ALEXANDER
What a fool I had been. All this time, blinded by my own arrogance, by my anger. Dominic wasn’t Raina’s lover he was her brother. Her brother
Why didn’t she stop me at the hospital when I lost control and lashed out? Why didn’t she tell me then and there?
The memory of that day resurfaced, sharper now, cutting deeper. Vanessa’s smug face as she handed me those pictures of Raina in another man’s arms. I hadn’t even looked closely at the man’s face. I’d been too consumed by rage, too maily to believe the worst about her.
I sat on the cold floor of Liam’s hospital room, my back against the wall, staring blankly ahead. Liam lay motionless in his bed, hooked up to machines keeping him alive. Guilt clawed at me, relentless and suffocating.
What had I done?
I robbed my son of his mother’s love. I took him from ber, convinced that I was doing the right thing, that I was protecting him. I thought I’d been saving him, but Instead, I’d failed him in the worst way imaginable
I didn’t know how long I sat there, lost in my thoughts. Memories of Rain flooded my mind her laughter, the way her eyes sparkled when she was happy, the softness in her voice when she whispered my name. Our vows, spoken with so much love and hope, now felt like mockery
What had 1–done to her?
And just like that, something inside me snapped. I couldn’t keep living like this–dwelling in bittemess and regret. I needed to make things night, to confront her, to tell her everything?
That we were still married.
A bitter laugh escaped me. I’d never gone through with filing the divorce papers. Something always held me back some faint hope or maybe just my own cowardice. Whatever it was, I silently thanked it now,
But where was she? I had no idea where to find her.
Assf on autopilot, 1
t, I got into my car and started driving. I wasn’t sure where I was going until I found myself pulling up outside Liam’s old hospital,
And then I saw her.
Raina, running toward a c
Dominic’s car. My fists clenched on the steering wheel as I watched her slip into the passenger seat. Dominic threw me a waming look before driving out with her.
same stubbom
I sat there for a moment, fury boiling inside me. How had I been so blind? The resemblance was there, so obvious now. They had the same eyes, the same set to their jaw
I slammed my tist against the dashboard. I’d been played, manipulated by my own family.
I drove aimlessly for a while, the weight of the realization crashing down on me. Dochini wasn’t Raina’s lover–he was her brother. The truth had been staring me in the face all these years, and I had been too blind, too furious to see it.
My hands gripped the steering wheel tighter as my anger surged. Had I really been so blind? The resemblance was there, clear as day. The man in the pictures: vanessa had shown in all those years ago had Raina’s sharp jawline, her piercing eyes. How had 1 dissed it?
you didn’t want to see it, a voice in my
my head mocked. You wanted a reason to hate her, a reason to justify throwing her away
I clenched my jaw, the memory of those photographs searing my mind. Vanessa had handed them to me with such confidence, whispering venomous accusations about Raina’s supposed infidelity, I hadn’t even taken a proper look at the man’s face–I’d been too angry, too consumed by betrayal.
Now, it was painfully obvious. The resemblance wasn’t a comicidence. Dominic wasn’t some random stranger or secret lover. He was family–Raina’s family.
The tralization stong, but what stung more was the thought of what I had done because of it. I had thrown Raina out of my life based on beer armus, and left her to face the world alune
Fuming, I turned the car around and sped home. I needed answers, and there was only one person who could give them to me.
by the time I slamined through the trout door, I was already yelling
Valissa!” My suice echoed through the grand hall, drawing any mother out of the sitting room.
“What on earth is going on!” she asked, hur brows funtowed.
Ignored her and lupt calling. “Vanessa! Get down here, now!”
