Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Stranger My Heart Belonged To: Kabanata 71 - Kabanata 80

SADIE’S POVI cleaned his body carefully, each movement steady, while inside I searched for scraps of comfort—remnants of what I used to feel before the accident. Back then, I had been close to him. Close enough to believe, even if only for a fleeting moment, that he might let me in.I wondered if this was the right moment to tell him everything. To tell him the truth—that we hadn’t just been playing a role, that somewhere along the way, we had become something real. That we were no longer just two people bound by circumstance. That we had fallen in love.But before I could form the words, he spoke first. “How could it be you I married instead of Bella?”The question split me open. My heart, already fragile, collapsed under the weight of it. Of course, I could never measure up to Bella. And what hurt most was the realization that even in his amnesia, even in this altered state of mind, Damon seemed to still be holding onto her.I didn’t know how to answer. Partly because the story was

DAMON’S POVShe tried so hard to look strong.I could see it—her spine straight, her hands folded neatly in her lap, her eyes steady even when her voice trembled.Sadie was… something.No wonder my grandfather liked her.Even with my memory gone, I could read her.She was soft where I was hard, patient where I was merciless. Gentle, kind, considerate—everything I wasn’t.She didn’t flaunt it, didn’t demand attention. She carried herself with quiet obedience, yet beneath it all, there was a firmness, a backbone that refused to break.It was infuriating. Admirable.Dangerous.Because I couldn’t afford to trust it. For all I knew, she was performing. Playing the perfect wife for my benefit, for my grandfather’s favor.Until I had proof she was real, she’d get nothing from me but distance.Still, there was a pull.A dangerous one.The way she looked at me—steady, unflinching. The way her presence steadied the chaos in my head.I felt the jealousy I didn’t want to feel when I saw her speak

DAMON’S POVI knocked once. Twice. No answer.Her room stayed silent, the kind of silence that started to gnaw at me. I tightened my grip around the envelope in my hand—the divorce papers. The reason I was here. Get her signature, make it final, keep it clean.But there was no response, not even the rustle of her usual quiet movements.I waited. Knocked again.“Sadie.” Nothing.The thought hit, sharp and unwelcome—what if she wasn’t okay?I told myself to leave. I had no business worrying. But my feet betrayed me, carrying me inside. Empty bed. Curtains drawn. Her scent lingered, faint, pulling me deeper.The bathroom door was closed.I rapped my knuckles against it, harder this time.“Sadie.”Silence. No water. No sound.Something twisted low in my gut. She wasn’t answering. She wasn’t making a sound. Against every line I drew for myself, I turned the handle and pushed the door open.And stopped.Her back faced me, bare skin rising from the water, smooth and delicate, the line of her

SADIE’S POVWhen I stepped back into my room, tears were already sliding down my cheeks. I wiped them away quickly, but the ache in my chest refused to fade.Everything was hitting me all at once.The way Bella clung to him, soft and shamelessly spoiled, while Damon seemed more at ease standing beside her than he ever did next to me. And his father—dangerous, unpredictable, a shadow always hovering close enough to swallow him whole.But the worst part was the helplessness.I wasn’t anyone in Damon’s world. Not really. To him, to them, I was still more of a stranger than Bella would ever be.I moved to my vanity and picked up the bathrobe I had draped there earlier before the party. I folded it with slow precision, laying it neatly across the chair—as if by keeping order in small things, I could keep myself from unraveling completely.I moved like someone who knew exactly what she was doing—like I was preparing for a shower.But in truth, I was drifting, half-lost in thought. Desperate

SADIE'S POVI lay there in the silence that followed, my body trembling, my chest still rising and falling too quickly.The room felt heavy, like it was holding its breath with me.What had just happened—what Damon had just done—should have been unforgivable. It was no different than him reducing me to something cheap, a woman he could use when his control slipped.A woman he didn’t even remember, let alone care for.And yet… I couldn’t lie to myself. Every second of it, I had wanted him. I had missed him. I had wanted to feel his weight, his heat, his strength pressing me down. I had wanted to believe, just for a moment, that he needed me. That he desired me again.But the moment it was over, reality came crashing down.Damon didn’t say my name. Didn’t look at me like I was someone he cherished, someone he wanted to hold after. He only collapsed back on the mattress, chest rising and falling, sweat glistening along the hard lines of his body. His hand dragged once over his face, a so