Chapter 121

CHAPTER 121SELINA POV Evening had settled into the room gradually. I had changed into something comfortable. My hair was still damp at the ends.I sat on the edge of the bed and didn't reach for my phone or find any book to occupy myself with. I simply sat and let the quiet exist around me and I discovered the quiet wasn’t an anticipation or opportunity to learn about anything. It was just what it was.The distinction was remarkable. I was still sitting with it when the knock came.Three knocks, soft and measured. Asking permission rather than declaring presence.I knew immediately."Come in," I said.The door opened slowly and Damien stepped inside. I watched him as he grimaced slightly as he walked in. He looked better than he had in the hospital. The grey pallor of blood loss had receded to something more like ordinary tiredness, which was a meaningful improvement even if it wasn't health. Some colour had returned to his face.The sling was gone.Of course it was. The doctor had

Chapter 122

Chapter 122Selina POVThe silence didn't feel like a wall this time. I stayed on the edge of the bed, and Damien stayed by the window, and neither of us moved to fix it. For once, it didn't feel like something that needed fixing.After a while, he stepped away from the window. He didn't ask if he could sit closer or hover at like a man seeking permission. He just walked further into the room, like it was the most natural thing in the world,"The doctor said the swelling's gone down," he said, settling into the chair near the dresser. He wants to see you again Thursday.""Marcus already told me, twice. He also told me the estate paperwork is temporary, in case I was wondering.""He can be insufferable when he's trying to be helpful.""He's insufferable most of the time."A tired chuckle laugh escaped him. I looked up sharply; the sound of Damien chuckling struck me more than it should have.He looked around, "The house still smells like paint. "I keep meaning to ask them to air it out

Chapter 123

Chapter 123Damien POVThe room had grown darker without either of us noticing. Then the lamps came on by themselves and the light fell across the space between us casting shadows that seemed to have a life of theirs.We hadn’t much after, neither of us knew how or where to begin from.The conversation had reached the place where going around the elephant in the room wasn’t possible anymore. There was nowhere left to retreat to. I sat with my hands in my lap, waiting, although I had no clue what I was waiting for.Damien broke the silence first.He wasn't looking at me. He was looking out the window, staring at the landscape and when he spoke, his voice was quiet. "I noticed you a long time before I let myself."I went still. I didn't trust myself to respond, so I didn't. I just waited.He kept going. That surprised me more than the sentence itself. Damien never said anything more after he made a vulnerable confession. He always said his piece and stopped like admitting weakness took

Chapter 124

CHAPTER 124SELINA POV I told him I needed to rest. I had reached the end of what I had available for the evening, and the honest thing was to say so rather than sit in a conversation I no longer had capacity to engage in anymore.Damien nodded once. He said goodnight in the quiet, direct way he had been saying things all evening. He stood went to the door, paused and took a glance at me before he left.I sat with the silence for a moment before I moved.This was different and it felt different too. Before the kidnapping, whenever Damien walked out of a room I was in, it was always on his own terms. There was always a weight to the silence when he left.Tonight the door closed and the room was simply quiet.He had left because I asked him to. He did it willingly without trying to bargain or control the narrative.The distinction was small. It mattered more than I expected it to.I laid down on the bed but my legs still rested on the floor. My body told me it needed sleep but sleep wa

Chapter 125

CHAPTER 125DEAN POVI arrived at Damien's office expecting urgency.The building had been running on urgency for so long that I forgot it wasn’t always the case. I walked through the glass doors prepared for another briefing table covered in surveillance photographs and someone talking too fast about a timeline that didn't add up.Instead the office was quiet; people were at their desks doing ordinary things at an ordinary pace. The building had remembered it had a daily routine and returned to it.I stood in the doorway for a moment longer than necessary. I was taking it all in. It was a nice change of pace and boy did we need it.Then I went into Damien’s office, opened my files and started working. The investigation hadn't concluded simply because the rescue had.Caleb arrived twenty minutes later carrying an unreasonable quantity of food.He came through the door with two paper bags, a tray of coffees, a box of pastries. His set face already told me he had a good explanation for

All Chapters of The Unloved Wife Of Damien Whitmore: Chapter 121 - Chapter 125

Chapter 121

Chapter 122

Chapter 123

Chapter 124

Chapter 125