Chapter 9
Damien’s throat tightened as he swallowed as tears finally spilled over.
“I’m sorry.” His voice cracked like splintering wood.
“I thought you were naive, gullible. But the real fool was me-too stupid to recognize my own heart.”
A ragged breath.
“I hurt you., hurt our baby., hurt Sebastian…”
His words dissolved into shuddering sobs, shoulders shaking with the weight of his grief.
I watched his breakdown impassively, memories flickering behind my eyes:
Sebastian secretly measuring my wrist while I slept, just because I’d once mentioned wanting a diamond bracelet.
Sebastian grinning through a shirt ruined by taco sauce at the food market, his laughter warm as summer sun.
Sebastian decorated the entire room with candles and roses to surprise me for my birthday, but he burned himself in several places.
And his final roar outside the operating room:
“She deserves true love!”
A bitter ache bloomed in my chest.
Perhaps Sebastian had loved me in the end.
But he was gone now.
So I didn’t offer forgiveness.
Not for my mother.
Not for the baby I’d lost.
Not even for Sebastian.
Forgiveness was a weight too heavy to bear.
When Damien’s tears subsided, I spoke calmly:
“Did you bring the papers? Let’s settle down the divorce.”
His jaw clenched. Ten minutes passed before he muttered,
“What…. what do you know?”
1 studied his bloodshot eyes, truths turning to ash on my tongue.
Chapter 9.
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What was the point?
I’d suspected the impersonation early-noticed when “Damien’s” scarred right hand suddenly healed overnight.
Caught “Damien’s” ears turning pink when he taught me to surf.
Recognized the deliberate detours around the cake shop near Lovers’ Bridge.
I’d understood Damien sent his brother to entertain me while he chased Scarlett.
Known Sebastian started our game as a cruel joke, only to fall for me in earnest.
And realized this marriage was always Scarlett’s sick amusement.
I’d known everything.
From the very beginning.
و
Damien’s gaze darted like a cornered animal before he gritted out,
“Give me a chance to make it up to you, Julie. Sebastian would’ve wanted us to-”
“Stop lying.”
His breath hitched. “What?”
I turned toward the horizon. “Sebastian told me he wanted me to be happy.”
“And I could never be happy with you.”
Damien crumpled like a marionette with cut strings.
“I’ll keep the founding shares. Take everything else,” he whispered.
I nodded.
Bystanders gathered, phones raised, but the man who once prized dignity above all things didn’t care.
He stumbled away-back bowed, tears carving tracks through his designer stubble.
I didn’t watch him go.
Did his tears think they could wash away the bloodstains?
After his unexpected visit, peace returned to my life.
Until Scarlett came shrieking to my doorstep, her manicured nails chipped, hair a bird’s nest of greasy strands.
“Juliette! You ruined everything! First Sebastian, now Damien-what poison did you feed him? He’s leaving me because of
you.”
Her reek of stale perfume and desperation almost made me pity her.
Chapter 9
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Almost.
“We’re divorced. Damien is your problem now.”
