Chapter 12 #3
Elias tilted his head slightly as he stepped closer to her, his gaze fixed on her face like he was trying to read every emotion flickering across it. Before she could move away, his fingers closed gently around her hand, tugging her a little closer to him.
The movement brought her right against him, close enough to feel the heat radiating from his body.
A faint smile touched his lips as he lowered his head slightly toward hers.
“So…” he murmured softly, his thumb brushing over her knuckles, “when are you coming back home?”
Amara blinked up at him, confusion slowly spreading across her face. Her brows pulled together into a frown.
“What do you mean?”
Elias looked at her as though the answer should have already been obvious.
His grip on her hand tightened slightly, his thumb absently stroking her skin again.
“When are you coming back?” he repeated quietly. “Now that you know everything… now that there’s no misunderstanding left between us anymore.”
His voice dropped lower, softer.
“We even slept together.” A faint, almost teasing smile appeared on his lips. “Wasn’t that what you wanted the most?”
He stepped even closer, like the matter was already settled in his mind.
“So when are you coming back home?” he asked again gently. “Should I come with you to pack your things? I’ll have Felix move everything back. You won’t have to worry about anything.”
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly as he leaned down, clearly intending to kiss her.
But before his lips could reach hers, Amara suddenly pressed both palms against his chest and pushed him back.
“I’m not coming back, Elias.”
The words hit instantly.
The softness on his face disappeared, his expression freezing completely.
Amara lowered her hands slowly, but her voice remained calm and firm enough to stop him in place.
“I can’t just forget everything that happened to me.”
Elias stared at her, confused.
“Yeah, but… it’s over now, isn’t it?” he asked, his brows knitting together. He looked genuinely unable to understand what she meant. “You know why I stayed away from you now. You know there was a reason I didn’t sleep with you.”
“And you hurt me because of all of that,” Amara shot back immediately.
Her eyes glistened under the light, but her voice never wavered.
“You treated me like I was invisible.”
Elias’s jaw tightened sharply.
“I didn’t know the reason back then,” she continued, her breathing turning uneven as emotions started rising to the surface. “I understand Grandpa asked you to hide it from me. I understand you thought you were protecting me.”
She shook her head slowly.
“But that was your choice, Elias. Not mine.”
She slipped her hand completely out of his grasp and took a step backward, putting distance between them again.
Pain sharpened her voice.
“And how do you even justify the way you treated me during our marriage?”
Elias parted his lips slightly, but no answer came out.
“Grandpa only asked you to stay away from me physically because of what the doctors said,” she continued. “So how do you justify abandoning me emotionally too?”
Her chest rose and fell harder now, years of buried hurt finally spilling free.
“You left me alone for almost our entire marriage.” Her lips trembled faintly. “You barely stayed home more than a few days every month.”
Her eyes reddened.
“You left me in the dark without ever telling me what I’d ever done wrong…” Her voice weakened for a second before tightening again. “Except falling in love with you.”
Elias looked visibly shaken now.
The hand hanging at his side curled tightly into a fist while the other lifted instinctively toward her before stopping halfway, fingers flexing uselessly in the air.
He looked like he wanted to interrupt her, desperate to say something, but the words refused to come.
Amara continued.
“I haven’t forgotten the way you treated me,” she said quietly. “I haven’t forgotten the way you acted like I didn’t even exist.”
Her eyes hardened as she looked straight into his.
“Every bit of distance between us was your choice.”
Elias swallowed hard.
“You hurt me, Elias.”
A bitter laugh escaped her, hollow and painful.
“For so long, I thought marriage would make us happy.” Her eyes shimmered with tears she stubbornly refused to let fall. “But what did I get in return?”
She looked at him with open heartbreak.
“A husband who didn’t care about me. A husband who stood there silently while everyone talked badly about me.”
Her voice cracked slightly before she forced it steady again.
“When people said you married me only because Grandpa forced you to… when they mocked me and pitied me…” She shook her head slowly, pain flashing across her face. “Do you even know how much that hurt?”
Elias’s face lost color.
“You thought you were protecting me,” she whispered. “But it was my life too. It should’ve been my choice.”
The last words broke despite her efforts to stay composed.
“You can never understand how much I cried because of you.”
Tears burned in her eyes, but she lifted her chin stubbornly, refusing to let them fall.
Then she looked at him with cold determination.
“I’ll never forget any of it,” she said firmly. “Every single thing that happened between us is still stuck in my head.”
Her voice turned colder.
“And I don’t want to go through that pain again.”
She took another step back.
“Our marriage is over.”
The moment the words left her mouth, Elias moved instantly.
“No.”
