CHAPTER 4

Elena's POV

I sat on the floor, my trembling hand still pressed against the cheek that stung badly from the slap Damien gave me.

Georgina let out a soft whimper, remaining on the floor, clutching her leg dramatically as tears shimmered in her eyes. Looking up at Damien, she appeared fragile and broken. "Damien..." she whispered weakly. "My leg hurts so much. I don't even know what I did for your wife to push me."

Something inside me twisted and I stared at her in disbelief. "What did I do to you?" I demanded. My voice shook with anger and pain. "Why are you doing this?"

"Just shut the fuck up, Elena." Damien snapped at me, making me flinch. His eyes were full of fury as he looked at me. "If anything happens to her, I will make sure you pay dearly."

Then, without another glance in my direction, he wrapped an arm around Georgina and carefully helped her to her feet. He guided her toward the hospital bed as though she were something precious. "I'm so sorry for her behavior, Gina," he said softly. "I'll make it up to you. I promise."

I was still on the floor, while my husband helped her up, tears stung my eyes and then finally escaped, spilling down my cheeks. Slowly, I pushed myself to my feet, and without another word to either of them, I turned around and walked out of the hospital.

As I stopped outside the hospital building, waiting for my cab, the cold air hit my face and the world around me spun slightly. My hand instinctively went to my stomach as a wave of nausea and dizziness hit me at the same time. My cheek still burned from the slap. Damien really hit me. For his cousin. While I was pregnant. The realization made my stomach churn.

"Excuse me, miss. Are you Elena?"

The unfamiliar feminine voice startled me from my thoughts. I turned around to see a blonde teenage girl standing behind me. She couldn't have been older than sixteen.

Confusion crossed my face. "Yes?"

"A man asked me to give this to you." She said and held out a small pink bag. When I looked well, it was a pharmacy bag.

I didn't take it immediately, instead, I looked at her suspiciously. "What man?"

The girl shrugged nonchalantly, "Tall. Brown coat. He paid me fifty bucks."

My eyes immediately searched the area. The parking lot, the entrance, the sidewalk. There was nothing. No tall man in a brown coat.

I looked back at the girl, she seemed completely unbothered. Just a kid who was paid to deliver the bag.

Slowly, I reached out and accepted the bag.

"He said it's for your dizziness and bruised elbow." She added.

My brows furrowed. But the girl walked away before I could ask another question.

Dizziness and bruised elbow?

I glanced down at the bruise on my elbow. I barely remembered getting it. Everything that had happened after I stepped inside the hospital went by with a blur.

Carefully, I looked inside the bag. There was an ointment, a dozen chocolates, several candies and a small folded note.

I unfolded it and only two words were written inside. 'From A.'

I stared at the note. A? Who was A? And more importantly...How did he know about my dizziness and my bruised elbow?

My cab finally arrived and as I stepped into the vehicle, I kept wondering who this stranger was, a stranger who noticed things my own husband didn't even notice.

By the time I arrived home, exhaustion had settled deep into my bones. The silence inside the house swallowed me whole. I stood by the front door for several seconds without moving. My whole body was still but my mind was racing with a million thoughts and my heart ached so much.

I felt so alone and worthless. For five years, I had given myself to Damien over and over and over again, but it was never enough. Again and again, I had bent myself into impossible shapes trying to become the woman he wanted. He still never saw me, he never chose me and now he even hit me.

Slowly, I placed a hand over my stomach. My baby. Our baby. I still hadn't told him. The thought made tears sting my eyes again. Would he even want this child? Did he want anything that belonged to me? Was there any hope left for our marriage?

As I stood there, completely lost in my thoughts, the front door suddenly burst open, startling me. Damien walked inside carrying a bouquet of flowers. For one ridiculous second, hope bloomed in my chest. Maybe he regretted it. Maybe he had come home to apologize. Maybe—

The little stupid hope died instantly because Damien walked right past me, without a glance or even a word.

I let out a heavy sigh and rapidly blinked back the tears welling in my eyes.

Then something slipped from Damien's hand, a small piece of paper hit the floor. He didn't notice. He was busy loosening his tie and heading toward the stairs.

Frowning, I bent down and picked it up. The moment my fingers touched it, I realized it wasn't ordinary paper. It was thick and glossy. My eyes dropped to the writing. And everything stopped.

On the paper, written in black ink was, Georgina + Damien = Baby Volkov.

My heart stopped beating. At least, that's what it felt like. My hands immediately began shaking. Slowly and carefully, with my heart beating so fast I thought it would jump into my mouth, I turned the paper.

For a second, my brain couldn't process what I was looking at. Black, white and gray blurry shapes. An ultrasound image.

A date was written in the corner of it, exactly one and a half months ago.

The paper began trembling violently in my hands.

Georgina? As in his cousin, Georgina?? How? They were supposed to be cousins?? Weren't they?

The room spun violently, my ears rang and my fingers went numb. I stared at the ultrasound.

Georgina was pregnant.

And suddenly, like a movie trailer, every moment replayed itself inside my mind.

Georgina constantly demanding Damien's attention. Georgina being ill every week. Georgina needing him every second of every day. The countless emergencies. When she needed blood transfusion and I... I donated blood to her.

I stumbled backward, a sharp pain exploded inside my chest. I held my chest in pain as breathing became difficult. Realization dawned on me harshly, like a bucket of ice water was dumped on me.

Georgina was not Damien's cousin.

She was his mistress.

And she was carrying his child.

My husband had been cheating on me.

The realization shattered whatever remained of my heart. Everything came crashing down at once.

Five years. Five painful years. Five years of loneliness. Five years of rejection. Five years of begging for scraps of affection. Five years of making excuses for a man who never loved me.

The cold shoulders. The neglect. The sacrifices. The endless disappointment. And now this.

This was the final blow. The cruelest betrayal of all.

Something inside me finally broke. Or maybe it finally healed.

Because all at once, the desperate need to earn Damien's love disappeared. The constant longing vanished. The hope died.

I was done.

"Damien." My voice sounded unfamiliar. It was steady and calm.

I followed him to the bedroom. He was already undressing when I entered. He turned at the sound of my footsteps.

I held up the ultrasound picture. Georgina's ultrasound picture. Then I looked him directly in the eyes. For the first time in years, I wasn't afraid.

"Damien Volkov," I said quietly. "I want a divorce." The words spilled my mouth before I could take them back.

It only took a second for him to understand. His face changed immediately. "Elena..."

The cold indifference he always wore around me vanished and shock replaced it.

"I said I want a divorce." The weight of those words pressed on my chest. And yet, for the first time in years, I could breathe. For the first time in years, I felt free.