Chapter 327
The door creaked open in the dim haze of dawn, revealing Rafael sprawled on the cold marble floor like a fallen king, his once-impeccable designer suit rumpled and his dark wavy hair disheveled across his forehead. His steel-grey eyes, sharp and piercing snapped open at the sound, locking onto Eliana’s tear-streaked face. She stood there, slender frame wrapped in a silk robe, her warm brown skin flushed from hours of sobbing, her expressive honey eyes swollen and rimmed with red. Her curly long hair falling wildly over her shoulders, framing her soft heart-shaped face and full lips that trembled with unspoken pain.
“Rafael,” she whispered hoarsely, her voice raw from the night’s torment. “I think… once the year is up, we should get a divorce p>
The words hung in the air like a guillotine blade, slicing through the fragile remnants of their bond. Rafael’s heart plummeted, a visceral ache ripping through his chest as if his very soul had been torn to pieces. He scrambled to his feet with a speed that belied his exhaustion, his tall, athletic build towering over her, yet in that moment, he seemed smaller, more vulnerable than ever before. “No,” he objected immediately, his voice a desperate rasp, laced with disbelief and raw panic. “Eliana, no. You can’t mean that. Please, tell me you’re just angry—tell me this is something we can fix p>
She stepped back instinctively, but he closed the distance in an instant, his strong arms enveloping her in a fierce embrace. He pulled her against his chest, burying his face in her curly hair, inhaling the faint scent of lavender that always clung to her—a scent that had become his anchor in the storm of his lonely existence. “Don’t say that again,” he begged, his words muffled against her skin, his body trembling. “Never say that again, my love. I can’t lose you. You’re everything to me—the air I breathe, the light in my darkness. Without you, I’m nothing p>
Eliana’s body stiffened in his arms, a war raging within her. His warmth, so familiar and once so comforting, now felt like a trap woven from silk threads of deception. She could feel the rapid thud of his heart against her cheek, mirroring her own erratic pulse. Part of her ached to melt into him, to forgive the manipulations that had shattered her trust—the fake disabilities, the orchestrated tests of loyalty, the contract marriage that had started as a farce but bloomed into something real. Or had it? The doubt gnawed at her, a poisonous vine twisting around her hopeful heart. She pushed gently against his chest, her hands small and tentative against his broad frame. “Rafael, stop. Please, let me go p>
But he didn’t. Instead, he sank to his knees before her, right there in the hallway, his chiseled jaw clenched in agony as tears welled in his steel eyes. The commanding billionaire, the ruthless CEO who had built empires from shadows, now knelt like a supplicant at her feet. His hands clutched at the hem of her robe, his fingers trembling as sobs wracked his body—an ugly, unrestrained cry that distorted his handsome features, tears streaming down his face in unchecked rivulets, mingling with the stubble on his jaw. “Eliana, please,” he pleaded, his voice breaking on every syllable, hoarse and guttural. “Forgive me. I was a fool—a broken, scared fool who hid behind lies because I didn’t know how to trust. But you… you taught me. You showed me what love could be. Don’t throw it away. I’m begging you, on my knees, don’t leave me. I’ll do anything—anything to make this right p>
Eliana’s heart twisted at the sight, a surge of pity and lingering love flooding her veins. This wasn’t the cold, sarcastic man she’d first met; this was Rafael stripped bare, his emotional detachment shattered into pieces. She felt bad—terribly so—watching him crumble like this. Her kind-hearted nature, forged in the fires of her own hardships with her sickly father and absent mother, urged her to lift him up, to wipe away his tears and whisper assurances. She bent down, her slender fingers reaching for his arms, trying to pull him to his feet. “Rafael, get up,” she said softly, her voice laced with sorrow and conflict. “Please, stand up. I don’t want to see you like this. It hurts me too p>
He looked up at her through blurred vision, his piercing eyes now red-rimmed and pleading, grasping her hands as if they were lifelines. “Then forgive me, Eliana. Let me prove it to you. Every moment we shared—the dances, the whispers in the night, the way you made me laugh when I thought I’d forgotten how—that was real. I swear on my mother’s memory, it was real p>
She hesitated, her honey eyes searching his face, wanting so desperately to believe him. Memories flashed unbidden: the night in the garden under a canopy of stars, where he’d opened up about his late mother, Eleanor, his voice cracking with rare vulnerability; the tech conference where his hand in hers had felt like an unbreakable promise; the quiet mornings where he’d surprise her with breakfast in bed, his sarcastic quips softened into tender endearments. She truly wanted to forgive and forget, to bury the pain of his deceptions and embrace the man she’d fallen for. But the thought lingered, insidious and unrelenting: Had she ever truly fallen in love with him through her own free will? Or had it all been manipulated, a carefully scripted play where she was the unwitting pawn?
The contract’s shadow loomed large—It stated one year of marriage but after the wedding, Eliana had hoped it would never expire, now, everything was tainted by revelations of his lies. What if her forgiveness in the past, when he’d hurt her with his coldness, had been coerced by his hidden schemes? What if all these while she had known him, he was playing her like a chess game?
Tears welled anew in her eyes as she gently extricated her hands from his grasp, stepping back with a heavy heart. “I’m sorry, Rafael,” she said painfully, her voice barely above a whisper, cracking with the weight of her decision. “I can’t get past the manipulations. Every time I look at you, I wonder… was any of it real? Did I choose to love you, or was I made to love you? I need time—time away from all this p>
She turned toward the door, her hand reaching for the knob, intent on closing it and shutting out the storm of emotions threatening to engulf her. But Rafael surged forward on his knees, his hand shooting out to hold the door firm, preventing it from latching. He looked up at her softly now, his steel-grey eyes glistening with a depth of emotion she’d rarely seen—raw, unfiltered despair mixed with unwavering love. “Eliana, wait,” he murmured, his voice steady despite the tears still tracing paths down his cheeks. “If you leave me… I’d rather be dead than watch you walk away. I’d choose death over a life without you in it. You’re my reason, my everything. Without you, there’s no point p>
To be continued p>