A Joke, A Lifelong Regret Chapter 02
When I came to, everything was blinding white.
I was in the top-floor suite of the Vale family’s private hospital. The air smelled like antiseptic.
Aria Bellamy threw herself at me the moment my eyes opened, her own red and swollen. All ten of her fingers were wrapped in gauze, and the bandages over her palms were already seeping through.
“Elena? How do you feel? Do you have any idea how scared I was?”
The worry on her face looked exactly like always. Just with a thin layer of guilt underneath that she couldn’t quite hide.
Pain prickled through me like needles, every inch of my body.
I stared at her. “Do you really hate Damian that much?”
Aria’s brow furrowed, not a second’s hesitation. “Of course I do. Elena, you have to trust me. He’s exactly the kind of man the Vale family produces. You have no idea what he’s actually—”
“Aria Bellamy, enough.”
The door slammed open.
Damian Vale strode in and cut her off. “What’s between me and Elena is for her to judge. She doesn’t need you in her ear.”
I looked at him.
He’d changed into a fresh shirt, jacket folded over his arm, expression tight. Like Aria had genuinely gotten under his skin.
I didn’t say a word. I just reached up and quietly put the earpiece back on.
The next second, ten-years-from-now Damian’s voice slithered in.
[Good thing I got here in time. Aria’s so stupid. She thinks confessing now will save Elena from getting hurt. But she doesn’t know Elena at all. That woman has no loyalty.]
In the future I’d never live, after I found out about the betrayal, I’d lose my mind completely. I’d push Aria down a staircase. I’d destroy her face. And then Damian would be the one to have me put
Now, he was stopping Aria from coming clean. Not to protect me.
To protect her. To keep the future version of me from hurting her.
I slowly pulled my hand free from Aria’s and felt the last of my strength drain out.
“Damian.” My voice came out flat. “I’m asking you one last time. Are we still doing this wedding?”
He looked at me like I’d said something in another language.
He walked to the bedside, reached out, and ruffled my hair. “What are you talking about? If I’m not marrying you, who am I marrying?”
His eyes drifted to Aria for just a second.
Their gazes caught on each other. Quick, light, gone. It made my stomach turn.
[What does Elena mean by that? The fake City Clerk’s Office finishes up today. All the fake clerks and witnesses are ready. She can’t be backing out now. Or is this about me saving Aria at the party instead of her? Is she jealous?]
Damian’s expression shifted instantly.
He crouched in front of me, his voice almost breaking. “Elena, everything happened so fast. I know how much Aria means to you. If you’d seen her get hurt, it would’ve destroyed you. I genuinely didn’t think.”
He took my hands. “I promise. Next time, I’ll get to you first.”
My nails dug into my palm.
What a joke of an excuse.
He’d said he loved me, but when the moment came, his body had moved for someone else.
I thought back to a year ago. My parents were killed in a highway crash without warning. The design firm in Manhattan where I’d worked had handed my permanent position to some old-money connection. Overnight, I felt like the whole world had let go of me.
I locked myself in my apartment and wouldn’t let anyone in. It was Aria who showed up with people and had someone pry the door open, and stayed with me day and night. And it was Damian who grabbed my hand when I reached for a knife, dragged the blade across his own arm instead, and held me and said, “Elena, don’t be scared. Whatever happens, I’ll be right here.”
Now, the two people who’d made me those promises were the ones who’d cut the deepest.
Then Aria suddenly gagged.
She clapped a hand over her mouth and rushed toward the bathroom.
Damian instinctively started to follow her, then caught himself when he saw me watching. He stopped.
But the concern in his eyes didn’t go anywhere.
[Aria’s pregnant. She knows Elena can’t have kids anymore, so she’s planning to keep it quiet and have the baby alone. Then give the child to Elena. She thinks it’ll be a gift.]
Ten years from now, every time Damian mentioned me, his voice would be thick with contempt he didn’t even try to hide.
I thought about earlier. How I’d noticed the slight curve of Aria’s lower stomach. How hard she’d
been trying to cover it, laughing it off as eating too much lately.
And I hadn’t doubted her for a second.
Aria came out of the bathroom, pale-faced. “My stomach’s been off the past couple days. Probably
something I ate…”
I cut her off. “Aria. Do you remember why I can’t have children?”