The Woman Who Wasn't Her.
Few hours later
The luxury car pulled up at the Damian's Villa. She was in one word wowed by the extravagance. Seraphina was led into Damians house by Eric.
She looks around his huge villa and she was mesmerized, she couldn't believe she would be staying here with Damien during his stay in Zurich, breathing the same air such as him. She was absolutely sure that in no time he would completely fall for her. She was almost sure.
She finds her way to his kitchen, and then decided to hit something up for him as she waits for him to return from his office.
Seraphina
Seraphina's presence in his Villa later that evening was like perfume in a sealed room, deliberate and suffocating.
She had made herself comfortable, moving through the space like she belonged.
She had come prepared, with a suitcase full of elegant lingerie and a heart full of expectation. She had promised herself that her first night in Zurich would be with Damien. She just couldn't wait. Tonight, she would make it happen.
As the evening deepened, she lit candles, slipped into something more comfortable, and padded around the villa in fluffy slippers, humming to herself. Her mind wandered, spinning fantasies of the night ahead, steamy, intimate, unforgettable.
Then she heard it.
His footsteps.
Heavy. Purposeful. Commanding.
The front door opened, and there he was, Damien Lopez. Exhausted, his tie slightly loosened, jacket draped over one arm, briefcase in the other. He looked like a storm that had survived another day.
But the moment his eyes landed on her, the atmosphere shifted.
""Why are you here?" he asked, voice cold and clipped.
Seraphina blinked, then gave a coy smile, trying to keep the mood light. "What do you mean, why am I here? I'm waiting for you, of course." She sauntered closer. "I even made your favorite dinner. This place felt like it was crying out for a woman's touch, so I gave it a little love. And tonight…" Her voice dipped, sultry and teasing, "I'd love to spend it with you. You have no idea the naughty thoughts I've been cooking up all day, Damien. I have plans to blow your mind."
But instead of softening, Damien sighed and rubbed his temples, clearly irritated. "Seraphina... I'm too tired for this nonsense tonight, so please take your drama somewhere else."
Her smile faded. "Drama? Nonsense?Seriously, Damien? I came all the way here for this."
"Then go find yourself a boy toy," he snapped. "I'm not a plaything you can just use whenever you're in the mood. And I don't like that you're still in my space this late. You shouldn't be here, so get going."
Her face paled. "Get going? What does that mean?" she asked, voice trembling as she reached out to touch him.
But he recoiled from her touch like it stung. His voice dropped lower, sharper.
"It means you should leave."
Then he called out without even looking back, "Eric. Take her to the hotel."
"Ho_hotel?" Seraphina blinked, stunned. "I don't understand. I'm staying here with you."
"No. You're not."
"Damien, not again," her voice cracked. "Why are you doing this? One moment you draw me close, and the next, you shove me away. You're confusing me. Aren't we supposed to be a couple..."
"A couple?" he scoffed, spinning around to face her. "Stop being delusional, Seraphina. We are not a couple. Please.. Leave already."
And without another glance, he walked away, his footsteps echoing like finality through the marble floored hallway.
Seraphina stood frozen, staring at the space he left behind, her heart thudding painfully against her ribs. She didn't even realize Eric had stepped beside her until he spoke gently.
"I'll take you to the hotel, ma'am." She was even more shocked when she saw her briefcases already being pushed to the living room, waiting to be exited.
She turned toward him slowly, eyes glassy. "What? No. I am not accepting any of this. I'm calling his mother."
Eric sighed. "Calling Mrs. Eleanor now will only make things worse. He'll hate you even more."
Her hand wavered, phone halfway to her ear. "Then what do you expect me to do, Eric? Sit in a hotel room all day like some outsider? I came here for him, to cook for him, to be his woman, to try. If I walk out now, I might never see him again."
"I know," Eric said softly. "But right now, he needs space. I promise I'll talk to him. He'll come around. But if he comes back and sees you still here.. it'll only escalate."
Seraphina blinked back the sting in her eyes. Her whole body felt numb as Eric gently ushered her toward the door of Damien's heaven-like Villa, making her feel like what's left for her then is _hell.
Disbelief clung to her like a second skin. After everything.. after all the time, all the effort_this was how it ended? With a door, a driver and an hotel room that he's absent from?
She stepped out, her heels echoing down the hall like the sound of hope slipping away, as she reminisce over her situation.
Over the past two years, Seraphina had tried. Oh she tried, she did everything in her power, she gave everything she could, she tried so hard to desperately win him over, to reach whatever remained of his heart. And for a fleeting moment, she truly believed she had. Especially that night.. their first night.
Even though it happened when he was drunk but the bottom line is that he slept with her.
That very day, Damien had come home clearly intoxicated, shoulders heavy with grief, as usual. Seraphina had been there, waiting again, since it became a ritual at certain point, she would watch him come home drunk.
