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Home / Werewolf / Two Loves, One Destiny / Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

All Chapters of Two Loves, One Destiny: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

148 Chapters

51

JakeThe party was full of people from the company: assistants, receptionists, partners, and cleaning staff. The organization of the event was something my assistants handled because I didn’t have time to think about parties. I didn’t like them, to be honest, but my mother and father always hosted them in past years, so it had become a tradition.I shouldn’t have felt nervous, but I was. I wasn’t used to that feeling, but the last few days of my life had taken chaotic turns.I stood beside Irina, my wife. She spoke animatedly with a group of partners while my mind was somewhere else. Or rather, with someone else. Someone I knew would be attending the event. As if my thoughts had summoned her, Kiara and Thomas appeared through the huge entrance doors of the hall.I saw her looking so beautiful. Kiara. My ex-wife, the mother of my children. And my brother’s girlfriend…She walked in holding Thomas’s arm, clinging to him as if he were her protector.My breath stopped without my permissio

52

Jake The long night had ended, and I just wanted to get into bed and rest. I closed the front door with more force than necessary, as if that slam could get rid of the rage inside me, but it didn’t. I felt the need to break something to release the tension, but I couldn’t behave like that. Not with my wife so close. I loosened the knot of my tie to breathe better, trying to convince myself that the silence of my home would help quiet my thoughts, but the silence was even worse. Irina walked behind me, the sound of her heels practically stepping on my shadow. She was upset; we had barely spoken since she got mad at me. I tried talking to her at the party after a while, but she was angry enough not to even listen. “Are you going to tell me what happened?” she asked as soon as I left my jacket on the couch. We were already arguing

53

Kiara Thomas wanted me to go with him to the office that morning, so I got up early alongside him to accompany him. He said he liked knowing I was close so he could take better care of me, even if we weren’t together all the time. It comforted me too, watching him move confidently between meetings, calls, and paperwork, as if that corporate world were a natural extension of him. This morning, however, something felt different. Maybe it was the exhaustion, or maybe it was the thoughts that had refused to leave my mind since the other night. He wasn’t angry with me, but I felt him acting strangely. I don’t know if Juliette had told him that I overheard a conversation between Jake and her. Around noon, my phone vibrated. It was a message from Thomas saying he wouldn’t be able to have lunch with me and that he’d send me money so I could eat something on my own. I left the building at a slow pace, car

54

Jake I was reviewing some reports when my assistant knocked on the office door and peeked inside. “Your mother is here. She says she needs to talk to you.” I immediately looked up. It wasn’t common for my mother, Juliette, to show up at the company without notice, much less asking to speak with me alone. Something wasn’t right. “Tell her to come in,” I said. Mom walked in with a firm stride, closed the door behind her, and stopped in front of my desk. She wasn’t smiling. That alone was warning enough. “What’s wrong?” I asked, straightening in my chair. “Is everything okay?” “Yes,” she said, “but we need to talk.” She sat down across from me, folded her hands in her lap, and looked at me with a seriousness that made me uncomfortable. “About what?” I pressed. Juliette took a deep breath. “I didn’t feel good after our conversation the other day. You accused me of telling Kiara the truth, and that wasn’t the case. I didn’t tell her anything, Jake, and I think it was unfair tha

55

Kiara Thomas’s clothes were perfectly folded inside his suitcase. He closed it, making sure he hadn’t forgotten anything, and lifted it off the bed. The sound of the suitcase scraping along the floor echoed down the hallway. He checked once more that everything was in order. I held my stomach, trying to ease the sudden nausea that had appeared, but I couldn’t. “I don’t like leaving you,” he finally said, turning toward me. “Still, I know it’s for the best because I can’t take you on a trip like this. I wish I could. You know that. But I know you’re right, it’s not a good idea.” I nodded, but inside a part of me shrank. When Thomas was near, I felt protected, and now that he was leaving, I wouldn’t have him with me for a couple of days until he returned. The doctor had been clear that I shouldn’t take many risks, and getting on a plane to New York didn’t sound appealing. It was just for work. Besides, I felt tired enough as it was. I needed calm, stability. “I’ll be fine,” I assur

