CHAPTER 3
1595 Words
The sound of Damien’s car pulling into the driveway made Amara’s blood run cold.
For one terrifying second, she forgot how to breathe.
The tablet nearly slipped from her shaking hands as headlights flashed across the office windows. Her heart slammed violently against her ribs while panic rushed through her body like ice water.
He was home.
Too early.
“Oh God…”
Amara exited the deleted messages so fast her fingers fumbled against the screen. Her mind raced wildly.
Did he know she’d looked through it?
Could he somehow tell?
Outside, the front door opened.
“Amara?”
His voice echoed through the mansion, smooth and familiar.
The same voice that had whispered I love you while lying to her face.
Her chest tightened painfully.
She placed the tablet exactly where she had found it and backed away from the desk as if the room itself had burned her—every message she’d seen replayed in brutal flashes through her head.
Last night was incredible.
Miss your hands on me already.
Leaving Amara would destroy everything.
The humiliation hit harder now.
Not just betrayal.
Replacement.
She wasn’t a wife anymore. She was an obstacle.
Footsteps moved through the hallway.
Closer.
Amara wiped quickly at her face, but it was too late. The tears had already betrayed her.
Damien appeared in the doorway seconds later.
And the moment his eyes landed on her, he knew.
Not what she had seen exactly.
But enough.
A strange silence filled the room.
His expression remained unreadable for half a heartbeat before concern softened his features perfectly. Effortlessly.
“Baby,” he said quietly. “Why are you crying?”
The tenderness in his voice nearly broke her all over again.
“How many women?” she whispered.
He stopped moving.
The air between them changed instantly.
Dangerous.
Still.
Damien’s gaze flicked once toward the desk.
Then back to her face.
“You went through my things.”
It wasn’t anger.
That would’ve been easier.
Instead, disappointment coated his voice as she had somehow violated him.
Amara stared at him in disbelief. “That’s what you care about right now?”
“You invaded my privacy.”
“You’re cheating on me!”
Her voice cracked violently through the room.
Finally.
Finally, the truth existed out loud between them.
Damien exhaled slowly and rubbed a hand over his jaw. Tired. Calm. Controlled.
Always controlled.
“It’s not what you think.”
Amara let out a broken laugh. “There are messages from multiple women.”
“Amara—”
“You told one of them that leaving me would destroy everything.”
His face hardened briefly.
Tiny cracks.
But they were there.
“That message wasn’t—”
“Don’t lie to me again!”
The pain in her voice echoed against the office walls.
For the first time since this nightmare began, Damien looked cornered.
Not guilty.
Cornered.
And somehow that hurt even more.
He took a careful step toward her, as if approaching something fragile. “Listen to me.”
“No.”
“Please.”
That word stopped her.
Damien never begged.
Ever.
His voice dropped lower. Softer. “Please let me explain.”
Tears blurred her vision again. “Explain what? That I’m stupid? Did all those women mean nothing? That I should ignore what’s right in front of me?”
He moved closer anyway.
Close enough now that she could smell his cologne.
Close enough for memories to hurt.
“I never wanted to hurt you,” he said quietly.
The sincerity in his eyes made her furious.
“How can you say that after this?”
“Because it’s true.”
“No, the truth is you lied to me for God knows how long.”
Damien’s jaw flexed. “Those messages didn’t mean anything.”
Amara stared at him.
“That’s your defense?”
“They were distractions.”
The word sliced through her chest.
Distractions.
Like these women were temporary entertainment.
Like betrayal could somehow become smaller if emotions weren’t involved.
“You expect me to feel better hearing that?”
“No.” His voice finally roughened slightly. “I expect you to understand that none of them mattered.”
“But they mattered enough to risk our marriage.”
Silence.
Damien looked away first this time.
And somehow that tiny action hurt more than the messages themselves.
Amara wrapped her arms tightly around herself. “Why?”
The question came out small.
Destroyed.
“Why wasn’t I enough?”
Something shifted in Damien’s face then.
Real emotion.
Not polished charm. Not manipulation.
Something darker.
“You were too good for me,” he admitted quietly.
The answer stunned her.
He stepped closer again, eyes locked onto hers with terrifying intensity. “You loved me completely. Trusted me completely. And instead of protecting that, I…” He swallowed hard. “I ruined it.”
Amara’s heart betrayed her immediately.
Because this was what Damien did best.
He knew exactly when to become vulnerable.
Exactly when to soften his voice.
Exactly when to look at her like she was the only thing keeping him alive.
“I hate myself for hurting you,” he whispered.
The tears she had been fighting finally escaped.
Damien reached for her slowly, giving her time to pull away.
She didn’t.
The moment his arms wrapped around her, her body collapsed against him like it remembered safety before betrayal.
And that was the worst part.
Even now, she still fit against him perfectly.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured into her hair. “God, Amara… I’m so sorry.”
She cried harder at that.
Not because she forgave him.
But because part of her desperately wanted to.
Damien held her tightly, fingers trembling slightly against her back. His heartbeat pounded steadily beneath her cheek.
Real.
Warm.
Familiar.
“I’ll end it,” he promised softly. “All of it.”
Amara shut her eyes.
“You already should have.”
“I know.”
“You lied every day.”
“I know.”
“You made me feel crazy.”
His grip tightened painfully for a second. “I know.”
Every answer came without hesitation.
No excuses anymore.
And somehow that made him feel more dangerous than before.
Because honesty from a liar felt intoxicating.
Damien pulled back just enough to cradle her face in his hands. His eyes were red now, too.
Or maybe she imagined that.
“I love you,” he said. “I love you more than anything in my life.”
Her chest ached violently.
“You have a terrible way of showing it.”
A broken smile touched his lips. “I know.”
Then he kissed her.
And Amara hated herself because she kissed him back instantly.
All the anger. All the humiliation. All the heartbreak tangled together the moment his mouth touched hers. The kiss deepened fast—desperate, emotional, almost grieving.
Like two people trying to save something that is already drowning.
Damien kissed her like a man terrified to lose her.
And for one devastating moment, she believed him completely.
He rested his forehead against hers afterward, breathing unevenly. “Tell me how to fix this.”
“You can’t.”
“Yes, I can.”
“You broke something in me.”
Pain flashed openly across his face.
Good.
She wanted him to hurt, too.
But then his hands slid gently through her hair, and suddenly she was crying again instead of fighting him.
“I’m here,” he whispered. “I’m not going anywhere.”
The irony nearly destroyed her.
Because he had already gone.
Long ago.
Yet somehow, standing in his arms, Amara still felt the dangerous pull of hope wrapping around her heart again.
And that terrified her most of all.
Hours later, after the tears and apologies and endless silence between kisses, Amara lay awake beside him in bed.
Damien slept with one arm possessively draped around her waist, as if he were afraid she might disappear overnight.
Moonlight spilled across his face.
Peaceful.
Beautiful.
The face of a man capable of lying without blinking.
Amara stared at the ceiling, exhaustion pressing heavily against her chest.
She should leave him.
She knew that.
Any sane woman would.
But when Damien shifted in his sleep and unconsciously pulled her closer, her body melted against him automatically.
And in that horrifying moment—
Amara realized she was already beginning to forgive him again.
- Writer