So on that very day, she had decided that she would wait for him, hoping, praying that this would be her moment. Especially when everyone in the family seemed to be on her side, since they gave her space, as a matter of fact they all moved to their second house so that she can have Damien all to her self, and she did.
And she had happily believed it was finally her breakthrough.
And it had been, in a way. He let her have her way, allowed her to hold him, and before long, he had taken her to bed.
But even in that moment, especially in that moment, he wasn't really with her.
He was with Ana.
He kept chanting her name, over and over again, lost in another world, another woman. Seraphina had heard it, Ana's name, like a ghost haunting his very being.
Still, she had stayed. She told herself it meant something. That maybe his body choosing her, even if his heart didn't, was a beginning.
But by morning, the illusion shattered.
Damien had woken up, cold and sober. The look in his eyes wasn't regret, it was disgust. And the words that followed? They pierced deeper than any knife.
"How dare you pull such stunts on me?"
Seraphina blinked, her expression flickering with confusion.
"What do you mean stunts, Damian we made love and it was beautiful"
"What, you call that beautiful? What is beautiful about that huh, tell me.."
She stepped toward him, eyes wide. "Damien, I thought.."
"What the hell is beautiful about manipulation and lies? You're nothing but one hell of a desperate, horny bastard" He spat, each word laced with venom. "How dare you take advantage of me."
Seraphina's face twisted, the first trace of real fear surfacing. "So that's it? You're dumping me now? After using me?"
She scoffed and crossed her arms. "Fine. I'll tell your whole family what kind of a man you really are, I will let your whole family see how irresponsible you are. You'll see, I'll tell them!"
"Go ahead," he said coldly. "But when you do, I'll tell them everything. About your precious little lie."
Seraphina froze.
"I have my memory back now," he said, his voice calm, cruel. "I know you weren't the one who saved me all those years ago. It was Ana. It was always Ana."
Her lips parted, but no words came.
"I'll let them see who you really are," Damien continued, his tone cutting. "So go on. Do your worst."
Silence.
Damien stared at her with ice in his eyes.
"Eric will get you the morning after pills! You better use it. And don't you ever play this disgusting taunts on me again!"
"Whatever happened here?"
He stepped past her.
"Never happened."
Even if it was not her first time, she had at least given herself to him, and it meant something, at least to her, but turns out it repels him.
The memory of that night hunt her so badly she never wants to remember.
Despite everything she did that night, he hadn't even called her by name, yet it ended in ridicule for her, especially when she was being forced to eat that stupid pills, how humiliating.
As if that was not enough, there was another time, one that still stung, when Damien had needed a date for a high profile, ultra elite gala. A once-in-a-lifetime kind of gathering where appearances mattered more than truth. Mrs. Eleanor had suggested Seraphina accompany him, and to Seraphina's surprise, Damien hadn't objected.
She took it as a sign. A green light.
That night, she dressed to perfection, sleek, poised, glowing. She walked beside him like the perfect partner, smiled like a porcelain doll, laughed at the right moments, and clung to the hope that this was finally her place by his side.
But as the evening faded, so did Damien.
When the party was over, she looked around and realized, he was gone.
No message. No goodbye.
It was Eric who found her, standing alone, clutching her clutch like a lifeline. And it was Eric who drove her home that night while she blinked back tears of humiliation in the backseat.
Then there was the time Damien casually mentioned craving a home cooked meal. Mrs. Eleanor, again hopeful, nudged Seraphina forward. Eager to please, she poured herself into the kitchen, preparing everything with love, soul, and painstaking attention. The scent of the food filled the house. It was warm, aromatic, hopeful.
She set the table, lit a candle, and went to call him.
But there he was, dressed in travel gear, briefcase in hand. Without a word. Without a glance. He brushed past her, and within seconds, he was gone, off on a trip he never mentioned at all. And she never gets to hear from him again until another three months. Another time, on her birthday, he gifted her a beautiful red dress. She had been ecstatic, and she decided to wear it for him. But instead of admiration, she got a scornful look from him. He looked her over with an unreadable expression and muttered, "You look terrible in that."
She didn't know whether to cry, laugh, or disappear. But nothing compared to the day she broke.
Exhausted and heartsick, on that very day she had felt frustrated and tired of all the ill treatment Damien had been giving her. She had felt so mad she couldn't seem to take it anymore. So, Seraphina had screamed. She sobbed in front of him, bared her soul, begged him to just see her for who she is. To really see her, to accept her. Not as Ana's shadow. Not as some convenient placeholder.
And just when she thought he might reach for her.. he did.
But not with tenderness. He walked close to her, and... Gave her a dirty slap.
Hard_on the face.
The room went quiet, her ears ringing with shock.
Damian actually slapped her.
And in that moment, she saw not the man she loved, but the monster his grief had turned him into.
And now this...
Oh she hates her life.