—How many months are you? —Dominic asked again.

His voice was different.

Not arrogant anymore.

Not mocking.

Almost afraid.

I looked at him calmly.

—Six.

The color disappeared from his face.

Six months.

A simple number.

But for him, it was the proof that everything he believed was wrong.

He had spent two years imagining me alone.

Waiting.

Unable to move on.

He thought that after hurting me, I would still remain the same woman who loved him.

But he forgot one thing.

A heart can break.

And after it breaks…

It can also heal.

Dominic looked at Adrian.

Then back at me.

—You got married while our agreement was still active?

I smiled.

—Again with that agreement.

I looked at Vanessa.

—The agreement you used to humiliate me.

Vanessa’s expression changed.

For two years, she believed she had won.

She believed she had taken my place.

But now she was sitting there watching another woman wear the title she thought belonged to her.

Mrs. West.

Not Mrs. Hale.

—Dominic —she whispered—, didn’t you say she would come back?

He didn’t answer.

Because for the first time…

He realized Vanessa was asking the same question I had asked myself two years ago.

Why did he believe I would always return?

The answer was simple.

Because he never thought I could leave.

Adrian gently placed his hand on my shoulder.

—Are you tired?

I shook my head.

—No.

But he looked at me carefully.

He knew me too well.

He knew when I was pretending to be stronger than I felt.

—We should go.

Dominic suddenly stepped forward.

—Wait.

I stopped.

Not because I wanted to.

Because I wanted to hear what he had left to say.

—Claire…

His voice cracked.

That was new.

I had spent years waiting for him to say my name like that.

With regret.

With emotion.

But now…

It was too late.

—What?

He looked at my stomach.

Then at Adrian.

—Did you know about me when you married her?

Adrian’s expression remained calm.

—Yes.

Dominic froze.

—And you still married her?

Adrian looked at him.

—Why wouldn’t I?

That question hurt him more than any insult.

Because Adrian was asking something Dominic never understood.

Why wouldn’t someone choose Claire?

Why wouldn’t someone treasure her?

Why wouldn’t someone protect the woman who gave everything?

Dominic lowered his eyes.

—Because she was still my wife.

I laughed softly.

—No.

I corrected him.

—You had already made sure I wasn’t.

The room became silent.

I remembered that night.

The box.

The ninety-nine photos.

The smile on his face.

The way he told me cheating was exciting.

At that moment, I thought my life had ended.

I was wrong.

That was the night my life finally began.

I stood up.

Adrian immediately moved beside me.

Not pulling me.

Not controlling me.

Just there.

Exactly where a husband should be.

Before leaving, I looked at Dominic one last time.

—Do you know what hurt the most?

He looked at me.

—It wasn’t Vanessa.

His breathing stopped.

—It wasn’t even the betrayal.

I touched my belly.

—It was that you were so sure I had nowhere else to go.

Dominic’s eyes turned red.

—Claire…

—You gave me ninety-nine photos of your betrayal.

I smiled sadly.

—But you forgot to give me a hundredth one.

He frowned.

—What?

—The photo of the woman I would become after leaving you.

No one spoke.

Because nobody knew that woman.

Not Dominic.

Not Vanessa.

Not even me at that time.

But Adrian did.

He was the one who found me after I arrived in another country with nothing except a suitcase and a broken heart.

He was the one who never asked me to forget my past.

He was the one who told me:

“You don’t need to prove you are worthy of being loved.”

“You only need to stop giving your love to people who don’t know its value.”

I didn’t fall in love with Adrian because he saved me.

I fell in love with him because he never tried to own me.

He simply stood beside me.

The way Dominic never did.

Outside the restaurant, the cold wind touched my face.

I breathed deeply.

Adrian opened the car door.

Before I got in, I looked back.

Through the glass window, I saw Dominic still standing there.

Still holding the papers.

Still looking at the life he had thrown away.

For years, he believed I was the woman who needed him.

He was wrong.

I was the woman who survived him.

And the cruelest punishment for Dominic Hale was not losing his wife.

It was knowing that the woman he destroyed became someone impossible to reach again.

Someone else’s love.

Someone else’s family.

Someone else’s future.

And no matter how much he regretted it…

He would never get those years back.