Cruel Awakening And Resolve

Pushing past every warning in her head, Cora refused to back down. Giselle had stolen everything she cherished since childhood, and she wouldn't surrender her husband without a fight. Stepping in, she slapped her cousin hard across the cheek.

“I won’t let you take Dante from me!” Cora cried through her tears. “He’s mine! You already took everything else I cared about, and you aren't taking him too—he loves me!”

Giselle immediately cradled her stinging cheek, feigning polite hurt as tears spilled down her face. “Cora… why are you doing this to me?” she choked out. “All I ever did was love you, yet you keep trying to take everything precious to me. You know Dante and I have been in love since we were little! Why act like I hurt you when you’re the one who’s been hurting me?”

Cora parted her lips to fire back, only for a second brutal slap to strike her cheek and knock her hard onto the floor.

“I told you not to fucking touch her, yet you tested me,” Dante ground out icily. “I don’t love you, Cora—never did, never will. I only love Giselle, in this life and every one after.”

Glaring down at her in disgust, he kept going. “I’d never love someone who enjoys hurting others. I know how you tortured Giselle and how much she despises you. That’s why I married you out of spite when she rejected my proposal—knowing she’d come back begging, and planning to divorce you the second we made up.”

On the floor, Cora stared up at them in confusion. What the hell was Dante talking about? Anger flared inside her—when had she ever tortured Giselle? It had always been the exact opposite!

“Dante… I’m the one you love,” Cora rasped, hot tears sliding down cheeks that burned bright red from her husband’s hand. “Why are you shielding Giselle? How can you be in love with her?”

Dante raked a frustrated hand through his hair, eyeing what he assumed were fake tears. “Yeah, I know—this isn’t the first time you’ve claimed to be her,” he said coldly. “I know people like you. You’re disgusting.”

“Since you won’t leave us to indulge ourselves…” He stressed those last words deliberately before adding, “we’ll go elsewhere.” Grabbing his suit jacket, keys, and Giselle’s purse, he slid an arm around Giselle’s waist and walked her out.

Cora stared after them, every retreating step tearing deeper into her chest. Right at the threshold, much to her shock, Giselle glanced back over her shoulder and shot her a slow, smug smile before walking out.

Left in the sudden quiet, a jagged laugh broke from Cora’s throat. She laughed like she had completely lost her mind, unable to stop until the manic sound cracked apart into loud, wrenching sobs.

How pathetic and blind had she been? Every sign had been painfully obvious. When she first met Dante at the hospital, he spoke with stiff formality, acting like he wanted nothing to do with her. When he suddenly proposed later, she brushed off her doubts and assumed she was overthinking it.

Turns out, her first instinct had been dead right all along.

Dragging herself onto the edge of the bed, she cried until her chest ached and nothing was left inside her. Hours later, completely drained, she settled on a decision that would alter her life forever.

Cora made it back to the estate late that night. Stepping through the front door into the dimly lit hall, she spotted their butler, Mrs. Higgins, still seated on the couch and walked over to sit down beside her.

“Why are you still awake?” Cora asked softly. “It’s late—you really should be asleep by now.”

Mrs. Higgins offered her a warm, gentle smile. “I stayed up waiting for you so I could heat up your dinner.”

Tears welled in Cora’s eyes as she took Mrs. Higgins’s hands in hers. “Oh, Mrs. Higgins… thank you for everything since I came here,” she sniffled with a faint smile. “You treated me like a daughter and made me feel my mom’s warmth again. Thank you so much.”

“I felt the exact same way, my dear—I saw the daughter I never had in you,” Mrs. Higgins whispered, a single tear rolling down her cheek as she drew Cora into an embrace. Both of them cried quietly together, holding on for a long while before finally pulling back.

“So what are your plans now, after everything that happened yesterday?” Mrs. Higgins asked gently.

“I’m signing the divorce agreement,” Cora answered.

“You’ve made the right choice, sweetheart, and I support it wholeheartedly,” Mrs. Higgins told her.

Cora blinked at her in quiet surprise. “I honestly thought you’d try talking me out of it.”

“Never, my dear,” Mrs. Higgins said, gently cupping Cora’s cheek. “I remember your bright smile when you first arrived, and now it’s gone. You deserve far better, sweetheart. If he doesn’t need you, don’t force yourself on him—love can’t be forced.”

“Thank you for talking with me,” Cora murmured, rising from the couch to head upstairs.

