Chapter 3
After Damon left, I took down the wedding photo from the bedroom wall.
After seven years of bonding, the only thing Damon and I had ever truly shared was this wedding photo. How laughable.
In the photo, the groom’s smile is stiff, and there’s a gap between him and the bride.
We’d taken that photo no less than ten times.
I overheard the photographer joking with the staff.
“Are we taking a wedding photo, or is this some sort of punishment? The groom’s face is frozen, and every time we try to get them to stand closer, he refuses. If he doesn’t want to seal the mate bond, why bother going through with it?”
That was the only photo of Damon and me, and in it, he’s actually smiling.
But Damon didn’t like it. I hung it on the wall, and he took it down. I put it back up, and he took it down again.
Eventually, he grew tired of the fight and let me keep it.
I took the photo out of its frame, and Damon’s voice suddenly sounded behind me.
“Didn’t you treasure that photo the most? So, you’re really willing to take it down?”
At this time of day, he’d usually be lounging in his mistress’s arms, rarely coming back.
But now, he leaned in the doorway, cigar in hand, watching me with a sideways glance.
I remembered the year after we’d sealed the mate bond, the first time I went to the hotel to catch him cheating. I slashed his mistress’s face in a fit of rage.
Damon had been leaning in the doorway back then, his eyes casual, as if indifferent.
“Keep going. When you’re done with her, there’s always the next one.”
Once, I had been terrified of this version of Damon. No matter what I did, he always seemed like an observer, making me feel like a
clown in my own life.
But now, I didn’t care anymore.
I ignored him and started taking a few changes of clothes from the wardrobe, packing them into a suitcase.
Damon couldn’t stay still. He came over and grabbed my hand.
“Where are you going?”
His voice held a trace of unnoticeable panic.
Blood seeped through the bandages on my wrist.
“I’m in a bad mood. I’m going on a trip with Raine for a few days.”
Only then did Damon release my hand.
Later that evening, Damon came back into the bedroom from the living room, claiming it was a way to compensate for hurting me.
I threw his blankets and pillows out of the bed.
“Go to your mistress. I don’t want your concern!”
Damon’s face darkened, and a cold smirk spread across his lips.
“Elena, stop being so dramatic, okay? Aren’t you just angry because I haven’t slept with you in all these years? I’ll give you exactly what you want now!”
Chapter 3
DE DOS
He pushed me onto the bed, his hand slipping under my nightgown.
“Smack”
“Damon, you animal! Don’t touch me, you disgust me!”
The perfume on his skin made me dizzy and nauseous.
Damon slammed his fist into the pillow.
“Elena, you’ll regret this!”
He got up, slammed the door, and left.
Later that night, Damon brought Genevieve back again.
I was half asleep when I heard the rough sounds of a man panting mixed with a woman’s soft moans coming from the study.
The study and the bedroom were separated by only a thin wall.
Damon was doing this on purpose. He was punishing me in his own way.
Usually, when he brought women back, they never stayed overnight.
The study door was left open, and I stood at the doorway, witnessing their bare bodies tangled together. A wave of nausea hit me.
Damon noticed me and gave me a long, assessing look.
When he saw I was calm, he became enraged. He threw the pillow at me.
“Get out!”
When I slammed the door to the study, my heart felt a sharp sting.
I dragged my suitcase out of the room and went to Raine’s house.
Two days later, I would leave.
Everything would finally be over.
