All Chapters of When Love Was A Lie: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The sound of rain tapping against the window filled the silence of the room. I sat on the edge of my bed, clutching the worn photograph Grandpa had given me years ago. It was of us... my head resting on his shoulders, both of us laughing. He always said I was his second chance at life. And now… it felt like that life was slipping through my fingers. The call had come just an hour ago.“Emmah… you should come. It’s time.”I couldn’t breathe when the nurse said those words. I knew Grandpa hadn’t been feeling well, but we all thought it was just another scare like the stroke, like the fainting spells. But this time it was different. This time, it was terminal.The air in my chest felt heavy as I drove through the familiar streets. The same streets he’d once taught me to drive,thinking I didn’t know how to. The memories that were once sweet and gentle were painful now. I wanted to go back to when all he needed was rest and a cup of warm ginger tea. Not... this.The hospital smelled like an

The place was silent now, even with the low hum of the air conditioning and the sound from the television. Only two names filled my thoughts, Damian and Declan.I hesitantly picked up my phone again, my thumb hovering over Declan’s name and my pause racing, then I pressed call. The ring seemed to last forever, as if he wasn't just with his phone, then I heard his deep voice. "Emmah?" His voice was warm, making my skin tingle more. "Can you come over," I said, my voice trembling in anticipation. He paused as if he was trying to read my mind. "Now?" He asked. "Yes, it's urgent." And with that, I hung up again, knowing he would come. I knew what I was doing. This wasn't just about love or comfort, it was about taking back control of my own desires after I was left in the shadows of my cold marriage with Damian. I began to set the tone. I dimmed the lights, leaving only the soft glow of the lamps, and a soft jazz track playing in the background, almost unheard. I slipped on a silk ro

Damian’s POVThe sterile scent in the hospital room was suffocating. I lay still on the bed while the cast on my arm heavy. Every muscle in my body ached, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the raw wound that the accident had carved into my ego and my heart.The accident was a stupid one, just a moment of distraction, a flash of red tail lights I’d tried to avoid. I’d been driving back to the secluded house, drowned by alcohol and the sick hope that I could still stop her. Instead, I ended up here, broken and helpless, and she came.Emmah had rushed in, her face pale and her eyes teary. For a few precious hours, I held her hand and believed that the world was slowing down just for us to start over. I’d seen the flicker of the love she once had for me in her eyes.Then Declan walked in. Seeing him, standing by my bedside looking all handsome and composed was a dagger. Even though his words were kind, they were clearly dismissal. “He’s a good man, Emmah. He’s always loved you

Emmah’s POVThe Richard mansion felt less like a home and more like an enemy territory. I could still perceive the faint scent of antiseptic clinging onto Damian’s wing, reminding him of his fragility, but the cold air of strategy now filled the rest of the house. He had been discharged three days ago, and he had always been in his study where he conducted business with a terrifying, focused intensity. He didn’t come to dinner or ask about me. He just worked.Meanwhile, I had returned to the Williamson estate, finding myself suddenly swept up in my father’s quiet anxiety. My father, a man who built an empire on patience suddenly looked agitated.“Damian is moving too fast,” my father observed one evening, his hand wrapped around a tumbler of aged scotch. “He’s making aggressive, high risk bids and it’s reckless, but effective.”I sat across from him in the opulent lounge, the weight of my scattered loyalties pressing down on me. From sitting beside him on the hospital bed, watching hi

Emmah’s POVThe drive back to the Richard mansion felt like I was crossing enemy lines. I hadn’t returned since my confrontation with Damian three days ago, leaving the house to him and his cold, calculating rage. Now, the stakes were impossibly high. Declan’s counter strike of freezing the European logistics licenses and challenging Damian’s Genesis Logistics acquisition had given us a strategic foothold, but it had only made his anger worse.I found him fully dressed, resting over a makeshift war room in the grand library. The air was filled with the scent of old leather and books. Charts covered the antique mahogany table, and two grim faced executives sat opposite him. Still in pain from his right side, he leaned on his cane.He dismissed the executives with a curt wave as I entered. They hurried out, avoiding eye contact, leaving us alone in the room.“You look well,” I said, my voice intentionally low, matching the hard look in his eyes.“Recovery is only fast when the goal is c