his bride, my obsession

The breaking point

Author's pov

The storm began quietly.

Damien returned home late that evening, exhausted, his shoulders stiff from another long day. He carried with him the familiar scent of rain and cold air, unaware of the chaos waiting inside the walls he once called peaceful.

He had imagined that tonight, he would finally talk to Elena — make her look at him, make her understand whatever had gone wrong between them. The distance between them was choking him; every time she turned away, something inside him cracked.

But the moment he stepped into the house, he felt it — tension thick like smoke, hanging in the air.

Selene was sitting on the couch.

For a second, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His eyes widened, and his entire body went rigid.

“What the hell are you doing here?” his voice cut sharply through the silence.

Selene’s head turned slowly, and a faint tremor of fear — too rehearsed to be real — flashed across her face. “I didn’t mean to intrude,” she said softly. “Elena… she let me stay.”

Damien’s heart dropped. “What?”

Before he could say another word, Elena appeared from the hallway. Her face was pale, her expression unreadable, but her eyes — her eyes looked as though she had cried for hours.

“She needed help,” Elena said, her tone cold but trembling. “I couldn’t throw her out.”

Damien’s mind raced, trying to understand what was happening. “You don’t know who she is, Elena—”

“I do,” she cut in, voice sharp as a blade. “I know exactly who she is.”

For the first time, she looked him straight in the eyes — and what he saw there nearly broke him. It wasn’t just pain. It was disbelief. Betrayal.

He took a step forward. “Then you should also know she’s lying.”

Selene flinched, pulling the blanket tighter around herself, her voice cracking. “Please don’t shout. I can’t… I can’t take this anymore.”

Elena instinctively moved closer to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Damien, stop scaring her.”

Damien stared at Elena, disbelief flooding his chest. “Scaring her?” he repeated softly, almost in shock. “You think I’d hurt her?”

Elena didn’t answer. Her throat worked as she swallowed, eyes glistening with confusion. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”

Selene turned her head slightly, tears running down her cheeks. “You’re lucky, Elena,” she whispered shakily. “He must really love you… he didn’t destroy your life like he did mine.”

Damien’s jaw tightened. “Stop lying,” he growled.

Selene flinched, shrinking into the couch, making herself look smaller — the perfect victim. “You can scream all you want,” she whimpered, “but the truth won’t change.”

Elena looked between them, torn apart inside. The man she loved, and the woman who looked too broken to fake it — both claiming to speak the truth.

Her hands trembled. “Damien… please. If there’s anything, anything you’ve done — just tell me.”

Damien took a step toward her, his voice trembling but fierce. “I swear on my life, I haven’t done anything wrong. I don’t even know why she’s saying all this!”

Selene turned away, silent tears dripping down her chin.

Elena’s voice cracked. “Then why did I see that video?”

That one question sliced through the air like lightning.

Damien froze. His expression shifted from confusion to horror. “Video?” he whispered.

Elena’s lower lip trembled. “Yes. The one that shows you—” she stopped, her breath shaking. “You were angry, Damien. You looked like… like someone else. What was that?”

Damien shook his head violently. “That video is fake. I was trying to push her away — she—” he stopped mid-sentence, his eyes narrowing. “Wait. You sent it, didn’t you?”

Selene gasped dramatically. “No! Why would I—”

He stepped closer, his voice cold and steady now. “Because this is all a setup.”

Elena stood up, raising her voice for the first time. “Stop! Just stop it, both of you!”

Her hands flew to her temples as if her head hurt. “I don’t know who’s lying anymore! One side, you’re saying she’s manipulating me, and on the other, she looks like she’s dying from pain. Do you even hear yourself, Damien? You expect me to just ignore what I saw?”

Damien’s face softened instantly. “I expect you to trust me.”

His words were quiet but carried weight, trembling with desperation. “I expect you to remember who I am — what we have. Elena, I’ve loved you since the day I first saw you. Do you think I’d ever do something like that?”

