All Chapters of The promise he broke : Chapter 1 - Chapter 7

Tayla’s POVThere was something terrifying about waking up in the middle of the night and realizing the person you loved wasn’t beside you.At first, I thought I was dreaming.My hand moved across the king-sized bed, searching for the warmth that had been there when I fell asleep.Instead, my fingers met cold sheets.My eyes opened instantly.The digital clock on the nightstand glowed red.2:17 AM.A knot formed in my stomach.Damian wasn’t there.I pushed myself upright and looked around the dark bedroom.The bathroom light was off.The door was closed.The room was silent except for the distant hum of traffic from the streets of Manhattan.For a moment, I tried convincing myself there was a reasonable explanation.Maybe he couldn’t sleep.Maybe he was working.Maybe—Then I saw the balcony door slightly open.A cool breeze slipped into the room.And suddenly, I knew where he was.I got out of bed and wrapped a silk robe around myself before walking toward the balcony.The moment I s

Tayla’s POVThe world does not break loudly.It doesn’t warn you.It doesn’t give you time to prepare your heart.It simply changes… in a single breath.That morning, everything felt normal at first.Too normal.The kind of normal that now, looking back, feels like a cruel lie.Damian was in the kitchen when I woke up, standing by the counter with his sleeves rolled up, staring at a cup of untouched coffee as though it held answers only he could understand.He didn’t turn immediately when I entered.That was the first thing that felt wrong.“Morning,” I said softly.He flinched—just slightly—before forcing himself to smile.“Morning, sweetheart.”But it wasn’t real.I knew him too well to be fooled by something that fragile.I walked closer, my bare feet silent against the marble floor.“You didn’t sleep again.”“I did,” he replied too quickly.A lie.I reached for the cup in front of him and touched it.Cold.“You’ve been standing here for hours.”Silence.That silence again.It had

Tayla’s POVThe detention center didn’t feel real.It felt like something built to erase people.To swallow them whole.To make them disappear slowly while the world outside continued as if nothing mattered.And maybe that was what terrified me most.Because Damian Russo was not a man who disappeared.He was a man who controlled rooms the moment he entered them.A man who held power without even trying.And yet…They had taken him.Now I was standing in front of a thick glass wall, staring at a version of him that no longer belonged to my world.A version I didn’t recognize.The chair on my side felt too small.The air felt too heavy.And my hands wouldn’t stop shaking as I picked up the phone.A second later, the door on the opposite side opened.And Damian walked in.My breath left my body instantly.He was still Damian…but not the Damian I knew.His suit was gone.His wrists were marked.His jaw was tighter than I had ever seen it.But it was his eyes that destroyed me.Because th

Tayla’s POVI hated myself for thinking about it.Yet the thought refused to leave.What if Damian had lied?The question followed me through breakfast.Through Noah’s endless questions.Through every room of the penthouse that still carried traces of my husband.The man I loved.The man I trusted.The man who now sat behind bars while secrets continued to surface around him.I stood in the kitchen staring at my untouched coffee.The cup had gone cold nearly twenty minutes ago.I didn’t even notice.My mind was elsewhere.Always elsewhere.The memory of Luca’s words replayed endlessly.“People believed Damian had another life.”I squeezed my eyes shut.No.I refused to believe it.Damian wasn’t perfect.He could be stubborn.Secretive.Overprotective.But unfaithful?No.Never.Yet another voice whispered inside my head.Then why did he hide so much from you?My chest tightened.Because that part was true.The late nights.The mysterious phone calls.The business trips that suddenly b