56

Kiara The low, constant hum of the emergency generators kicked in minutes after the lights went out because of the storm. I thought they weren’t working until just a moment ago, when they suddenly turned on. The light returned little by little —very yellowish, soft— illuminating the staircase in front of me where Jake had disappeared to change his clothes. I was standing there, not moving, one hand resting on the back of the armchair and the other touching my belly. Every time I felt fear, discomfort, or tension, my hands traveled to my babies. Suddenly, he appeared again. It was Jake coming down the stairs of the house. He was wearing comfortable clothes, a bit old and slightly tight on him. His body had changed over the years; he’d gained muscle mass and a toned build. He wore a worn gray T-shirt and dark cotton pants. His hair was damp, not soaked from the rain like before, but wet from having barely dried it with a towel. He looked… different. More human, less like the executi

57

JakeThe house was surrounded by the sound of rain and thunder. The storm had no intention of stopping anytime soon.The sound of cutlery against Kiara’s plate was soft, almost domestic, but we weren’t talking, and that made it strange. Kiara ate in front of me, focused, with that expression she got when she was truly hungry and lost in her thoughts. I watched her more than I focused on eating, and that was already a problem for me.My phone suddenly vibrated.The screen lit up on the table, breaking the small balance that had formed between us. I didn’t need to look to know, but I did anyway. It was Irina. Her name glowed clearly, and Kiara didn’t take long to notice it.I felt the air between us change.Kiara looked away for just a second, but it was enough. Her hand froze over her cutlery, and her expression tightened. She didn’t say anything right away. She stood up slowly, her body seemingly heavy, her hands resting on her belly. She always had her hands there. She always protect

58

Kiara Jake was still holding my hands in his. I don’t know at what point I stopped thinking about the cut that still hurt, about the glass, the blood, or the cold kitchen. I was only aware of the contact, of his fingers wrapped around mine. Of the way his skin radiated a warmth that seeped in slowly, as if it weren’t only physical, as if it reached me on the inside. I felt a heat rise within me that I couldn’t hide, a soft but constant pressure in my chest, in my belly, in every corner of me. It was absurd, dangerous, and unfair too. But what was happening inside me was real. I loved him. I loved Jake. I didn’t love him in a new way. It wasn’t a different kind of love. It was the same love as always. I loved him because, in truth, I had never stopped. Everything I once felt for Jake in the past was still intact, stored somewhere deep inside, covered by layers of pain, anger, betrayal, silence, by all the things I always wanted to say to him but never could. Everything that had h

59

KiaraThe sound of the phone knocked the air out of my chest. Well… I didn’t have much air left in my lungs anyway because of how close we were. It vibrated hard against the counter, an insistent sound that was impossible to ignore. It shattered the silence, the tension that wrapped around Jake and me. I felt our hands separate, the emptiness that came from not having his warmth with me. It was as if the universe had pulled us apart in a single blow, as if it didn’t approve of this.I looked at the screen.Thomas.He had no idea what was happening here with Jake. Nothing was happening exactly, but… who was I kidding? I didn’t really know what was happening. But something was.My heart lurched suddenly. I felt Jake tense in front of me and saw clearly how his eyes dropped to the phone before lifting to look at me again. He understood immediately who it was, and I know he didn’t like what he saw.I swallowed hard and took the phone with trembling hands. Empty hands, without Jake’s warmt

60

Jake I had to take a deep breath and calm my bursts of anger. I didn’t want to show weakness, but seeing Thomas’s name light up on Kiara’s phone screen came rushing back to my mind the moment I took the first step away from her. Walking away was almost automatic, like a reflex I couldn’t control. My ego wouldn’t allow anything else. That second when I saw it, that second when I knew it was him, left behind a bitter sensation I didn’t know how to shake off. As I walked down the hallway, the pressure didn’t ease with movement. It wasn’t the first time I’d felt this way when it came to her, and it was starting to become a damn nuisance. I climbed the stairs slowly, feeling a strange weight inside my chest. It wasn’t pure anger. It wasn’t rage. It was something more uncomfortable, deeper, something that made me feel exposed, but not in front of her. In front of myself. In front of my ego. I went into my old bedroom and shut the door behind me with a sharp, almost impulsive movement.

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