Chapter 18 #3
“And I did text you,” she continued, her voice so calm it almost felt detached, like she was talking about something that no longer mattered to her.
“I sent you a lot of messages. Since you were in Australia, I thought normal texts might not go through, so I messaged you on Instagram instead just so you’d see them and talk to me. ”
She looked directly into his eyes.
“I sent so many messages, Elias.”
Her voice stayed frighteningly calm.
“And you never answered a single one.”
Elias frowned in confusion and immediately pulled out his phone. “I didn’t get any messages.”
He looked at her sharply, disbelief written all over his face.
“What are you talking about? Are you sure you sent them to the right profile? Maybe you made a mistake—”
He quickly opened his messages and scrolled through them, but there was nothing from her.
His brows furrowed harder.
“Look.” He turned the phone toward her immediately. “There’s nothing here. I didn’t get a single message from you. Why the hell would I ignore you if I had?”
Amara took the phone from his hand and scrolled through the messages herself.
There was no sign of her name anywhere.
Before she could say anything, Elias suddenly turned toward the doorway.
“Felix?”
His voice was sharp enough to make Felix tense instantly.
Felix lifted his head carefully before speaking in a cautious tone. “Mr. Creed… you should check the restricted accounts list. I think the messages went there.”
Elias immediately took the phone back from Amara and opened the settings. His fingers moved quickly across the screen before pressing on the restricted messages folder.
Several spam accounts and unwanted messages appeared.
And right in the middle of them—
Amara’s name.
The second he saw it, his entire expression darkened.
His head snapped toward Felix so fast it almost looked violent.
“What the fuck,” Elias barked, his voice echoing through the room, “is my wife doing in restricted messages?”
Felix looked seconds away from passing out.
His face turned pale as he straightened nervously by the door.
“M-Mr. Creed…” he stammered. “About six months ago, you told me your constant calls and messages were distracting you from work and important business deals.”
He swallowed hard under Elias’s terrifying stare.
“You ordered me to restrict anyone who kept texting or calling about non-business matters. People who constantly messaged you on Instagram or spammed your phone…”
His voice weakened.
“So… I added them to the restricted list.”
Elias stared at him in disbelief.
“And you put my wife on that list too?”
The fury in his voice was terrifyingly calm now, which somehow sounded even worse.
Felix didn’t even dare nod.
Elias looked one second away from grabbing something and smashing it across the room.
“Get the fuck out,” he snapped viciously.
Felix immediately stepped back, more than ready to escape. He opened the door so quickly he nearly stumbled before hurrying out of the room without another word.
The door shut behind him.
Silence filled the room again.
Elias slowly turned back toward Amara.
Confusion, guilt, and something almost shaken lingered across his face.
But Amara didn’t look affected by any of it.
If anything, she looked exhausted. Like she just wanted everything to end already.
Elias looked back down at the phone in his hand.
Then he opened her messages.
And froze.
There were so many.
Dozens of unread texts.
Messages sent late at night. Messages sent early in the morning. Missed calls. Paragraphs. Short texts. Pleading messages.
All from Amara.
His chest tightened painfully as he scrolled through them one by one.
He hadn’t even known she was trying to reach him.
Elias’s eyes fell on the very last message.
The second he read it, his entire body went still.
‘Elias, you never answered my calls. I wanted to see you one last time. The doctor said I might not survive the surgery, but I couldn’t bear to tell my parents about it. But I still love you, even now.
Do you remember the first time I met you at that party three years ago?
My car broke down in the middle of the road during the rain, and you stood beside me for four hours until help came.
And a few months later, when those hooligans were harassing me and you got into a fight to protect me?
You ended up needing five stitches because of me.
You made it impossible for me not to fall in love with you. Impossible for me to ever forget you.
When I married you, I thought the opposite of love was hate. But now I understand. The opposite of love isn’t hate. It’s being discarded. Being ignored.
And you did discard me.
I wanted to live with you, but maybe it won’t be possible in this lifetime. I still hope we’ll meet again someday on another rainy night and spend those four hours together again.
But this time… I hope I don’t fall in love with you.
Because I never want to feel this much pain ever again.’
Elias stared at the screen without moving.
His breathing turned uneven.
The words blurred in front of his eyes, and only when a tear landed against the phone screen did he realize he was crying.
His fingers tightened around the phone as if he was trying to hold himself together.
Amara looked at him quietly before placing her hand against the arm wrapped around her waist.
Then she pushed it away.
“It’s already over,” she said softly.
Her voice carried no emotion at all.
“I don’t want to remember any of it anymore, so it’s fine. Whatever happened… happened.”
Elias immediately lifted his head to look at her, his eyes red and filled with disbelief.
But Amara looked calm.
“I understand now,” she continued quietly. “You’re busy. You have a company to run, a life to manage… and I was never going to be the person you wanted the most.”
A faint bitter smile appeared on her lips before disappearing just as quickly.
“But I’ve accepted it.”
Elias stared at her in silence, his chest tightening painfully with every word she spoke.
Amara looked away from him slightly.
“I loved you more than you ever loved me,” she admitted calmly. “And I can’t keep living like that.”
Her fingers curled lightly against her own sleeves as she spoke, but her expression never changed.
“So it’s time for me to move on.”
Elias’s throat tightened.
“Amara—”
“I don’t regret marrying you,” she interrupted gently. “But I can’t stay with someone who doesn’t love me the same way I love him.”
For the first time, her voice became slightly unsteady.
