CHAPTER ONE

Aurora

“From now on, she will be staying with us.”

The words didn’t feel real. Damien was holding the hands of a woman lovingly as they both stared at me like I was the stranger in the house.

She was decked in a breathtakingly sexy silk dress, its neckline daringly low and its back nearly nonexistent.

“What are you saying Damien?”

I muttered under my breath, suddenly losing the strength to speak.

He made his way inside, ignoring my question. She sauntered past me, holding his hands like she was declaring her ownership, in a way I never was able to.

“I expected a warmer welcome.”

She gestured to the sofa, her lips curving in a condescending smile when I shook my head in disbelief.

“Oh, of course, Damien hadn’t told you. I am his first love.”

I stared at her, stricken. I knew her. Genevieve. The woman he never stopped talking about.

Wiping my sweaty hands on my apron, I suddenly became self conscious. I probably smelled like dinner and looked as tired as I felt on the inside. Maybe this was all a joke.

But nothing prepared me for his next words. “I want a divorce.”

The words hung in the air, making breathing difficult. It was heavy and sharp, like something that could cut if I reached out to touch it. For a moment, I thought I was imagining it.

But when I looked up, Damien Cross was still standing there, calmly watching me with no emotion in his eyes.My husband of four years.

The man I had built my quiet, fragile world around. I walked away, heading back to the kitchen to continue cooking like nothing had happened.

I heard his footsteps seconds later and the sound of something dropping on the kitchen counter where I sliced the vegetables. My eyes followed its landing. It was a brown file.

Something warned me against opening it, but against my better judgement, I did.

My heart stopped beating at the sight of the words ‘Divorce.’

“I don’t want to put the both of us through another ten years of the same mundane life,” he continued, his voice calm, like he had rehearsed this.

“I’m in love with Genevieve.”

My grip on the knife tightened slightly.Genevieve. Of course. Her name had already carved its place into my life long before today.

“She struggles,” he added, almost thoughtfully, “seeing the both of us together at events.”

Something in my chest twisted painfully and I smiled wryly. She struggles, but I’m happy? I’m happy to have been a place holder for four years? I’m ecstatic that my husband moaned another woman’s name when he was in bed with me?

But the words never made it out. Because speaking had never changed anything.

“We’ve both been miserable,” he said. “This would be good for us.”

A quiet scoff slipped past my lips before I could stop it. He didn’t look guilty. If anything, he looked relieved. Like he had already walked away from this marriage long before today.

“Do you think I don’t struggle too?” I asked quietly.

“When you come home late… or don’t come home at all?”

Damien frowned slightly, like the question genuinely confused him.

“Genevieve is my first and only love,” he said simply.

“I thought she disappeared years ago. Now she’s back and I can’t let this marriage stand in the way of that.”

It was cold, but it was the truth. I had always known from the very beginning that he was never meant to be mine. I was a second choice. No. I was the only choice he had when she left him.

And now that she was back, there was no longer a reason to keep me.“Fine,” I said tonelessly. “I’ll sign it.”

The more time I spent in his company, the more I realized there was no point engaging in any verbal warfare against the other woman.

He knew what he wanted, and it wasn’t me. So there was no point in arguing, I thought numbly.I set the knife down carefully and turned off the stove, wiping my hands slowly with a towel.

Tears burned in my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall as I signed.I opened the file and pulled out the papers.

The words blurred at first, but I forced myself to read. When I came to the realization that I was leaving with nothing, a hollow laugh almost escaped me. Damien Cross never left loose ends.

“I’ll call Dorinda to finish dinner,” I said softly after signing.

He didn’t stop or look at me as I walked out.I packed quickly, stepping out of the house with my chest felt too tight, like I couldn’t breathe properly. I didn’t know where I was going. I just knew that I just needed to leave.

The road blurred as tears filled my eyes. I wiped them angrily, gripping the steering wheel tighter.My thoughts were incoherent and I could scarcely see where I was headed with the tears blurring my sight. My phone blared in the chaos and I picked without checking the caller.

“Hello…?”

“Aurora, it’s your gynecologist,” the voice came through clearly.

“You came in earlier today for your routine tests, remember?”

I frowned slightly, trying to focus amidst the tears and heartache.

“Yes… I remember.”

There was a pause before she continued.“I have your results. You’re pregnant.”

Everything stopped moving at that moment. My tears halted instantly.“What…?” I whispered.

“You’re pregnant, Aurora. It’s still early, but the results are clear.”

Pregnant.

The word echoed in my head over and over again, my heart beating harder and harder against my chest, and fear choking the hell out of me.

A strange calm washed over me as if I had stepped out of my own body.

Damien’ child was growing inside me. My grip on the wheel loosened slightly as my mind drifted.Our baby.

Would he have stayed if he knew? Would things have been different?The sound of a loud horn cut through my chaos and my head snapped up.Bright lights flashed directly in front of me.

“Shit!”

I tried to turn the wheel but it was too late. The impact came hard, the glass of my vehicle shattering on my face as my body jerked forward violently as the car spun.Everything went silent.

But pain existed in the silence. Then came the voices.

“Someone call an ambulance!”

“She’s still inside!”My eyes fluttered weakly.

I couldn’t see clearly as everything was hazy. Just then the car door was forced open and cold air rushed in.Strong hands reached for me.

“It’s okay… I’ve got you,” a deep voice said.It sounded so familiar that my heart trembled.

“Damien…” I whispered weakly.Of course he came.He wouldn’t just leave me like that… right?

The man pulled me gently from the wreckage, holding me close.“You’re safe,” he said again.

I clung to him, my fingers weakly gripping his shirt.

“I knew… you’d come…” I murmured, my voice breaking.

The darkness crept in as I laid in his arms. The last thought I had was that even if I died right now. I would die happy knowing he came after me