Chapter 124
Elara’s POV
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Elara had been sitting on the couch trying to focus on the TV while Marcus and Aurora talked business at the dining table. She’d been doing her best to ignore them, to pretend like it didn’t bother her that Aurora was sitting there in that perfect black dress explaining contract clauses to her husband.
Then the wine spilled.
Elara watched Aurora jump up, watched the red liquid spread across her dress, heard her panicked voice asking to use the bathroom. She watched Marcus hesitate before agreeing, watched Aurora hurry up the stairs with her heels clicking loudly against each step.
And then she waited.
Marcus went back to his laptop, completely absorbed in whatever he was working on. Elara tried to go back to her show but couldn’t concentrate. Something felt off about this whole situation. The urgent business meeting that couldn’t wait. The spilled wine. The need to use their private bathroom.
When Aurora called down asking for a hair dryer, Elara’s stomach tightened with a feeling she couldn’t quite
name.
She looked up just in time to see Aurora at the top of the stairs wrapped in nothing but a towel.
A very small towel.
Elara felt her hands clench into fists against the blanket. What the actual fuck was happening right now?
Marcus looked up from his laptop, his expression immediately uncomfortable. “I-what?”
“A hair dryer? To dry my dress?” Aurora started walking down the stairs, and Elara could see every curve of her body barely concealed by that tiny piece of fabric. “I rinsed it out but it’s completely soaked and I can’t really drive home like-oh!”
Aurora stumbled on the last step.
The towel fell.
Elara watched in what felt like slow motion as the fabric dropped to the floor, leaving Aurora completely naked at the bottom of the stairs. Perfect body, perfect skin, everything on full display for exactly one second before Aurora gasped and grabbed the towel.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” Aurora’s face turned red as she wrapped the towel back around herself. “I didn’t mean-the towel just slipped…”
Marcus had already turned away, his hand covering his eyes like a child who didn’t want to see something. “It’s fine, just….please go get dressed.”
“I can’t, my dress is soaking wet….”
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Chapter 124
“Then I’ll get you something of Elara’s to wear. Just go back to the bathroom and wait there.”
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He was already walking toward the bedroom, not even looking at Elara as he passed. Not asking if it was okay to give Aurora her clothes. Just assuming.
Elara sat frozen on the couch, her mind struggling to process what had just happened. Aurora had just been naked in her home. In front of her husband. And whether it was an accident or not, it had happened.
She heard Marcus knock on the bathroom door, heard the muffled conversation, heard him tell Aurora they’d reschedule the business discussion.
Then he was walking back downstairs, and Elara was standing up because she couldn’t sit anymore, couldn’t stay still with all this anger and hurt churning in her chest.
Marcus must have seen her expression because he immediately held up his hands. “Don’t. Please don’t. I know how that looked but I swear to God it was an accident.”
“Was it?” Elara asked, her voice quiet and dangerous.
“Yes! Of course it was! You think I planned for Aurora to spill wine on herself and then drop a towel in the middle of our living room?”
“I don’t know what to think anymore, Marcus. Your ex-girlfriend shows up at our house uninvited, wearing a dress that’s completely inappropriate for a business meeting, conveniently spills wine all over herself, conveniently needs to use our shower, and then conveniently drops her towel right in front of you.”
“Elara….”
“And you didn’t even hesitate! You just immediately offered her our bathroom, gave her my clothes, treated her like she has every right to be here making herself comfortable in our home!”
Marcus ran both hands through his hair, frustration clear on his face. “What was I supposed to do? Let her drive home covered in wine? Throw her out on the street?”
“You could have told her to go back to the guest house! She lives here, Marcus! She has her own shower, her own clothes, her own space! But instead she came up here, into our home, used our bathroom, walked around half-naked….”
“She dropped the towel by accident…”
“Ohh, you’re even defending her?” Elara’s voice rose. “Because from where I was sitting, it looked pretty intentional. The stumble, the convenient loss of grip, the perfect amount of time before she covered herself back up.”
“You’re being paranoid.”
“I’m being realistic! Aurora wants you back, Marcus! She’s made that pretty clear since the moment she showed up. And you just keep giving her opportunities to get close to you!”
