CHAPTER 3

Elena's POV

Damien and Georgina disentangled from each other the moment they noticed me standing at the doorway. For a second, nobody moved. I stood frozen in place, staring at them while confusion flooded every corner of my mind.

Why had Damien been holding her like that?

My eyes remained fixed on them as my thoughts tangled together. Georgina was supposed to be his cousin. His cousin. So why had the sight of them wrapped around each other felt so wrong? Why did the ugly feeling in the pit of my stomach refuse to go away?

"Elena?"

Damien's voice snapped me out of my haze.

I blinked hard. The two of them were now fully facing me. Georgina was smiling warmly and sweetly, as if nothing unusual had happened.

Damien, meanwhile, wore the same expression he always wore whenever he looked at me. Cold, blank and detached.

I swallowed. I had just seen my husband hugging the woman he called his cousin so tenderly, but somehow I couldn't even figure out the right question to ask.

Why were you hugging your cousin? No. That sounded ridiculous. Of course cousins hugged each other. That wasn't strange. That wasn't suspicious. Neither was it wrong. Then why did my stomach feel like a knot was tightening inside it? Why did I suddenly feel as though I had walked in on something I wasn't supposed to see?

The words slipped out before I could stop them. "You cousins seem very close."

The second the sentence left my mouth, regret hit me. I wasn't even sure what I meant by it.

Maybe I was trying to make sense of the strange feeling crawling under my skin.

Maybe I was just confused or exhausted. I had just donated blood, my head already felt light and everything looked blurry.

But before I could explain myself, Damien's expression darkened. He immediately stepped away from Georgina and strode toward me. His brow furrowed and his eyes hardened.

And when he spoke, his voice was low and dangerous. "What the hell are you trying to say, Elena?"

I flinched, the hostility in his tone hit me like a slap.

"You're so disgusting."

My breath caught in my throat.

"Apologize to Georgina immediately."

For a moment, I genuinely couldn't understand what was happening, so I stared at him. Then at Georgina. Then back at him.

The dizziness from donating blood began creeping through my body again, making me stumble backward slightly.

"Damien..." I whispered. "But I didn't do anything. Why—"

More anger flashed across his face. "We are not stupid." His voice rose. "I know damn well what you meant by that disgusting statement."

And before I could react, his fingers gripped my arm and I gasped because the grip wasn't gentle, it hurt.

"How do you expect Georgina to feel?" he demanded. "You're implying a sexual relationship with her cousin!"

My eyes widened. That wasn't—No. That wasn't what I— Or was it? I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

"Apologize!" His voice rang through the room like a whip.

I stood there feeling completely whiplashed, like I had somehow wandered into a dream where everything was happening too fast.

Yes. For one stupid second, seeing them embrace had made my thoughts drift somewhere inappropriate. But I had never expected this reaction, never expected this level of outrage, never expected Damien to look at me like I was something filthy.

Heat rushed into my face and shame followed immediately after. Maybe he was right. Maybe I had overreacted. Maybe I had let my imagination run wild for no reason.

I shouldn't have said those words. I overreacted to seeing two cousins hugging and now I had made my husband angry. My head lowered in shame. I couldn't even look at Georgina. I felt disgusted with myself and the guilt settled heavily inside my chest.

I opened my mouth, ready to apologize to Georgina, to tell her I hadn't meant it that way.

But Georgina spoke first, her voice stopping me. "Damien, it's okay." Her voice was kind and gentle. She stepped forward and stood in front of me. "You know she just donated her blood to me. Let's give her some grace."

She sighed sadly. "It's disturbing that she even thought of something like that. But I guess that's the price I have to pay for asking her to donate her blood to me."

The guilt hit harder and I stood there between them feeling smaller and smaller. Ashamed and humiliated.

I wanted to explain to Georgina that it had nothing to do with the blood donation, that it was just a misunderstanding.

But once again, I was interrupted, this time by Damien’s angry voice.  "And this is why I can't even show you off to the public." His voice cut through the room.

Every muscle in my body stiffened as he looked at me with complete disappointment.

