Chapter 14

Driven by a toxic mix of alcohol, lingering rage, and creeping panic, I had driven back to the White estate. The streets were empty at this hour, but my mind was a hurricane of fury and desperation. My hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles turned white, and the speedometer climbed higher and higher as I sped through the quiet road.

When I pushed my way inside, the mansion was dead silent, pitch black except for a soft amber glow spilling from the rear glass doors leading to the massive backyard garden. The front door had been left unlocked careless, I thought bitterly and I slipped inside like a thief in the night.

Curious and furious, I crept outside, tiptoeing across the manicured lawn until I found a thick cluster of tall hydrangeas to hide behind. The blooms were massive, their blue and purple petals glistening with night dew, and they provided ample cover for my clandestine observation.

I peered through the leaves and my breath hitched in my throat.

There she was. Sophia.

She was dancing under the glowing canopy of fairy lights, wearing a flowing white gown that made her look like an ethereal angel. The fabric floated around her like wings, and her dark hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall of silk. The music swelled, and she spun gracefully, her body flowing seamlessly with every note.

Wow... she's still the same as before, I thought, a strange, hollow ache gripping my chest.

I had known her for years as an exceptionally talented dancer back when we were first together. She had studied ballet for most of her childhood, and I had watched her perform countless times at recitals, at competitions, at intimate gatherings with friends. But it had been so long since I allowed myself to notice her, since I had been too busy chasing Kate and taking Sophia for granted. She had been just... there. A constant, reliable presence in the background of my life. A wife who cooked my meals and kept my house and never asked for anything in return.

But seeing her now, moving with such effortless, breathtaking beauty... she was completely mesmerising. She wasn't just dancing; she was alive. Every movement was filled with joy and passion and a freedom I had never seen in her before. She looked... happy. Truly, genuinely happy.

Then my eyes shifted to the chair beside the dance floor.

Taylor was sitting there, watching Sophia with an intensity of care and devotion that made my blood run cold. It wasn't just casual observation; Taylor was looking at Sophia the way a starving person looks at a feast. Her eyes tracked every movement, every gesture, every breath. She was utterly captivated by the performance and by the performer.

A sharp, poisonous spike of jealousy flared up in my gut. That's my wife! I wanted to scream. She belongs to me!

The slow music gently faded out, lingering in the night air as Sophia stopped moving. She stood in the centre of the patio, chest heaving slightly as she caught her breath, flushed and radiant. A single strand of hair had escaped from behind her ear, and she tucked it back with a delicate, almost shy gesture that made my heart clench.

Standing there in the shadows, watching the way Taylor looked at her, a sudden, terrifying wave of doubt washed over my arrogant mind. I can't keep lying to get her back, a voice whispered inside my head. Taylor is actually falling for her, and Sophia looks happier with her than she ever did with me.

The realisation hit me like a physical blow. Sophia had never looked at me the way she looked at Taylor. She had never danced for me the way she danced for Taylor. She had never been this alive, this radiant, this herself when she was with me.

I made a reckless, desperate decision. I have to tell her the truth. I'll remind her of our five years together, and drag her back home where she belongs.

My muscles tensed as I stepped out from behind the flowers, preparing to march onto the patio and interrupt them.

Then, Taylor stood up from her chair.

She started clapping slowly a deliberate, appreciative applause that echoed through the quiet garden and a proud, affectionate smile spread across her gorgeous face as she walked straight toward Sophia.

"You look absolutely stunning," Taylor praised, her voice carrying clearly through the quiet night air. "Like a dream come to life."

"Thank you, Taylor," Sophia replied softly, raising a hand to adjust a stray lock of hair behind her ear. A faint blush colored her cheeks, visible even from my hiding place.

Watching the way Sophia smiled back at her made my fists clench so tightly my fingernails bit deep into my palms. I began to tremble with rage, my vision blurring at the edges.

Then, Taylor closed the tiny distance remaining between them. Without a second thought, Taylor raised her hands, wrapping her arms securely around Sophia's waist and pulling her flush against her body. Their faces were inches apart, their breaths mingling in the cool night air.

"No... no, this can't be happening!" I hissed aloud through gritted teeth, my vision turning red as I stepped forward, abandoning all caution.

I was about to storm out of the garden and put a stop to it right then and there when the sharp, vibrating buzz of my cell phone detonated against my thigh.

Startled, I froze in my tracks. Cursing under my breath, I yanked my phone out of my suit jacket, my heart pounding in my chest.

It was a notification. A text message from Kate.

I tapped the screen, and my heart slammed against my ribs. It was an image a photo of Kate sprawled out across a rumpled bed, wearing a sheer, skimpy lace lingerie set that left very little to the imagination. She was posing seductively for the camera, one hand tangled in her hair, her lips curved in a provocative pout.

Beneath the photo, a second text message popped up:

If you don't come over and fuck me right now, I'll find someone else who will.

"FUCK! Damn it, that bitch!" I muttered furiously, glaring at the screen as heat flushed up my neck. My thumb hovered over the keyboard, ready to type out a furious response.

I snapped my head back up to look at the pavilion.

During the second I had looked down at my phone, Taylor had slipped off her tailored suit jacket and was now tenderly wrapping it around Sophia's shivering shoulders because of the evening chill. The gesture was so naturally intimate, so deeply caring, that it made me sick to my stomach. Taylor's hands lingered on Sophia's shoulders for a moment, and then she gently brushed a strand of hair from Sophia's face.

I stood there, torn in half by my own conflicting, pathetic desires.

Yes... I know; I tried to reassure myself, my brain desperately grasping at straws. Taylor has never liked women. She's just helping Sophia out of kindness because of the accident. She won't actually do anything to her.

The thought was flimsy, even to my own ears. But I clung to it like a drowning man clings to a life raft. I couldn't accept the truth that Taylor might actually want Sophia. That Sophia might actually want Taylor. That I might have already lost the wife I had taken for granted for so long.

My lust for Kate warred with my sudden, toxic obsession with reclaiming Sophia. Kate was demanding, passionate, thrilling a fire that burned bright and hot and all-consuming. Sophia was calm, steady, comforting a warm hearth that I had always assumed would be there waiting for me. But now that hearth was glowing with warmth for someone else, and I found myself desperately wanting to be warm again.

I'll go calm Kate down first, I rationalised to myself, backing away slowly into the dark shadows of the garden. I'll satisfy Kate tonight, come back tomorrow morning when Taylor is at the office, tell Sophia the absolute truth, and drag her back home.

The plan was pathetic, and I knew it. But it was all I had.

With a final, venomous glare toward the two women laughing softly under the fairy lights their heads bent together. I turned around and tiptoed silently away from the garden, rushing off to answer Kate's demands.