3.

The Choice of Her Heart

Episode 3: A Silence That Speaks

The car was silent.

Evelyn sat beside Damian in the back of their sleek black Rolls-Royce, her hands resting in her lap, fingers lightly curled. The city lights flickered past the tinted windows, but she barely noticed them. Her mind was still in the boardroom, trapped between the past and the present.

Damian hadn’t spoken since they left the meeting. He sat with one arm resting on the leather armrest, his other hand on his knee, his expression unreadable. But she could feel it—the storm brewing beneath his controlled exterior.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. His dark suit was pristine, his posture relaxed but deceptively sharp. Damian was a man who rarely showed emotion, but Evelyn knew him too well.

She knew when he was irritated.

And right now, he was furious.

She turned her gaze forward, exhaling softly. It was only a matter of time before he spoke.

And then, he did.

“You didn’t tell me.”

His voice was calm. Too calm.

Evelyn didn’t pretend not to understand. She folded her hands neatly in her lap. “Tell you what?”

Damian’s jaw tightened. “That Lucian Hale was your first love.”

Her fingers twitched. So, he knew.

She should have expected this. Damian wasn’t the kind of man who walked into a war unarmed. He did his research—he always knew everything about his rivals before confronting them.

Still, hearing him say it out loud made something tighten in her chest.

Evelyn kept her expression composed. “It was a long time ago.”

Damian turned his head slightly, his dark eyes locking onto her. “And yet, it was the first thing he wanted me to know.”

She met his gaze without flinching. “And?”

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

The city blurred past the windows, a world in motion, while the space between them remained frozen.

Damian finally exhaled, slow and measured. “Tell me something, Evelyn.” His voice was softer now, but laced with something dangerous. “If he had never left you… would you still be sitting here as my wife?”

The question was a dagger, sharp and precise.

Evelyn’s breath hitched, but she forced herself to remain still.

She knew Damian. He didn’t ask questions unless he wanted the truth.

But some truths were too painful to say.

She turned toward the window, her reflection staring back at her. Twelve years ago, she had waited. She had believed.

And in the end, she had been left behind.

Now, she was Evelyn Whitmore, wife of a billionaire, standing beside a man who had never abandoned her.

So why did Lucian’s return feel like a crack in everything she had built?

After a long moment, she finally spoke.

“You don’t need to ask questions you already know the answer to.”

Damian’s lips curled slightly—a smirk, but without amusement. “I see.”

Silence settled between them once more.