Panic flashed across his face as he stepped toward her again. His hand shot out instinctively, gripping her arm before sliding up to cradle her cheek carefully, almost desperately, like he was terrified she would disappear if he let go.
“I can fix it,” he said quickly, his voice rough and uneven. “I’ll make up for everything that went wrong.”
His eyes searched hers frantically, filled with desperation she had never seen from him before.
“You have to understand…”
She cut him off before he could continue.
“I understand everything,” she said, her voice tight as she held his gaze. “But it still hurts.”
Her chest rose unevenly with each breath, emotions pressing heavily against every word she spoke.
“How are you going to erase the feelings I built for you little by little every single day?” she asked quietly. “How are you going to make me forget every night I spent wondering what I had done so wrong that my own husband hated me so much?”
The words hit Elias hard enough that his entire expression stiffened.
For a second, he looked like he had forgotten how to breathe.
Amara slowly lifted her hand and wrapped her fingers around the one resting against her cheek. Gently but firmly, she pulled his hand away from her face and lowered it back down between them.
The second his skin left hers, the warmth between them disappeared completely.
She looked straight into his eyes.
“We have nothing to do with each other anymore.”
There was no hesitation in her face now. No softness left in her expression.
“Our divorce is final,” she continued firmly. “And I’m not coming back to you.”
Before he could respond, she turned around and walked away from him.
Elias stood frozen for half a second, staring at her back as though his mind had failed to process the words that had just come out of her mouth.
Amara walked toward the couch and picked up the purse and phone she had left there earlier. Without looking back at him, she turned and started toward the door.
But before she could get far, Elias suddenly stepped in front of her.
He crossed the distance between them quickly and caught her wrist, stopping her mid-step.
“Don’t go.”
His voice came out lower this time.
Not commanding.
Almost desperate.
Amara slowly turned back toward him.
Elias tried to keep his expression calm, but the nervousness in his eyes betrayed him completely. His fingers tightened instinctively around her wrist, like he was terrified that the moment he let go, she would disappear from his life entirely.
His chest felt painfully tight.
Everything she had said to him was still echoing in his head, making it hard for him to even breathe properly. His thoughts felt scattered and blank all at once.
He stared at her silently for a long moment before swallowing hard.
“Eat first,” he said finally, his voice rough. “Have lunch with me… then you can go.”
“I don’t want to,” Amara answered immediately. “I’m not hungry.”
She tried to pull her hand free, but Elias only tightened his grip slightly before gently tugging her a step closer.
“Come on,” he said softly. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
A faint smile appeared on his lips, though it looked strained and tired.
“You like the food Kaya makes, don’t you?”
His thumb brushed lightly against the inside of her wrist as he continued trying to coax her.
“And you haven’t eaten anything since this morning. I had called and asked Kaya to make everything you like to eat before we returned home.”
Without waiting for another refusal, he gently guided her toward the dining table.
Amara frowned slightly but eventually followed him. She walked over to the couch first and picked up the phone she had left there earlier, then headed toward the dining area with him.
Elias pulled a chair out for her and rested both hands lightly on her shoulders as he carefully helped her sit down. His movements were unusually gentle, almost cautious, as though he was afraid one wrong move would push her even farther away.
Once seated, Amara quietly placed her phone on the table beside her.
Once she sat down, he slowly let go.
“Sit here,” he murmured softly.
He picked up the serving spoon and filled her plate first before serving himself. Instead of taking the seat across from her, he dragged the chair beside hers closer and sat down next to her.
At first, Amara only stared at the food in silence.
But when the smell finally reached her properly, she slowly picked up her fork.
Elias quietly watched her as she ate. Little by little, the tension in his face eased as he saw her finally taking proper bites instead of pushing the food around the plate. A small smile slowly appeared on his lips.
The two of them continued eating in silence, the only sound between them coming from the clinking of utensils against the plates.
But just as they were halfway through lunch, the phone resting beside Amara’s purse suddenly started ringing loudly on the table.
Both of their gazes dropped toward the screen immediately.
The moment Elias saw Jasper’s name flashing there, his expression darkened almost instantly.
His grip around the fork tightened visibly. The muscles in his jaw flexed sharply.
A second later, a smile appeared on his lips, but it looked thin and forced.
Something dangerous flickered behind his eyes as he slowly lifted his gaze to Amara.
“Seems like your business partner misses you a little too much, Mrs. Creed.”
Amara studied his face carefully, struggling to hold back the laugh building in her chest at the sight of him. His jealousy was so obvious it almost amused her.
The corners of her lips twitched upward as she leaned back slightly in her chair, tilting her head at him with a knowing look.
“Are you jealous?”