Chapter Nineteen:Echoes Of Promise
1242 Words
Eva leaned against the kitchen counter, a slow, amused smile playing on her lips as Damien answered her call.
“Babe,” she said sweetly, “you won’t believe what I saw this morning.”
Damien barely looked up from the documents spread across his desk.
“What?”
“I finally understand how easy it is to move on.”
His hand froze.
“…What do you mean?”
Eva let the silence linger just long enough to make him impatient.
“I was looking for Liam, so I went to Isla’s room.” She chuckled softly. “When I opened the door, they were sitting… incredibly close. Face to face.”
Damien’s jaw tightened.
“They looked so comfortable together.” Eva sighed dramatically. “Honestly, I felt like I’d interrupted something private.”
His grip around the phone slowly tightened.
“I even joked,” she continued, laughing, “‘Should I leave? Am I interrupting a romantic moment?’”
“And?”
“Isla got angry.”
Damien’s heartbeat became painfully loud.
“Liam didn’t deny anything. He just stayed quiet.”
Eva smiled to herself before delivering the final blow.
“Then Mia walked in, so I couldn’t tease them any longer.”
Silence.
Complete silence.
Inside Damien, jealousy and anger collided so violently that even he couldn’t separate them.
Finally, he spoke.
“Stay home.”
Eva frowned.
“What? Why?”
“I’ll be there soon.”
“But you never leave the office this early.”
“You wanted that diamond necklace, didn’t you?”
Her eyes sparkled.
“…Really?”
A faint smile appeared on Damien’s face, though it never reached his eyes.
“Damn sure, babe.”
He ended the call.
⸻
The steering wheel trembled beneath his grip.
“I’m not jealous,” he muttered.
Yet his foot pressed harder against the accelerator.
Minutes later, he walked into an exclusive jewelry boutique.
“Wrap this one.”
The salesman smiled.
“Excellent choice, sir.”
Damien barely glanced at the necklace.
He wasn’t buying it because he wanted to.
He was buying it because he couldn’t erase the image Eva had planted inside his mind.
But deep down, he knew the necklace was not for Eva.
It was a desperate attempt to prove to himself that he still had control.
⸻
Since it was Isla’s day off, Damien knew she would be home.
When he entered the mansion, he found exactly what he expected.
Mia and Isla were sitting in the living room, talking quietly.
Liam was in the kitchen, putting away groceries.
Damien closed the front door with a sharp bang.
Everyone looked up.
Even Isla flinched.
For a brief second, their eyes met.
Her expression remained calm.
Too calm.
That calmness irritated him more than anger ever could.
Without taking his eyes off her, Damien raised his voice.
“Eva!”
His voice echoed through the house.
“Eva!”
Upstairs, Eva peeked over the railing. The moment she saw Damien, her face lit up with excitement.
She hurried downstairs.
Mia frowned.
What new performance is this?
Damien smiled at Eva.
“Babe.”
He held out the elegant gift box.
“I brought something for you.”
Eva gasped as she lifted the lid.
The diamond necklace shimmered beneath the lights.
“Oh my God…”
She threw her arms around him.
“I love it.”
Then, almost instinctively, she glanced toward Isla.
“Babe…”
She smiled.
“Will you put it on me?”
“Of course.”
Damien stepped behind her.
Very gently, he gathered Eva’s hair over one shoulder.
His fingers fastened the necklace around her neck.
Then he kissed gently on her neck.
The polished diamonds caught the light.
Beautiful.
Perfect.
He looked into the mirror with her.
“You look beautiful.”
Across the room—
Damien was too lost in his own anger and jealousy to notice the way Isla looked away.
He never saw the small cracks forming in the silence between them.
A porcelain coffee cup trembled in Isla’s hands.
One tiny drop spilled onto the floor.
No one noticed.
Except Liam.
He looked at her for only a second before quietly looking away, giving her the dignity of pretending not to see.
Isla inhaled slowly.
Forced herself to smile.
“Mia…”
Her voice was steady.
“I’m a little tired.”
“I think I’ll rest.”
Without waiting for a reply, she walked upstairs.
Every step felt heavier than the last.
Mia followed a few moments later.
As she reached the entrance, she stopped beside Damien.
Without looking at him, she spoke so quietly that only he could hear.
“No amount of diamonds can turn plastic into something priceless.”
She smiled politely.
Then walked away.
Eva was too busy admiring the necklace in the mirror to notice.
“I’m going upstairs,” she said happily.
“I need pictures. My friends are going to lose their minds.”
She disappeared.
Silence settled over the house.
Damien slowly turned toward Liam.
Liam continued arranging the groceries.
“You need something?” Liam asked calmly.
Damien folded his arms.
“What’s going on between you and Isla?”
Liam didn’t answer.
“I asked you a question.”
Still nothing.
Only the quiet sound of glass jars being placed inside the cabinet.
Damien’s patience snapped.
“Answer me.”
Liam finally turned.
His expression remained unreadable.
Damien stepped forward and grabbed the front of Liam’s shirt.
Their eyes locked, neither willing to look away.
“Stay away from her,” Damien said, his voice dangerously low.
Liam didn’t even flinch.
“You’re too late.”
Damien’s jaw clenched.
“She’s still legally my wife.”
A bitter smile crossed Liam’s lips.
“Legally? Maybe. But love isn’t decided by a signature.”
The room fell into suffocating silence.
“Every choice you’ve made pushed her further away from you,” Liam continued. “You keep blaming me because it’s easier than admitting you destroyed your own marriage.”
Damien released his collar with a shove, his breathing uneven.
Liam calmly straightened his shirt.
“You’re terrified,” he said quietly. “Not of me… of losing her forever.”
Damien stared at him for one long second before turning away and walking out without another word.
Inside her bedroom, Isla quietly locked the door.
The silence crushed her.
Her eyes drifted toward the small velvet box hidden inside the drawer.
A memory unfolded without mercy.
Their first month as husband and wife.
Damien had walked through that very doorway carrying another diamond necklace.
He had stood behind her.
Moved her hair aside.
Fastened the necklace around her neck.
Then kissed the side of her neck.
“You look beautiful.”
The exact same words.
The exact same smile.
Only…
…to a different woman.
The memory shattered something inside her.
Her breathing became uneven.
Her hands began to shake uncontrollably.
“No…”
She pressed a trembling hand against her chest.
The room suddenly felt too small.
Too quiet.
Too empty.
She slid down the wall until she reached the floor, wrapping her arms around herself as tears blurred her vision.
She tried to breathe, but every breath felt heavier than the last.
Outside her bedroom door, the mansion remained peaceful.
No one knew that, behind that locked door…
…Isla Howard was breaking all over again.
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