It’s Over, Roman

Elara

I woke up screaming. I always had this recurring dream that only came when something was terribly wrong.

I sat upright in bed, my chest rising and falling rapidly. For several seconds, I didn’t know where I was. Then the room came into focus. Our bedroom.

A maid stood near the window, arranging the blinds. She turned quickly when she heard me.

“Mrs. Blackwood, are you okay?”

I pressed a trembling hand against my chest. “Yes.”

My voice was rough. I looked around the sprawling room. Roman’s clothes were scattered across the floor.

His shirt. His trousers. But Roman was nowhere to be found.

My stomach sank. “What time is it?”

“It’s almost eight, ma’am.”

Eight.

That meant Roman was already gone.

For four years, Roman had never gone to work without me. We worked together at Blackwood Dominion, after all. Every morning, he waited for me. He drove us to work himself. He opened my car door, and sometimes, he even complained when I spent too long deciding what to wear.

Those little things used to make me feel loved. Now, I wondered if they were simply habits.

I climbed out of the bed slowly. The diamond necklace was still around my neck. My fingers brushed the cool stones. Roman had given it to me, saying it was because I always deserved something beautiful.

I looked down at myself. The red dress was still wrinkled against my body. I had gone to bed crying in it, and I woke up looking exactly like a woman whose husband had spent their anniversary in another woman’s bed.

I headed into the bathroom and took a long shower. I scrubbed my skin until it turned pink, but no matter how much water ran over me, I couldn’t wash away what I had heard last night.

Roman’s voice. The woman moaning. His words.

You’ve always been the best.

I squeezed my eyes shut, and by the time I left the bathroom, I’d made a decision.

I would confront him. I wouldn’t pretend I didn’t know. I wouldn’t sit in this mansion and wait for him to lie to me again.

I dressed, forced down breakfast, and drove to Blackwood Dominion.

The entire drive there, my hands gripped the steering wheel so hard my knuckles ached, replaying exactly what I was going to say.

I know you cheated.

I heard you.

I went to the hotel.

It’s over, Roman.

Simple. Clean.

But my heart didn’t feel clean. It felt as though someone had ripped it apart and left the bleeding pieces inside my chest.

When I arrived at the company, I saw her.

Veena Dumont. Roman’s first love. His former fiancée. The woman who’d left New York two years ago. She stood near the elevator with her back to me, but I would recognize that platinum blonde with little brown strands hair anywhere.

My steps faltered.

She wore a long, elegant coat, and a smug smile rested on her lips. She looked happy, like she had somewhere incredibly important to be. Then, she stepped into the elevator.

Roman’s office was on the top floor. My heart began to pound against my ribs. She was the woman Roman ditched me for.

I didn’t get into the elevator; I turned toward the stairs instead. By the time I reached the top floor, my breathing was uneven. It wasn’t from the climb. It was from the fear crawling beneath my skin.

I walked down the quiet hallway until I heard voices. It was Roman and Veena.

“I told you I’d take care of you,” Roman said, his tone dripping with a warmth he hadn't shown me in months.

My heart dropped.

“You don’t have to do that,” Veena laughed, the sound light and breathy.

“Yes, I do. In fact, the LUNE project is yours.”

My eyes widened in horror.

The LUNE project. The project I’d spent grueling months designing. My team had worked day and night on it. I had barely slept because of it.

“What?” Veena asked, feigning surprise.

“Consider it a welcome-back gift.”

Something distinctly cold settled deep inside my bones. My heart stopped hurting. For one strange second, it became completely still. Then, I walked forward and pushed the door open.

The room instantly fell silent.

Veena stood in front of Roman’s desk. Her coat was open. Underneath it, she was wearing nothing but red lingerie.

I blinked.

Then my eyes traced over the material. The crimson lace. The intricate design along the edges. The tiny gold clasp resting between her collarbones. My breath caught in my throat.

It was mine.

I had bought it months ago, but I never wore it because Roman had always been too busy. And now Veena was standing in it. Flaunting it for my husband.

Roman was sitting behind his desk, a relaxed smile on his face. It vanished the second he saw me, replaced not by guilt, but by sheer annoyance.

That single look hurt more than anything else.

Veena slowly pulled her coat closed, her movements agonizingly deliberate. She didn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed.

She looked amused.

Like this was cheap entertainment. Like watching my marriage fall apart was a show she’d paid front-row tickets to see.

I looked at Roman, and suddenly, the illusion shattered. I really saw him.

Not my husband. Not the Alpha who had promised to stand beside me and protect me. Not the man who had kissed my forehead just yesterday morning.

