CHAPTER 03

OPHELIA COLE

I had barely finished paying for my groceries when two girls walked up to me. I’d noticed them from the moment I stepped into the store, they’d been there long before me, yet somehow managed to trail behind me through every aisle, whispering to each other in murmurs I couldn’t decipher.

"Ophelia Cole, right?” the brunette asked. She wore a smile, but it was painfully, almost theatrically fake. She was of average height, her hair pressed so flat it looked lacquered, and her lips were sharply lined, too sharply. She struck me as the type who poured every spare dollar into her face, and it showed in the layers of work sitting on her skin.

“Yes…” I said slowly. “Sorry, do I know you girls?”

“I’d hope not,” the girl with the short black hair snapped before I could even respond.

College had taught me many things, and one of them was how to spot mean girls from a mile away. These two? They were unmistakably the type.

I raised my brows, silently urging them to get to the point.

“We’ve heard your name more times than we’ve ever seen you,” the brunette said. “And honestly? We don’t appreciate your presence. You’re only going to cause problems. So why don’t you go back to wherever the hell you came from?”

I scoffed, genuinely baffled at the confidence. Who exactly appointed them the gatekeepers of where I lived?

“What is this about?” I folded my arms, steadying my breath as I looked between them, trying to place their faces. Maybe I knew them and they’d changed over the years? But no. Not even a flicker of familiarity. Yet somehow, they knew me.

“Luca Dawson deserves better,” the brunette said coldly. “And the better isn’t you.”

This time, I laughed...actually laughed. How could I have forgotten how popular Luca used to be? Back in school, half the girls were jealous of me for being the one he chose. It’s just been so long that I didn’t expect the old nonsense to still exist.

Threatened by girls to leave him?

Too late, darlings. We’re already at the marriage stage.

I picked up my card from the cashier and gathered my bags.

“You should worry more about yourselves,” I said calmly, “than you do about someone else’s man.”

“Except he isn’t your man,” the black-haired girl shot back, her voice dripping pure hatred. She huffed, turning sharply to the brunette. “Let’s go.”

They brushed past me on purpose, shoulders hitting mine. I didn’t react. Instead, I inhaled deeply, then walked out of the store toward my car. I loaded the bags into the trunk one by one.

“Some audacity,” I muttered under my breath.

_

I had just finished putting Grandma to bed when I finally decided to call my best friend. I’d been feeling a little off toward the evening, like I was coming down with something and honestly, I hate being sick. And considering I’m here to take care of someone who is sick, getting sick myself was the last thing I could afford.

Mary and I talked for over an hour, and I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. She’s the closest thing I have to a sister, constant, loyal, annoyingly perceptive and I wouldn’t trade her for anything.

“So, when do you get to see him?” she asked when our conversation drifted back to Luca.

“In five days’ time, I hope.”

“Well, that’s something. And his brother? Are we going to keep pretending like you and Damien aren’t… y’know… into something?”

“Eww, Mary! That’s disgusting...he’s my fiancé’s older brother.”

I’d completely forgotten I told her about Damien, the awkwardness between us, how unsettling his presence was, and how hard I’d been trying to act normal around him. Naturally, Mary had blown everything out of proportion, insisting we probably liked each other but were too blind to see it.

Which was ridiculous. Yes, his dominant, quiet intensity did something strange to the air whenever he walked into a room, but that didn’t mean I felt anything for him. I had never looked at him that way.

I’ve loved Luca since I was a child. I was lucky enough to be marrying him, something I’d daydreamed about for years. It would be insane, not to mention wrong, to suddenly start noticing his brother - who, aside from everything else, was far too old for me.

“Pretending it is! Alright then, darling, I’ve gotta go,duty calls.”

“Love you!” I said, smiling like an idiot even after the call disconnected. That was always my favorite part of talking to her.

I set my phone aside and decided to watch a movie before heading to bed. Damien wasn’t back yet, and I assumed he was still caught up with work. With Luca’s scandal, the office was probably drowning in media fires and damage control. I’d stopped watching the news altogether; I couldn’t stand seeing the comments anymore.

About thirty minutes into the movie, my eyelids were already drooping when a notification kept pinging over and over. Annoying, persistent. I grabbed my phone, intending to silence it,only to freeze.

I shot up from the couch, heart thundering. For a moment, everything went silent around me, the kind of silence that feels like pressure in your ears. I stared at the screen, unable to believe what I was seeing. I didn’t even notice Damien walk in.

“Ophelia! Hey..are you okay?” he asked, stepping closer.

I turned to him, and that was it, i lost it. Tears spilled freely, hot and uncontrollable. I shook my head, my voice trapped somewhere in my chest until I finally forced the word out.

“No.”

I lifted my phone for him to see. His eyes flicked to the screen, and his expression didn’t move , not a twitch, not even a blink. That told me everything I needed to know.

My hand flew to my mouth as a sob clawed up my throat. “Oh my God… you knew!” I whispered, searching his face for denial I wasn’t going to find.

And of course—of course—he knew.