Very slight.
Barely noticeable.
“Even if I have to live alone for the rest of my life…” she whispered, looking directly into his eyes, “I’ll never stay with someone who can discard me so easily.”
“I do feel the same.”
The words left Elias’s mouth instantly, without even a second of hesitation.
“I loved you. I still love you.”
His voice was rough and desperate, like he was terrified she wouldn’t believe him.
But Amara barely reacted.
Instead, she looked at him calmly and said, “Let’s end things on good terms.”
His expression went blank.
The way she looked at him made something inside him turn cold.
There was no love in her eyes anymore. No attachment. No longing.
She looked at him like he was a stranger she was trying to part with politely instead of the man she had spent years loving.
Elias wasn’t used to it.
He wasn’t used to her looking at him without emotions.
“We can still stay friends,” she continued quietly. “But there won’t be anything more between us ever again.”
Her voice stayed calm and steady as she turned to leave.
Then—
“Amara.”
She paused and turned to look at him, a question in her eyes. The next second, Elias grabbed her wrist and snatched her back against him.
Before she could react, his other hand cupped her face. His head dipped and he kissed her like an animal.
His mouth roughly moved against hers without letting her breathe. His lips pressed over hers, his tongue slipping out and hungrily dragging against hers, his mouth sucking her lips into his to taste her.
“Mm…” Amara whimpered into the kiss. She could barely move; he was holding her so tight while his mouth claimed her, licking and pulling at her like a man starved, desperate to take in every bit of her taste.
Amara’s eyes widened in shock.
She immediately pushed against his chest, trying to shove him away, but Elias refused to let go. His grip tightened around her waist as he deepened the kiss, almost frantic, like he was losing his mind.
Her breathing became uneven.
Her mind went blank from the sudden intensity of it.
Finally, the kiss broke.
Amara stumbled back a step, breathing hard. Her cheeks were flushed with anger as she stared at him in disbelief.
“Have you lost your goddamn mind?!” she shouted. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”
She wiped her mouth angrily and glared at him.
“Are you insane? What kind of pervert just kisses someone like that?!”
Elias stared back at her, his own breathing rough.
Then he stepped closer again.
“It’s your fault,” he said hoarsely.
Amara looked at him like he had completely lost his mind.
“My fault?” she repeated incredulously.
“Yes.” His jaw tightened as he stared down at her. “Calling yourself my friend?”
Her face scrunched in confusion and irritation.
Elias grabbed her wrist again before she could step away.
“I am your husband,” he said firmly, every word filled with possessiveness. “And I’ll be your husband until the goddamn day I die.”
His eyes locked onto hers intensely.
“I will never be anything else to you.”
Amara looked seconds away from losing her mind.
Her entire face was flushed with anger, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she glared at him.
Then she suddenly marched toward him, grabbed him by the shoulders, and forcefully pushed him backward.
“Get out,” she snapped. “I don’t want to see you. Leave.”
She shoved at him again, trying to force him toward the door.
Elias didn’t move at first.
Every instinct inside him wanted to stay, to hold onto her no matter how angry she was, but the fury written all over her face made him stop resisting.
It was painfully clear she couldn’t bear having him there anymore.
So this time, he let her push him away.
Amara kept one hand against his chest and the other gripping his arm as she forced him toward the entrance. Elias walked backward silently, his eyes never leaving her face.
Then he stepped outside.
The second he did, Amara slammed the door shut in his face.
The sound echoed through the quiet night.
Elias stood there for a few seconds without moving.
Then, like someone moving on instinct alone, he turned and walked toward the car waiting outside.
The driver immediately opened the door for him, but Elias didn’t say a single word as he got inside.
The entire ride home passed in complete silence.
He leaned back against the seat with his eyes fixed ahead, his expression blank, yet something heavy and shattered lingered in his gaze.
When he finally entered the house, he still didn’t speak.
He walked straight into the living room and sat down on the couch.
Hours passed.
The sun disappeared completely, and darkness slowly swallowed the entire house, but Elias never bothered turning on the lights.
He sat there motionless, his elbows resting on his knees as he stared into the darkness, memories replaying endlessly inside his head. Hours passed while he read through every message Amara had sent him when he was in Australia.
Her love. Her anger. Her pleading. Her fear.
Every emotion poured through those texts so vividly that each word made his chest ache harder than the last, until he could barely breathe anymore.
He remembered how Amara used to proudly introduce herself as Mrs. Creed every chance she got. She never allowed anyone to think otherwise.
She had loved being his wife.
And he had loved hearing it.
A bitter ache spread through his chest as he remembered the way she used to cling to him, the way she always looked at him like he was her entire world.
He had barely been able to keep his hands off her back then.
Amara had been the brightest thing in his life.
A warmth he never realized he depended on until it was gone.
And he had destroyed it himself.
Elias dragged a tired hand down his face before leaning back heavily against the couch.
He truly thought he was doing what was best for her.
Giving her space.
Handling problems alone.
Protecting her from the mess in their lives.
But instead, he had hurt her in every possible way.
The darkness around him felt suffocating.
After a long time, he finally let out the breath he had been holding and muttered hoarsely into the empty room,
“No wonder you stopped calling yourself Mrs. Creed.”
His eyes lowered.
He remembered the exact moment she had started introducing herself as Amara Hawk again instead of Amara Creed.
At the time, he hadn’t paid much attention to it.
But now he understood.
The moment she walked into that operation theatre alone was the moment she stopped believing they would last forever.