PROLOUGE
749 Words
"You can still stop me."
Ava smiled, but her eyes were full of tears.
She stood beside the bedroom door with her small suitcase at her feet, waiting for him to say something, anything, that would give her one reason to stay.
Damien didn't answer.
He only looked at her.
The room was quiet except for the sound of rain tapping against the windows. The lights from the city slipped through the glass, making the room glow just enough for her to see the look on his face.
He looked scared.
She had never seen Damien Blackwood scared.
Not the man who could silence a room with one look.
Not the man newspapers called the Devil CEO.
Not the man she had spent the last six months pretending not to love.
"I'll make the divorce easy," she said softly. "You won't have to fight me."
He let out a slow breath.
"You've already decided?"
"What else is there to decide?"
She looked down at the ring on her finger.
"It was never supposed to be me."
He didn't move.
She laughed quietly.
"I wore my sister's dress."
She swallowed.
"I married the man she was supposed to marry."
Another smile.
This one hurt.
"I think I've stayed long enough."
She picked up her suitcase.
Before she could take one step...
His hand wrapped gently around her wrist.
Not hard.
Not to stop her.
Just enough to ask her to stay.
"Ava."
The way he said her name made her heart ache.
She slowly turned around.
He was standing so close now that she could see the tiredness in his eyes.
"You really think I can watch you walk away?"
"I watched you wish I was someone else every single day."
His face fell.
"I never wished that."
"You didn't have to say it."
"You showed me."
For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Damien took the suitcase from her hand and placed it quietly on the floor.
"I was angry."
"I know."
"I was confused."
"I know."
"I thought marrying you would always remind me of everything that went wrong."
She looked away.
"It did."
"It did."
His answer surprised her.
"But then..."
He smiled.
"...you started making coffee exactly the way I liked it."
Ava blinked.
"You remembered."
"You laughed at my terrible jokes."
"You only have one."
"You always waited for me, no matter how late I came home."
A tear rolled down her cheek.
"You made this house feel like a home."
He stepped closer.
"I stopped seeing the wrong bride."
His hand found hers.
"I only saw my wife."
Ava couldn't breathe.
She searched his face, waiting for him to tell her it was too late.
He never did.
Instead, he reached up and gently tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Such a small touch.
But somehow it broke every wall she had built around her heart.
"I've wanted to kiss you for months," he whispered.
"So why didn't you?"
"I was afraid."
She laughed through her tears.
"You?"
"The Devil CEO?"
He smiled.
"You are the only person who has ever made me afraid."
Her eyes filled again.
This time, she didn't hide it.
She stepped closer until there wasn't even an inch between them.
"So..."
"Are you going to keep talking?"
A slow smile spread across his face.
"No."
He cupped her face with both hands like she was something precious.
Something he never wanted to lose.
When he kissed her, it wasn't rushed.
It wasn't desperate.
It felt like two people finally stopping a fight neither of them wanted in the first place.
She smiled into the kiss.
His forehead rested against hers.
"I love you."
She closed her eyes.
"Say it again."
"I love you."
Again.
"I love you."
She laughed, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him close.
"I love you too."
For the first time since the day they got married, it finally felt like they had found each other.
Then—
Three loud knocks echoed through the room.
Damien didn't move.
Neither did Ava.
Another knock.
Harder this time.
"Sir," a voice called from outside.
"It's urgent."
Damien sighed.
"What is it?"
The door opened.
His head of security stood there, his face completely drained of color.
He looked at Damien.
Then at Ava.
His voice shook.
"Sir..."
"...we found Amelia."
The smile disappeared from Ava's face.
The room went silent.
The guard swallowed.
"...and she's asking to see her husband."
- Writer
