Chapter 2
For a few seconds, I couldn’t move. I just stood there, staring at them like my brain couldn’t process what I was seeing. Carla—my best friend—was standing beside my husband. Her hand rested protectively over her baby bump, and Lucien stood next to her like it was the most natural thing in the world.
No shame. No guilt. Just cold, casual truth.
“I don’t understand…” I finally whispered, my voice barely holding together. “You two…? Since when?”
Lucien didn’t even look uncomfortable. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is, she’s having my child.”
I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. But I couldn’t do anything. My body refused to move. My heart was shattered and bleeding inside me, but my face stayed frozen. Empty.
Carla smiled gently—like she pitied me.
Pity.
From her.
That was the last straw.
I took a step back, forcing my legs to work even as my insides crumbled. “I waited for you,” I said, my voice shaking with rage and sadness. “For three years, I waited. I loved you, Lucien. I defended you when everyone else said you were never coming back.”
His expression didn’t change. “I didn’t ask you to wait.”
That cut deeper than any knife.
Carla reached out to touch my arm, like she actually thought I’d be okay with all this. “Aurora, I didn’t mean for this to happen. We didn’t plan it. It just… happened.”
I pulled away from her touch like it burned me.
“You didn’t mean for it to happen?” I laughed bitterly. “So all those videos you sent him? All those messages? Was that an accident too?”
Carla’s face turned pale. Lucien stepped between us slightly, as if he was protecting her.
Protecting her. From me.
I turned away before they saw my tears. I had already humiliated myself enough. “I’m done,” I said quietly. “Congratulations. I hope you both have a beautiful life together.”
Lucien didn’t try to stop me. He didn’t call out my name. He just watched as I walked away.
Each step I took was heavy, like dragging a broken body through the mud. My chest felt hollow. My hands were ice cold. I didn’t even remember how I got home.
The moment I stepped inside, I collapsed on the couch. My tears finally fell—silent, uncontrollable, endless.
So this was it.
Three years of waiting. Three years of dreaming. Three years of building hope out of nothing.
And all of it was for nothing.
My marriage had ended before it even began. The man I loved chose someone else, and not just anyone—but the person who betrayed me the most.
I cried until my head ached and my throat went dry. I cried until there was nothing left inside me.
And then, somewhere between heartbreak and exhaustion, I decided something.
This pain? I wasn’t going to let it define me. I had given Lucien everything—my love, my loyalty, my youth—and he crushed it like it meant nothing.
So I would walk away. Not broken. Not begging.
I would heal. Slowly, maybe. Painfully, yes. But I would rebuild myself.
And Lucien?
He would regret this.
He would look back one day and realize exactly what he threw away.
But by then… it would be too late.