Elena’s lips parted, her eyes filling with tears again. For a moment, his words almost reached her. Almost.

But then Selene’s voice slipped through, soft and poisonous. “He told me those same words too,” she whispered.

The color drained from Elena’s face.

Damien turned sharply toward Selene. “You liar—”

Elena stepped back, shaking her head. “No… no, please. Stop talking.”

The air between them cracked — too much emotion, too much doubt, too much love being ripped apart by lies.

Damien moved closer, lowering his voice. “Look at me, Elena. Look in my eyes. You’ll know I’m not lying.”

She did. And what she saw there wasn’t guilt. It was agony. Real, raw agony. For a second, she almost broke.

But then Selene let out a quiet sob, burying her face in her hands. “Please… don’t fight because of me. I can leave if you want. I shouldn’t have come here.”

Elena turned toward her instinctively, guilt and sympathy pulling her away from Damien again. “No, you’re not leaving in this state.”

Damien’s voice rose, rough and desperate. “Elena, she’s using you! Can’t you see it?”

“Enough!” Elena snapped, her voice trembling but loud enough to silence him. “You’ve done enough!”

The words hit him like a knife.

He stared at her, his heart twisting painfully. His mind screamed that this wasn’t her — this was her fear speaking, her confusion. But her eyes were cold now, guarded by something that love alone couldn’t melt.

Selene wiped her tears, turning away to hide her triumphant smile.

---

Far away, in a dimly lit room, Aaron watched everything unfold through the hidden footage Selene had been sending him. His grin widened with every second.

He could see the distance growing between them — the distrust, the shouting, the way Elena’s tears fell as Damien’s voice broke.

Aaron leaned back on the couch, swirling the drink in his glass. “Perfect,” he muttered to himself. “She believes it now.”

His plan was almost complete. A few more lies, a few more misunderstandings, and Damien’s world would collapse completely.

---

Back in the house, the argument didn’t stop.

Elena’s eyes were swollen, her voice hoarse from crying. “I can’t breathe around you anymore, Damien,” she whispered. “Every time you touch me, I see that video.”

Damien’s voice cracked. “Elena, please—”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “You don’t understand what it’s like. To love someone so much and then suddenly… not know who they are.”

He took a slow step toward her, his expression full of pain. “Then let me prove it. Let me show you that you’re wrong.”

Selene stood quietly, pretending to cry again. “You don’t need to prove anything,” she said softly to Elena. “The truth is already in front of you.”

Damien turned his glare toward her, fury rising in his veins. “Get out,” he said through clenched teeth. “Before I forget who I am.”

“Damien!” Elena shouted, stepping between them. “Don’t you dare threaten her!”

He froze, the sound of her voice tearing something inside him. “You’re protecting her… against me?” he whispered.

Elena’s silence was answer enough.

He looked at her for a long time — really looked. At the woman who once trusted him blindly, who once laughed every time he teased her, who once said she couldn’t imagine life without him. Now, she stood across from him like a stranger.

A single tear rolled down his cheek. He didn’t bother to wipe it away.

“Fine,” he said quietly, his voice breaking. “If that’s what you think of me… then maybe you never really knew me at all.”

He turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

The sound echoed through the house like thunder.

Elena sank to her knees, covering her face, sobs shaking her body. Selene knelt beside her, pretending to comfort her, whispering soft lies disguised as sympathy.

Aaron’s message buzzed on Selene’s phone again.

Aaron: You’ve done well. Let her hate him. Soon she’ll walk away herself.

Selene looked at Elena crying beside her, her fake concern twisting into a smirk only the shadows could see.

...

That night, rain poured outside, and somewhere in the city, Damien drove aimlessly through empty streets, gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. His heart felt like it was tearing itself apart.

He had lost her — not because of truth, but because of a lie so cruelly crafted that even love couldn’t fight it.

And as lightning flashed across the sky, Aaron’s laughter echoed in the dark — the sound of victory in a war built entirely from deceit.