Replaced, yet again

Elaris’ POV

​When the loud knocking sounded at my bedroom door, I pulled my simple robe tighter around my trembling shoulders, tried to hide the red marks on my neck, and slowly turned the lock to open it. Cassian stood out in the long hallway holding a clear file folder in his right hand, and he looked down at me with cold, distant eyes that made my heart drop before he even spoke a single word.

​"Here are the divorce papers," Cassian said, thrusting the thick folder directly into my hands while keeping a clear distance between us, "I slept with Liora last night, I am going to take full responsibility for what happened between us, and I will not let her suffer for another day because of our marriage."

​I stared at his face in complete shock, but I forced my expression to stay completely blank, took the papers without saying a word back to him, and held them tightly against my chest.

​"Do you really not have anything to say to me right now?" Cassian asked, frowning at my complete lack of reaction as he turned his back on me to leave the hallway.

​"No, I have nothing to say to you, Cassian," I replied softly, watching his back as he walked away toward his private office without looking back at me even once.

​As soon as the heavy bedroom door clicked shut, I sank down onto the edge of the bed, feeling my whole body shake violently because the person Cassian actually slept with last night was me... And like always, Liora took my place. 

​Late the previous night, after the family dinner ended, Cassian had stumbled into my bedroom completely confused, stumbling over his own feet and calling out for his savior in the dark, and before I could push him away or call for help, he pulled me close and spent the entire night with me. When the soft morning light began to spill into the room, I knew that if he woke up beside me, he would only accuse me of using his intoxicated state to trap him into staying with me, so I quietly gathered my scattered clothes, left his room while he was still fast asleep, and walked back to my own bed in the east wing, which gave Liora the perfect opportunity to sneak inside his room and lie down right beside him before anyone else woke up.

​Two full weeks passed after that chaotic morning, and Cassian tried several times to get me to return the signed divorce papers, but every single attempt was interrupted by sudden family emergencies, urgent company meetings, or endless legal procedures that his father deliberately dragged out to keep us together.

​Knowing deep inside my heart that our marriage was truly finished regardless of the constant delays, I spent my quiet afternoons packing my few personal belongings into small cardboard boxes so I could leave the estate the exact moment the legal paperwork went through.

​While I was standing near my bed, folding a simple summer dress to place inside my bag, a sudden wave of severe dizziness hit my head, my vision turned completely dark around the edges, and I collapsed onto the floor before I could reach out to call for help.

​When I slowly opened my eyes hours later, the sharp smell of disinfectant filled my nose, and I found myself lying on a narrow bed in a quiet hospital room, with a female doctor standing right near my side while looking down at a clipboard in her hands.

​"Are you feeling any better now, Mrs. Virelli?" the doctor asked gently, pulling a plastic chair closer to the side of the bed and sitting down right beside me.

​"I think so," I whispered, trying to sit up slowly while resting my back against the thin pillows, "what happened to me at the house, and why am I in the hospital?"

​"You fainted due to extreme physical exhaustion and stress, but your blood test results revealed something very important," the doctor explained, smiling softly as she looked up from her chart into my eyes, "you are pregnant, about two weeks along, so you need to take extra care of your body from now on."

​Tears filled my eyes as the truth settled in, because that child was conceived on the exact night of the welcome-home dinner, and staying in the Virelli house would only condemn my innocent baby to a life of being hated and rejected by its own father.

​"Please, doctor, do not tell anyone in my family about this pregnancy," I begged her, reaching out with a trembling hand to grab her wrist, "do not call my husband, do not inform his parents, and do not write it on the main billing statement."

​"If that is what you want, I will respect your privacy and keep your medical records completely secret," the doctor agreed softly, patting the back of my hand to reassure me before standing up to fetch my release forms.

​"Thank you so much," I said, wiping my eyes with the back of my sleeve as she walked out into the corridor.

​Later that very night, after being discharged from the hospital, I returned to the completely empty mansion while everyone was away at a business dinner, walked into the main living room, and sat down at the table. I picked up a pen, signed my name clearly at the bottom of the divorce papers, left the signed file right on top of the dining table, grabbed my small suitcase, and quietly vanished from the city forever.

​Six years passed in the blink of an eye, and a sleek private jet touched down smoothly on the long runway at Virelli International Airport, rolling to a complete stop near the main private terminal.

​I stepped down the stairs of the private jet, my kids small hand warm in mine. Casey looked up at me with those dark eyes he had inherited from his father.