"You are so embarrassing. Imagine the whole nation finding out that the wife of Damien Volkov, captain of the Boston Wolves, is so dumb. Sometimes I wonder if your brain is just for decorative purposes."

My heart clenched tightly at the hurtful words Damien hurled at me and for a second, I couldn't breathe. Everyone believed Damien kept our marriage private because he wanted to protect me. That was the story people loved. The devoted hockey captain protecting his wife from public scrutiny.

The truth was far uglier. He hid me because he was ashamed of me.

I had always known that, but hearing him say it out loud, hearing him confirm it to my face, felt like someone had reached into my chest and squeezed my heart.

My heart ached with so much pain.

I lowered my eyes because if I looked at him any longer, I might cry. And crying would only make him angrier.

Damien's phone suddenly rang. He glanced at the screen, then looked at Georgina. "I'll be back. I have to take this call."

Without sparing me another glance, he turned and left the room.

After Damien left the room, Georgina suddenly grabbed my hand gently, "Oh, Elena." Her voice sounded sweet and soft. "I know I've never really thanked you for everything. Thank you so much for donating, for enduring all of this with me."

I remained silent.

"I know Damien is barely home because of me."

A strange feeling settled in my stomach.

She squeezed my hand again before she continued. "I always tell him to give his wife some of the affection and attention he gives me, you know."

My brows furrowed. There was something about the way she said it that felt wrong.

Then she smiled. "I always tell him, I know he doesn't love his wife, but he doesn't have to make it so obvious."

The words struck me harder than Damien's insults as my entire body went still. I stared at her, my heart pounding in my chest. Slowly, I tried to pull my hand away, but she held on tighter. And then I finally saw it.

The smile. It wasn't warm or kind. It was fake and dripping with mockery and sarcasm. It was the expression of someone enjoying my pain.

"Also," she continued softly, "I know it's the insecurity talking. The insecurity from not being loved by your husband all these years. But what you said was very disgusting, Elena."

I finally yanked my hand free from hers. I felt anger mixed with humiliation bubbling in my chest, I forced myself to stay calm.

"Georgina, you don't know what you're talking about." My voice shook. "Damien loves me." But even as I said it, the words sounded weak, unconvincing and pathetic. But I said them anyway, because if I stopped believing it, then what had the last five years of my life been for?

"My husband—"

I never finished the sentence because Georgina's lips tugged into an evil smirk and then suddenly, she shoved me hard.

Everything happened too fast. One second I was standing, the next, the world tilted and I crashed to the floor. Pain exploded through my elbow as it scraped against the hard surface.

A loud gasp escaped me. The room spun violently as the dizziness from the blood donation took over me and for a moment, I couldn't even get up.

I stared at Georgina, with my eyes wide. My mind struggling to understand. What had I done to her? Why was she treating me like this?

But she wasn't finished, because the moment she heard the door opening behind us—she suddenly threw herself to the floor. Then she screamed. The sound echoing through the room dramatically.

My stomach dropped. She couldn't possibly—

"GINA!" Damien's voice thundered through the room and he rushed toward her immediately. He didn't even look at me who was also sprawled on the floor.

Georgina lay on the floor clutching her leg dramatically, looking hurt and helpless.

I was still trying to process what she was trying to achieve when Damien suddenly turned toward me. His expression was filled with so much rage that my blood ran cold.

"What the hell did you do to her?!" He screamed at me, his eyes burning with anger.

I shook my head frantically. "No." The words were stuck and I had suddenly ran out of what to say. "Damien, she was the one who—"

I never got to finish.

His hand struck my face so hard that my head snapped sideways.

The sound echoed through the room. For a second, everything went completely still.

I froze. My hand slowly rose to my burning cheek. Shock washed through me. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't understand what had just happened.

Damien had hit me.

Tears instantly filled my eyes. Not because of the pain, but because I had never imagined he would do this.

I stared at him through blurred vision. Waiting for him to realize what he just did.

Instead, he looked at me with disgust. "You're so wicked, Elena.”