Chapter 91
Irene’s POV
I groaned in frustration, tugging the blanket tighter over my head, but it was useless. My mind refused to settle, bouncing from one disturbing thought to the next. Every time I closed my eyes, Eva’s face flashed in my mind–her smug smile, the way she slithered around the house as though she owned it. It grawed at me, a constant reminder of the battle I was in, a battle I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to win.
Needed to rest after a long night of planning my next catering job. I was left all alone in the house this afternoon, and I needed to catch up on my sleep. But my mind wouldn’t let me.
I kicked the blanket off, staring up at the ceiling, counting the cracks in the plaster to try and calm myself even if there were no cracks. But nothing worked. I was restless, overwhelmed by everything that had happened since I came back home. Damien had been trying. I know, I could see it, but it wasn’t enough. Eva was still here, a poison in our lives that wouldn’t g away–a constant sting on our fragile souls. And as long as she stayed, nothing would ever be right between me and Damien.
A heavy sigh escaped me. I had left once, thinking it would force Damien to see reason I had hoped my absence would wake him up to what was really happening in his own home. But Eva had found me, somehow, and everything spiraled from there. Now, I was back, but nothing felt resolved. If anything, things felt more precarious, like I was standing on a thin wire, waiting for it to snap.
The door creaked open, and I tensed, expecting Eva to slither in like she always did. But it was Damien.
“Irene,” he said quietly, stepping into the room, his face tired, drained. “Are you awake?”
“I can’t sleep.” I muttered, sitting up against the headboard. “Too much on my mind.” I added.
He nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed, his weight causing the mattress to dip. For a moment, he didn’t say anything, just stared down at his hands as if gathering his thoughts, I watched him closely, hoping, praying, that he would finally say what I had been waiting for him to say for weeks.
I wished so hard
“We need to talk,” he said softly
A flutter of anxiety rose in my chest, but I nodded, my heart pounding. “I agree. We can’t keep going like this, Damien.” I said, hoping this conversation leads to what I have been wishing for.
He turned to me, his eyes filled with something I hadn’t seen in a while–determination. “You’re right. And I’ve been thinking a lot. About you, about Eva, about all of it.” He said, his eyes not wavering from the determination that glimmered
in them.
“And?” I asked as my pulse quickened, hope slowly creeping into my heart.
“I think it’s time to make a decision. A real decision,” he said, his voice steady but strained. “Eva… she can’t stay here
anymore.”
My breath hitched, and I felt a wave of relief wash over me so strong I thought I might cry. I hadn’t expected him to come to this conclusion on his own, not so soon. But here he was, finally seeing reason, finally understanding that for us to have any chance of rebuilding our lives, Eva had to go.
She must
“You mean it?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper because it sounded almost surreal to the ears,
“I do,” he said, turning to face me fully. “I’ve been torn, Irene. You know that. I’ve felt guilty about everything that’s happened to her, but you’re my wife, the only woman I love and cherish. And this is our family. I can’t keep sacrificing our
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Chapter 91
happiness out of some misplaced sense of duty to Eva.”
I sat up straighter, my chest filling with something that felt dangerously close to hope. Could I really get hopeful? Was it too risky? But I still found my lips moving to say the things in my heart.
“Thank you. Damien. You don’t know how much this means to me”
He reached for my hand, squeezing it tightly. “I love you, Irene I’ve always loved you. I don’t want to lose you.”
I squeezed his hand back, feeling the cracks in my heart start to heal, if only a little. “I love you too, Damien,” I replied with a melting heart. “We can fix this. We can move on. But we have to be strong, Eva will fight this, you know she will” I said in a firm tone, knowing what was to come after this wouldn’t be easy
“I know.” Damien said, nodding “But I’m ready. I’m ready to put us first.
Before I could respond, the sound of the front door opening echoed through the house. My heart sank instantly, and my body tensed.
Damien looked over his shoulder toward the bedroom door, his brow furrowing. “That’s probably Eva.” He muttered with distaste
Of course, it was. She always had perfect timing. Just when I thought we were on the cusp of freedom, she slithered her way back in like the snake she was.
Damien stood up and sighed, clearly preparing himself for the confrontation that was about to come. I followed him downstairs, my mind racing with what this meant. Damien was finally on my side. Finally ready to make the right decision. But I knew Eva wouldn’t leave quietly.
When we reached the living room, Eva was already there, her coat still draped over her shoulders, her face set in that irritatingly calm mask she always wore. She didn’t seem surpriseil to see us, not even a little.
Fuck her fake composure.
“Eva,” Damien began, his voice firm, but before he could say anything more, she cut him off with a raised hand
*Before you say whatever it is you’re going to say, I think you both need to know something.”
I froze, my stomach churning. There was something about the way she said it, something that set every alarm in my body off at once. This wasn’t going to be good. I could feel it in my bones.
“What is it, Eva?” Damien asked, his voice laced with suspicion.
She turned her gaze to me for a brief second, her eyes glinting with something dark, before she looked back at Damien. “I’m pregnant.”
The words hung in the air like a bomb that had just gone off in the middle of the room. My legs went weak, and I felt like the ground had been ripped out from beneath me. My head spun so fast that I had to grab onto the back of the couch to steady myself.
Damien’s face went pale, his mouth opening and closing like that of a fish as if he couldn’t quite process what she’d just said. “You’re… pregnant?” He asked as if she had spoken a different language just now.
“Yes,” Eva said simply, her voice calm, almost serene. “I’m three weeks along. She added and I could see the slight smirk curling her lips.
Three weeks. I did the math in my head, my heart sinking deeper into my stomach. Three weeks ago when I had left. Three weeks ago, Eva had gotten exactly what she wanted Damien.
I glanced at Damien, seeing the horror on his face, the disbelief, He looked as if he’d been struck by lightning his entire
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Chapter 91
body stiff and frozen.
“How he started, but Eva just smiled.
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“I think you know how,” she said sweetly, turning her eyes back to me as if she were daring me to react.
Everything felt like it was crumbling around me. The hope I had felt just moments ago was dissipating, replaced by a cold, sinking dread. This was it. This was the final nail in the collin. Eva had won. She had won, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Damien, still reeling, turned to me, his eyes wide with shock. “Irene… L…”
But I couldn’t even look at him. My mind was spinning, and my heart breaking into a million pieces. Everything inside of me was shattering and I couldn’t get myself to calm down.
Eva just stood there, a small, satisfied smile on her lips. And I knew, in that moment, that this was exactly what she had wanted all along. To dest