I saw a man who cheated on me on our anniversary. A man who gave excuses whenever I planned romantic getaways. A man who came home and lied effortlessly to my face. A man who spent the morning with his mistress, only to hand over my life's work as a casual gift.

Something inside me finally snapped.

“It’s over, Roman,” I exhaled.

The words were quiet, but they echoed with a finality that shook the entire room. Roman leaned back in his leather chair, crossing his arms.

“Don’t be dramatic, Elara. Veena is just—” He trailed off. His eyes flicked to Veena, then back to me.

He couldn’t even finish the sentence. He couldn’t even invent a lie about what she was doing half-naked in his office. But he had lied to me so easily last night.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. “We’re getting a divorce.”

Veena’s amused smile faltered for a second. Roman stood up, planting his hands flat on the desk.

“Elara, go home. Why are you being petty all of a sudden? It’s really not a big deal. So no, we’re not gonna divorce.”

“Why not, Roman?” I spat, my eyes narrowing into slits.

“Elara, just go home. You saw nothing here today. Veena was only entertaining me.”

“Oh.. like she was entertaining you last night? You came back home and lied to my face Roman. So no. I’m not going home. We’re getting a divorce.”

“You can’t divorce me Elara. Because I own you. Or have you forgotten I pay for your mother’s medication?”

There it was. The ultimate threat. The one weapon he knew would instantly bring me to my knees.

“Your mom is a chronic smoker, Elara. She needs that medication else she dies.”

My throat tightened, cutting off my air.

For four years, Roman paying for my mother’s treatments had been something I cherished. I genuinely thought he did it because he loved me and cared for my family.

Now, he was wielding it like a blade to force my submission, even after everything he had destroyed.

Or maybe he just wanted to punish me. Maybe both.

“I don’t care.” The lie tasted like ash on my tongue, and I bit the inside of my cheek hard to ground myself. I refused to cry. Not here, and absolutely not in front of Veena.

Roman walked around the edge of his desk, his towering frame casting a shadow over me.

“Well, you should,” his voice hardened into a cruel sneer. “You’re nothing without me.”

The words struck me like a blow. I stared up at him, paralyzed.

Four whole years of helping him build this empire. Four years of working tirelessly beside him, giving him every ounce of my ideas, plans, strategies, and solutions.

And this was what he truly thought of me.

Nothing.

“Look,” he continued, his tone shifting into a patronizing command. “Just go home, Elara. We’ll talk about all of it when I return.”

I didn’t move an inch.

I stared directly into his dark eyes, desperately hoping to find a single shred of remorse, but it was completely hollow. He truly didn’t believe he’d done anything wrong.

“You wouldn’t want your mother to die because of your stubbornness now, would you?” he spat, the venom returning.

The panicked noise in my head suddenly went perfectly quiet. I looked at him for a long moment. Then, I rolled my shoulders back and straightened my spine.

“No, Roman.” My voice was completely steady now, devoid of the tears he expected. “I’m done. I’m done with this marriage, and I quit.”

I turned my head toward Veena. She was smiling again, fully believing she had won. Maybe she had. But I’d rather die than give her the satisfaction of watching me beg.

Roman’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Don’t do this Elara, you’ll regret it.”

I spun around, walked out the door and marched directly back to my office.

The familiar space suddenly felt completely different, even though everything in it bore my fingerprints. The blueprints on the desk. The project files. The laptop. The sticky notes.

The LUNE project.

My project. I grabbed an empty cardboard box and began throwing in the files I’d been working on. I didn't take everything—just the raw data and concepts that belonged solely to me. The things I had created long before anyone else slapped their name on them.

I picked up the box and, for the first time in four years, I walked out of Blackwood Dominion without looking over my shoulder.

When I reached my car, I collapsed behind the wheel. The adrenaline faded, leaving my hands trembling violently. I took a deep breath. Then another.

I slowly placed a protective hand flat over my stomach.

“I’m going home,” my voice broke, echoing in the quiet cabin.

I started the engine anyway. I had absolutely no idea what would happen next.

Mom was a janitor who earned a little for food, gas and clothes. With Roman gone, I didn’t know how I was going to pay for my mom’s medication. I didn’t know where I was going to work, or how I was going to raise my twin babies entirely on my own.

But one thing was absolutely certain.

I’d never go back to Roman Blackwood. Not after the betrayal last night. Not after the humiliation today. And especially not after learning that the man I had loved for four years genuinely believed I was nothing without his money and his name.

I threw the car into drive and pulled out of the parking lot. As the towering glass reflection of Blackwood Dominion disappeared in my rearview mirror, I made a silent vow.

Roman was wrong.

I wasn’t nothing. And one day, I was going to make him bitterly regret making me prove it.