CHAPTER 11
Damien’s POV
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“I agree to the divorce.”
Her words echoed in my mind, filling me with unexpected dread and shock. She had said it with finality, with certainty, as if there
was nothing left between us.
For a moment, I simply stared at her, waiting–expecting–for the real Celeste to appear. Surely, she’ll take it back.
She had to.
This was just a test, a reaction, à desperate attempt to get my attention.
I waited. But she didn’t falter.
She just stood there, chin lifted, back straight, fire burning behind her eyes.
For the first time in a long time, she didn’t look like the Celeste who used to chase after me, worship me, and do everything in her
power to please me.
It was then that I felt something unpleasant beginning to form in my chest. I should have felt relieved. I had wanted this. Hadn’t
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But instead, an unfamiliar tightness gripped my throat–anger, confusion–an increasing discomfort that refused to go away. M fingers twitched at my side, a restless energy rising inside me. Why did I suddenly have the urge to say something–anything–to
make her reconsider?
“Celeste…” I started, my voice low and controlled.
But she turned away before I could finish. The dismissal stung more than it should have.
Just as I was about to rein in my emotions, to tell her that maybe this marriage didn’t have to end this way-
Theo returned, holding sandwiches and drinks. Celeste immediately turned to him with a grateful smile, and he handed some to her as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The unspoken understanding between them made me feel like an outsider, like I was intruding on something I had no part in
I stiffened. My jaw tightened as jealousy rippled through me.
My wife didn’t even spare me a glance. Was she that angry about being put in that asylum? But I did it for her own good!
I saw her fingers brush against his for a brief moment as she accepted the food. It made my blood boil.
Doesn’t she know whose wife she is?
The thought hit me with unexpected force. I took a step forward, my voice sharp. “You really don’t waste time, do you, Theo
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Mercer?”
Theo didn’t even flinch. He just looked at me, unimpressed, unfazed, as if I were nothing more than an inconvenience.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Liar.
I scoffed, shifting my glare back to Celeste. “Is this why you’re so eager for a divorce? Because of him?”
She exhaled sharply, but this wasn’t the weary Celeste I once knew–the one who would crumble at my anger, who would desperately try to explain herself. No, this Celeste met my gaze head–on, her lips curling into something that wasn’t quite a smile. Something sharper.
“Don’t flatter yourself, Damien,” she said coolly, “You think I need a man to leave you? You think you’re that important?”
My jaw locked. “Am I wrong?” I pushed. “The moment he shows up, you suddenly decide to throw away our marriage?”
A low, bitter laugh escaped her lips, sending a chill down my spine. “Throw it away?” She took a deliberate step closer, tilting her head as if she were studying something pathetic. Then a spark of fury ignited in her eyes. “Damien, you burned it to the ground,”
she hissed.
Her words landed like a slap.
I balled my fists, struggling to suppress the burning irritation clawing at my insides.
No, this is not the Celeste I know.
This was someone else.
And she didn’t care about my feelings anymore.
The realization sent something dark and uncomfortable crawling beneath my skin. I should have let her go. I should have said. nothing anymore.
But the
way she stood beside him, so close, so damn comfortable, set my teeth on edge. Theo took a step forward, placing himself slightly in front of Celeste–a clear challenge
“Celeste owes you nothing.” His voice was cold. “And if you had even a shred of decency left, you’d let her walk away.”
I wanted to wipe that smug expression off his face.
I wanted to grab Celeste and demand she look me in the eye and tell me she really wanted this.
But then, she turned away without a second glance. No hesitation at all.
And she walked out of the hospital with him.
I stood there, watching them leave, the unease in my chest growing heavier.
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I’m supposed to be happy because she’d betrayed me, anyway, right? She’s ‘a liar, a thief, a cheater! This must be good riddance.
Then why the hell does it feel like I was losing something I wasn’t ready to lose?
I should have felt nothing but hatred watching her walk away. That’s what I wanted to believe.
But as she disappeared from view. I felt something else eating at me. A strange, unwelcome sense of unease.
Why isn’t she hesitating? Why has she become so indifferent and cold?
She had turned her back on me so effortlessly, without so much as a second glance.
And then there was Mercer–always by her side, always watching. It just made me more anxious.
My fists clenched at my sides, panic gripping me without warning. But as she slipped past me, something caught my eye once
more.
The scars.
For a moment, my entire body froze.
The bitterness in her eyes, the way she held herself–rigid, guarded, like I was the enemy–it unsettled me. Why was she looking
at me like I was some monster, when she was the one who’d cheated on me and made a fool out of me?
It was as if I was the one who’d ruined her.
And then, before I could think, she slipped into Theo’s car. I saw him open the door for her like it was his right. Like he had every
claim to be the one standing beside her now. Like I was already replaced.
Heat pulsed through me, my jaw stiffening, fingers curling into fists.
How the hell had he found her? How had he even known she was in Ravencrest Asylum?
Had she called him? Had she been waiting for him all this time?
The thought sent a sharp, angry pulse through my veins.
And then there were the unexplainable scars on her palms and wrists. Why was she hesitant to tell me how she got them?
Something had happened to her in that place. Something I didn’t know. (1)
And that was unacceptable.
I pulled out my phone, my fingers tightening around it as I dialed my assistant, Mark.
“I
“Find out everything about Ravencrest Asylum,” I ordered, my voice colder than steel. “I want reports on their treatments, their security, the staff, everything. And I want to know exactly how Theo Mercer got her out.”
A pause.
“Sir, I don’t think-” Mark tried to say something.
“I don’t pay y
pay you to think. Just do it.”
I ended the call, my gaze locked on Theo’s car as it pulled out of the hospital driveway.
Celeste might think she’s free of me. But she’s wrong.
She’s still my wife.