From upstairs, they heard the bathroom door open. Aurora appeared at the top of the stairs, now dressed in Elara’s oversized t-shirt and sweatpants. Her wet dress was bundled in her hands.
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Chapter 121
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“I’m so sorry about all of this.” Aurora said, her voice small and embarrassed. “I feel terrible. I’ll just go back to the guest house and get out of your way.”
Neither Marcus nor Elara responded. They just stood there staring at each other, the tension between them thick enough to cut.
Aurora hurried down the stairs and toward the front door, moving quickly like she wanted to escape the uncomfortable situation as fast as possible.
“Thank you for the clothes, Elara,” she said quietly. “I’ll wash them and bring them back tomorrow.”
The door closed behind her with a soft click.
The silence that followed was deafening.
“Elara, listen to me,” Marcus started, but she cut him off.
“No, you listen to me. I have been patient. I have been understanding. I let Aurora move into the guest house even though every instinct I had told me it was a bad idea. I’ve watched her walk around here like she belongs, making comments about your history together, reminding everyone that she was here first.”
“I never wanted her here….”
“But she is here! And you keep defending her! Every time something happens, every time she crosses a line, you make excuses. ‘It was an accident.’ ‘She didn’t mean anything by it.’ ‘I’m just being polite.”
Marcus took a step toward her but Elara backed away. “Don’t. I need space right now.”
“Elara, please. You have to know that I don’t have feelings for Aurora. What we had was years ago and it’s over. Completely over.”
“Is it? Because she doesn’t seem to think so. And honestly, Marcus, sometimes I’m not sure you think so
either.”
“That’s not fair….”
“Fair?” Elara laughed bitterly. “You want to talk about fair? Is it fair that I have to sit here and watch your ex- girlfriend parade around in designer dresses trying to get your attention? Is it fair that she gets to drop towels in front of you and play innocent while I’m supposed to just smile and pretend it doesn’t bother me?”
“I didn’t look! I turned away immediately!”
“That’s not the point!” Elara’s voice cracked. “The point is she’s here. She’s always here. In our space, in our life, in your head. And I’m tired of competing with a ghost.”
“You’re not competing with anyone…”
“Yes I am! I’m competing with your first love, with all your memories of her, with this perfect version of her that you’ve built up in your mind. And I can’t win that competition, Marcus. I can’t be her. I don’t want to be her.”
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Marcus looked devastated. “I don’t want you to be her. I want you to be you.”
“Do you? Because sometimes I wonder if you settled for me. If you only married me because you needed a wife for the clause and I was convenient.”
“That’s not true and you know it. We’re past that. We’ve moved beyond the contract…”
“Have we?” Elara felt tears building but refused to let them fall. “Because it feels like we’re still playing roles. You playing the devoted husband. Me playing the grateful wife who doesn’t ask too many questions.”
“Elara, that’s not….”
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“Maybe you should’ve just married her instead,” Elara said quietly. The words came out before she could stop them, and once they were out there she couldn’t take them back.
Marcus stared at her like she’d slapped him. “What?”
“Aurora. Maybe you should’ve just married her instead of me. Then you wouldn’t have to deal with all this drama. You could be with someone who actually fits into your world, someone who knows how to dress for business meetings and doesn’t embarrass you at fancy dinners.”
“Stop it.”
“Someone who your family approves of, who Penelope probably would’ve accepted instead of trying to destroy…”
“I said stop it!” Marcus’s voice rose. “Don’t put words in my mouth. Don’t tell me who I should’ve married. I chose you, Elara. I chose you.”
“You chose a contract!”
The words hung in the air between them, sharp and cutting.
Elara saw Marcus flinch, saw the hurt flash across his face before it hardened into something cold and distant.
“Right,” he said quietly. “The contract. That’s all this has ever been to you, hasn’t it? Just a business arrangement that got complicated.”
“That’s not what I meant…”
“No, I think it’s exactly what you meant.” Marcus picked up his suit jacket from where he’d draped it over a
chair.
“I’m going to sleep in my office tonight. You can have the bedroom.”
“Marcus…”
But he was already walking toward the stairs, his shoulders tense, his footsteps heavy.
Elara stood in the middle of the living room, watching him disappear down the hallway. She heard his office door close, heard the lock click into place.
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