinked slowly.The world slowly came back into place.I finally noticed the lights and movements.My hands—They were stained with blood. His blood.I looked down.And everything rushed back at once.“No…”The word slipped out weaklyHands reached for me, their touch gentle and tender.“Ma’am, we need to move you—”“No.”I said, my tone firmer this time.I shook my head, my grip tightening instinctively.“No, I’m not—no—”“He needs medical attention—”“He needs—” my voice broke. “He needs to stay—”My chest tightened painfully.Because I knew, even as I said it.Even as I h
CHARLOTTE POVI couldn’t breathe properly…It felt like the air in the room has been completely sucked out…Everything in me locked the second the gun was pointed at me.It was like I took three steps closer to death. My death.My heart continued to pound heavily in my chest.“Don’t,” Hayden said.His voice cut through the air, his tone a bit desperate and urgent now.Aiden didn’t look at him.His eyes stayed directly fixed on me.He didn’t even blink.“You always make this complicated,” he said lightly. “It doesn’t have to be.”My throat felt dry.“What do you want?” I asked, my voice barely steady.He smiled faintly.“I already told you.”My chest tightened.“This ends when I decide it does. It ends when I am satisfied with what I’ve done.”“Then decide,” I shot back, the words slipping out before I could stop them.His smile widened just slightly.“There it is.”Something in my stomach dropped.He liked that.My reaction… it felt like it was what he eveh wanted.“You know, you’re
CHARLOTTE POVMy heart raced loudly in my chest, refusing to slow down.I could feel it pounding loudly against my ribs as I stood there, caught between them.We were on the edge of complete chaos.Hayden.Aiden.Two brothers, grown apart by their childhood trauma, by years of malice and hate…I hadn’t been in either of their lives long enough to understand how deep they hatred ran.And somehow…I was the center of it.“You shouldn’t be here,” I said, my voice quieter than I intended as I looked at Hayden.His eyes flicked to me briefly, just a second.But it was enough.“I could say the same to you,” he replied.My chest tightened.“I didn’t have a choice.”“You did. You should have told me..”The words were calm and soft.But they hit.Because part of me knew he was right. I should have made the safe bet and told him first…But I didn’t.“I made mine,” he added.Something in his tone made my stomach twist.Before I could respond—Aiden let out a soft, amused breath.“This is touchi
CHARLOTTE POVThe address led me out of the city.Further than I expected.Further than I liked or felt safe.But who was I kidding, none of this felt safe at all.By the time the car slowed, the streets had thinned out and it was much more quiet.The place felt abandoned.. Buildings stretched wide and empty, windows dark, metal gates pulled halfway down like the place had been forgotten halfway through existing.My stomach tightened.This was deliberate. He picked here away from prying eyes…I saw tonigh going sideways so easily. But for the sake of my child, I just hope it didn’t.The driver glanced back at me. “This is it.”I nodded, even though something in me wanted to say keep going.Don’t stop.Don’t step out.Don’t walk into this.But I had already made the decision.I paid him, stepped out, and the car pulled away almost immediately—like even it didn’t want to stay here longer than necessary.The silence settled in fast.Too fast.My eyes scanned the area.Empty.No movement
Charlotte POV The house was too quiet.And it wasn't the peaceful kind of quiet…I sat on the edge of the bed, my phone resting in my hand, my thumb hovering over the screen without actually doing anything.I hadn’t moved much since Margaret left the room.I hadn’t said much either.Because there was nothing to say.Everything felt… suspended.Like something was waiting to happen.And I didn’t know what it was.Or when it would hit.My eyes drifted to the window, watching the faint movement of leaves outside as the wind brushed through them.Normal.Everything out there looked normal.People walking, the cars passing… Life continuing like nothing had changed.Like yesterday hadn’t happened.Like men hadn’t forced their way into this house and almost killed Daniel. My chest tightened slightly at the memory.I pressed my lips together, exhaling slowly.This wasn’t supposed to follow me here.I had left it behind.I made the painful choice to leave Hayden and all baggage that came wit
Hayden’s POVThe ride back felt even much longer than the one before.The silence inside the car was suffocating.Greenfield Valley had been empty.Empty.I had gambled five hours.And lost.Arkon knew I would go there. He was waiting for it, betting on it..And yet again, I felt right into it.His
Hayden POVThe road felt endless, like we were just driving in circles.Every second mattered, and at the same time, every second right now, felt wasted.“How many minutes from there, now?” I asked, my voice tight despite my effort to keep it steady.There was a slight pause from the driver before
Hayden’s POVThe sirens were loud in my ears.I stood at the base of the front steps of the mansion, the night air cold against my face.I could hear boots pounding hard against gravel, doors opening and closing and orders were being made in urgent tones.Chief Reynolds stood a few feet in front o
Charlotte's POVThe gunshot split the night in two.For a fraction of a second, there was no pain, it was just the deafening sound of the bullet ringing in my ears.Then it hit.A burning and ripping force tore through my leg.“Ahhh!!”The scream ripped out of me before I could stop it.My body cru







