CHAPTER TWO THE ALLEGATION IS VERIFIED

Amanda's POV.

Damien picked me up at five o'clock in the evening the next day.

None of us initiated a conversation in the car. What was there to say? We were either going to prove he was wrong, or we were going to have our lives rearranged forever.

I sat beside him, staring through the window as the city slowly disappeared behind us. My hands were cold despite the warmth inside the car, and I kept rubbing them together as though I could somehow calm myself.

I had spent the entire night trying to convince myself that Damien was wrong.

Nathaniel loved me. He had to love me.

For three years, he had been my husband, my closest friend, and the person I believed I could trust with every part of my life. Even when things changed between us, I had never seriously imagined another woman taking my place.

But Vivian has been different lately. She had been visiting more often, and I had welcomed her every time. She was my stepsister, but we had grown so close that I considered her family in every sense of the word.

How stupid could I have been? I looked at Damien. He was driving with both hands firmly on the steering wheel, his face hard and unreadable.

"How much longer?" I finally asked.

"About twenty minutes."

I nodded and returned my eyes to the window. Neither of us spoke again.

The mansion was located in a quiet part of the city, far from the busy streets and tall buildings. When Damien turned through a private gate, I frowned.

I had never seen this place before.

The house stood behind a long driveway, surrounded by tall trees and perfectly trimmed lawns. It was large enough to belong to someone extremely wealthy, with huge windows, stone walls, and a wide staircase leading toward the entrance.

"Whose house is this?" I asked. Damien parked the car.

"Nathaniel's."

My heart dropped. "What?"

"He owns it."

I stared at the mansion.

"Nathaniel never told me about this."

"I know."

There was something in the way Damien said it that made my stomach tighten. I stepped out of the car.

For a moment, I could not move. I stared at the house and wondered how many secrets my husband had been keeping from me. Then Damien came around the car.

"Are you ready?"

No. I was not ready. But I nodded anyway.

We walked toward the entrance. Damien opened the door quietly, and we stepped inside.

The living room was enormous. Everything looked expensive. The furniture, the paintings, the marble floor, even the large chandelier hanging above us. Yet I barely noticed any of it.

I was listening. At first, there was nothing. Then I heard something upstairs. A faint sound.

I froze. Damien stopped too. We looked at each other. Another sound came from above. My heart began to pound. It was a woman's voice.

I could not understand the words, but I knew what I was hearing. My body went cold.

"No," I whispered.

Damien looked at me.

"Amanda..."

"No."

I shook my head.

It could not be. There had to be another explanation. Maybe someone else was in the house. Maybe Nathaniel had rented the place.

Maybe Damien had brought me here because he wanted to destroy my marriage. Then I heard Nathaniel's voice. My entire body went numb.

There was no mistaking it. It was him. The man whose voice I had heard every morning for three years. The man who had kissed me yesterday.

The man who had looked into my eyes and told me he loved me before leaving for his supposed business trip. My knees nearly gave way. Damien reached for my arm.

"Amanda, wait."

I pulled away.

"I need to see."

I started walking toward the stairs. Every step felt heavier than the one before it.

"Amanda," Damien whispered.

I ignored him. I climbed slowly, trying not to make a sound. The voices became clearer. My breathing became harder.

I reached the hallway and stood there for a few seconds, staring at the closed bedroom door at the end. I already knew what was behind it.

Some part of me knew but I still needed to see it. I walked toward the door. My hand trembled as I reached for the handle. I opened it and my world ended.

Nathaniel was there. My husband. The man I had trusted with my heart. He was with Vivian, my stepsister, pounding her very hard on the bed.

The same woman I had welcomed into my home. The same woman I had defended. The same woman I had called family. There was no misunderstanding anymore.

No edited picture. No lie Damien had invented. No innocent explanation. I stood in the doorway, staring at them, unable to breathe.

My lips trembled. "Nathaniel..." I whispered, pain exploding out of my body. I stepped backward.

"No,” I began to sobbed. “I don't deserve this.”

The room seemed to spin around me. Five months of excuses. He was always complaining of being tired from work. Sometimes stressed. Even when I tried to initiate sex he would say he is not in the mood.

Five months of me wondering what I had done wrong. Five months of believing my husband was simply busy. And all this time, he had been giving my love to someone else.

Someone I trusted and called my sister. I felt something inside me collapse.

"You told me you loved me." I was talking to myself amidst sobbing.

I laughed through my tears. It was a broken, bitter sound. I couldn't take in the scene again and gently closed the door. That scene destroyed me more than anything could have. I turned and ran.

"Amanda!"

I heard Damien shout behind me. I ran down the stairs so quickly that I nearly fell.

I only wanted to get away.

Away from the house, Nathaniel and Vivian. Away from the life I had thought was real. Damien was running after me.

"Amanda, stop!"

I kept going. I pushed through the front door and rushed outside. The evening air hit my face, but I could barely feel it. Tears blurred my vision.

I crossed the driveway without looking. I heard Damien screaming my name.

"Amanda!"

Then came the sound of a horn. A loud, terrifying horn. I turned. Bright headlights came straight toward me. My body froze. There was no time to move.

The vehicle struck me. The impact threw me through the air, and for a moment, everything became silent. I hit the ground hard.

Pain exploded through my body. My vision became blurred. I heard people screaming. Then I heard Damien. His voice was full of terror.

"Amanda!"

He came running toward me.

"Amanda, stay with me!"

I tried to open my eyes, but everything was fading. The last thing I saw was Damien dropping to his knees beside me, his hands shaking as he reached for me.

"No, no, no!"

His scream echoed through the evening.

"Somebody call an ambulance!"

I wanted to speak. I wanted to tell him I was still alive, but my body would not respond.

And as the darkness slowly closed over my eyes, one terrible thought remained in my mind.

I had gone there to discover whether my husband was cheating. I never imagined I would leave fighting for my life.