Mag-log inSara Hayes' POVThe door of Damian’s study seemed to loom like the entrance to a courtroom today, I felt like the defendant. I had spent an hour in front of the mirror, meticulously crafting my expression, a delicate balance of contrition, vulnerability, and just a hint of the desperation that I felt will touch his heart to forgive me.I stood outside his study door for a solid three minutes before I finally worked up the nerve to knock, my hand hovering in the air.I hated that I was nervous. I hated that I was standing outside his door, sweating over the prospect of apologizing to my fake husband.I knocked twice."Come in."I pushed the door open slowly.Damian didn't look up. He was seated behind a massive mahogany desk, a fountain pen scratching against a piece of vellum with a rhythmic precision. The lamplight cast deep shadows across his face, showing his handsome features.I walked toward him and let out a small, shaky sigh."I wanted to talk to you," I said."I'm listening,"
Sarai Vance's POV**The silence in my room felt heavy and suffocating. It reminds me every second that I should have been Mrs Kade. I sat on the edge of my velvet armchair, my fingers digging into the fabric, staring at the closed door of my room as if I could burn a hole through it with my gaze.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Sara with her pathetic, wide-eyed look of innocence, carrying the one thing I wanted more than anything in this world. Damian’s child.The thought of it made my stomach churn with a visceral, acidic hatred. It wasn't just about the baby, it was about the fact that Damian married her not caring about my feelings. And how protective he was of her. And a reminder that she had managed to penetrate the armor he wore for eight years and I wasn't able to do that, now I'm left orbiting the edges, a ghost in a designer dress.My phone rang just as I was finally beginning to feel something close to calm settle over me.I answered immediately, recognizing the number.
Damian Kade's POVI found Thomas in the kitchen, already pulling ingredients from the refrigerator."The food for Sara," I said. "Nothing heavy. Something plain enough that it won't upset her stomach further.""Understood, sir," he said. "I was already preparing something light."I paused at the doorway."One more thing," I said. "Sarai and her mother are not to be permitted into this house again without my direct permission. If they arrive unannounced, you call security and have them escorted off the property immediately."Thomas nodded. "Yes, sir."I appreciated that about him, even now, even with everything still unresolved between us regarding tonight.I walked out of the house and got into my car, sitting there for a moment in silence, my hands resting against the steering wheel while I tried to organize the chaos currently occupying every corner of my mind.Someone had sent those photographs with one clear purpose: to cause a fight between Sara and myself. And the list of people
Sarai Vance's POVI sat frozen in the opulent expanse of the sitting room, my fingernails digging so deeply into the velvet upholstery of the armchair that it almost ripped the fabric. My breath was coming in shallow, jagged gasps, and my entire body was vibrating with a rage.I could still see the way Damian had looked at her. Not with the cold indifference he usually reserved for me, but with a possessive, primal protectiveness that made my stomach churn. The sheer audacity of it. The absolute, wretched injustice of it.I had felt a surge of triumph that nearly blinded me. When Sara's step sister Cassie had sent me those photographs. she had suggested that it was a good idea if we use the picture to weaponize Sara, and I had done exactly that, forwarding them to Margaret with a misleading message. I had sent the same images to Damian too anonymously.I had wanted him furious.I had played my part perfectly. I had sent the images to Damian’s mother, knowing that the picture would fu
Sara Hayes' POVThe moment the car stopped in the driveway, Damian was out of his door and walking briskly toward the house before I'd even managed to unbuckle my seatbelt.I hurried after him, my legs still unsteady from exhaustion, but his stride never slowed, never faltered, moving with a purpose that made me feel like I was chasing after a storm front rather than a person.Thomas appeared in the entryway, his expression immediately shifting to relief at the sight of us, though it faltered the instant he registered Damian's face."Sir, welcome home, I—"Damian didn't even glance at him. He continued walking, straight past Thomas like he hadn't spoken at all.Then, abruptly, he stopped.He turned, slowly, and I watched Thomas's entire posture change, his shoulders squaring slightly like a man bracing for impact."Thomas," Damian said, his voice quiet in a way that felt far more threatening than shouting ever could. "You have one hour to give me a reason why I shouldn't relieve you o
Sara Hayes' POV"Miss Sara, someone is here for you," I stood up quickly, smoothing down the front of my dress, mentally preparing myself to see Thomas's familiar, kind face waiting on the other side of that door.Instead, I saw Damian.My stomach dropped instantly.He stood near the front entrance, still in his suit from work. His expression was unreadable, but the longer I looked at him, the more I recognized the tension coiled beneath his stillness.I had been sitting on a hard, plastic chair for three agonizing hours, my back aching and my stomach twisting uncomfortably every few minutes because I hadn't eaten anything since a few crackers that morning. My wrists still bear faint red marks from the handcuffs.Every time the door opened, I jumped, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. The officers had spent the last few hours trying to lean on me, twisting my words, trying to convince me to admit that I had assaulted Mr Thorne. The nausea hit me in waves. I lean







