“Surely, you won’t say no to your sister’s request, right?” Dea leaned against my husband’s shoulder after Rowan dropped that bomb on me.
My chest tightened. She wants to provoke me, for me to get mad and lash out on them, but I said nothing to challenge it.
Request? That wasn’t a request. It was an order. One that didn’t even require my consent.
We never shared a room like real couples do. He never wanted to. He once told me we could use my room if I wanted to mate with him, but not his. He said he didn't want his space "tainted" by anything about sex. But he didn’t know I was aware of what he was really doing. He’d bring Dea here, into his room, whenever I came home late from court. Or when I was asleep, too exhausted to hear their whispers and footsteps.
“It’s only for a week, Vienna. You can have your room back when—”
“Okay. She can have it,” I cut him off with a nod. I turned away and went back to packing.
“O...kay?” Rowan echoed, confused.
I shot him a cold glance. He expected me to fight for it, just like before. He expected tears, pleading, rage. But there was none of that now. Because what’s the point of fighting for something that was never mine to begin with?
“I’m letting her have it like you requested,” I said simply.
Dea squealed in delight.
“See, love? My sister always understands.”
Rowan didn’t look pleased. For a second, I thought my indifference bothered him. But instead of asking how I felt, he walked away, carrying his pride with him. Dea, of course, stayed, wanting the last word, like she always did.
“How’s it like being his wife only in bed?” she asked with a wicked grin. “Oh wait, do you two still mate? Does he even kiss you? I doubt it. He’s with me every night, like he can’t get enough of me. I bet he’s forgotten what you taste like.”
I didn’t speak.
She laughed at my silence. “Bitch. That’s what you get for stealing my life. It will never be yours. Everything is mine, Vienna.”
She stomped her heel next to my foot, trying to provoke me, and smiled smugly.
“Your husband’s staying in this house tonight,” she added. “But he’ll be sleeping with me. And the poor Luna? She’ll spend the night alone, cold and forgotten, while he’s holding me close.”
And just like that, the nightmare became real.
I passed by my room and heard it. Their sounds. Her moans. His voice. Their pleasure. The bed creaked in rhythm, the walls soaked in betrayal. That room, once the only place I could breathe in this house, was now a shrine to my humiliation.
He never held me like that. Never kissed me like that. When we mated, he didn’t even look me in the eye. He never touched me out of affection. For him, I was nothing but a duty. An obligation.
“You’re the only woman who could make me feel this way, Dea,” I heard him say.
And that was it.
I stopped walking. A sob slipped from my lips before I could catch it. I froze. I wasn’t even aware I’d started crying.
I was still hurting.
I was still hoping.
And that was the most humiliating part.
I pulled my phone out with trembling fingers and walked away from the noise, further and further, until their pleasure was only a dull echo in the background.
I opened a number saved long ago. One I never deleted, even when I should have.
“Diego, I’m divorcing Rowan. Please pick me up after a month.”
That was the message I sent to the only man I knew would never turn me away.
Seconds later, my phone rang.
I answered, my voice already breaking. “Diego…”
“He made you cry again?” he said coldly. “Is that why you’re suddenly trying to divorce him again?”
Shame flooded me. I had tried to leave Rowan before. I had promised Diego before. But I didn’t follow through. I stayed. I chose the man who never chose me. And Diego waited, only to be hurt by my cowardice.
“I mean it this time,” I whispered. “I’m sorry for before, but please… help me again.”
I heard his deep sigh over the line. The kind that sounded like he was holding in more than just disappointment.
“It should’ve been me, Yen,” he said, using the nickname only he and my mother used to call me. “It should’ve been me, so you wouldn’t have to live like this.”
I broke down at the weight of his voice. I wasn’t just hurting, I had hurt him too. I chose Rowan. And now I was paying for it.
“I’ll wait,” he said after a pause. “But after a month, whether you change your mind or not, you’re leaving with me. You’re divorcing him. And you’re marrying me.”
His words were final.
I clutched my chest, looking back toward the room filled with betrayal.
Rowan had his happiness. Why couldn’t I have mine?
“I won’t change my mind, Diego,” I said firmly. “Once the divorce is final, I’m marrying you. I promise.”
If I could love a man like Rowan this deeply… then maybe I could love Diego even more.
And this time, I will choose the man who would choose me back.