Mrs. Higgins quickly spoke up to stop her. “Have your meal before you go to sleep.”

“No, thank you—I already had dinner earlier,” Cora lied, her appetite completely wiped out after the day’s ordeal.

Upstairs, the moment Cora stepped across the threshold of their marital bedroom, her husband’s familiar scent surrounded her from every corner, and her knees gave out, dropping her straight onto the floor.

“Dante… Dante, how could you let Giselle come right between us?” she cried into the dark room. “Tell me—how could you do that?”

“I will never forget this, and I will never forgive you for breaking my heart!” she screamed, curling her hands into fists and slamming them repeatedly against the grayish porcelain floor while fresh tears splashed onto the tiles.

Her raw cries eventually sank into a ragged whisper. “Still, I hope you never come to regret it, because I wouldn’t want to see you hurt. As much as I hate you right now, my stupid heart still loves you, and I hope you live well—even if it’s beside my cousin.”

Pushing herself up off the floor, she dragged out her suitcases and started packing. She cleared out every single belonging she owned, making sure not to leave one scrap behind to be burned by the new lady of the house.

By the time she finished packing, it was three in the morning. Opening the envelope from the nightstand, she froze at the settlement: one billion dollars in alimony. Disbelief hit her—just to get rid of her, Dante was willing to pay a billion dollars for her signature.

Fresh tears filled her eyes, blurring the print across the pages. Picking up a pen, she signed the papers while hot drops spilled down and dampened the crisp sheets beneath her hand. Once it was done, she took one last look around the bedroom before carrying her bags down to her car and driving away toward her old apartment.

She had rented that modest apartment a year ago right after finishing medical school, choosing to live on her own rather than move into her uncle’s mansion.

At half-past noon the next day, bright sunlight slanted across Cora’s face and pulled her awake. Her sheets and pillowcase were drenched in sweat. When she tried pushing herself out of bed, a wave of weakness and dizziness washed over her, leaving her legs almost impossible to move.

Summoning every bit of strength she had left, she eased off the mattress and made her way into the bathroom. Stopping at the sink, she turned on the faucet, splashed cool water over her face, and lifted her gaze to the mirror.

The woman staring back looked painfully thin, her collarbones sharp and bare of flesh, her lips dry and cracked, and dark shadows sitting beneath swollen, puffy eyes. Letting out a heavy sigh, she shuffled over to the bathtub, filled it with warm water, and sank in for a long, soothing soak.

What felt like hours later, she stepped out of the bathroom with a white towel wrapped securely over her chest and walked over to the vanity table. She carefully applied makeup to cover the puffiness and dark circles under her eyes before heading into the closet to get dressed.

Walking back out fully dressed, she picked her phone up off the nightstand and checked the screen: two o’clock in the afternoon. Since she had been out cold since four at dawn without food, it was no wonder she felt both lightheaded and starving. Stepping out her front door, she took the elevator down.

Once the doors slid open on the lobby floor, she walked straight into the apartment manager’s office, gave formal notice that she was moving out, and signed the required paperwork to collect the rest of her security deposit.

From there, Cora drove straight to her favorite restaurant for a real meal. Slipping into a table toward the back, she ordered several full entrees—ravenous enough that she felt like she could eat an entire horse on her own.

While waiting for the waitress to bring her food, she started mapping out what came next.

Now that her signature was on the divorce papers, staying here—anywhere near Dante—was completely out of the question. She decided she would relocate to another country and rebuild her life from scratch. This time around, things were going to be different; she was done letting people walk all over her, and from now on, she would stand up for herself.

Her thoughts broke off when she spotted a familiar set of shoulders at a table not far away. Curious to see who it was, she started to rise from her chair, only for a sudden spell of dizziness to hit her hard enough that she sat right back down.

Moments later, her dishes arrived and she dug right in, clearing every plate on the table within twenty minutes before finishing with a single long gulp of water.

After resting in her seat a little longer to let her strength return, she walked up to the counter, paid her check, and turned toward the door—only to catch sight of that familiar back again. Feeling steady on her feet now, she decided to walk over and check.

Halfway there, cold realization hit her that she was walking straight into a massive mistake: sitting right ahead of her was Dante, joined by his friends Rowan Brooks and Declan Hayes.

The familiar back she had recognized belonged to Rowan. Without making a sound, Cora pivoted to slip away, only to freeze mid-step when someone called out her name.