Chasing His Divorced Wife
Elara spent three years invisible in her marriage to billionaire Damien Cross. When he hands her divorce papers, she disappears without a fight.
Six months later, an accident steals Damien's memory of the past five years. He doesn't remember his ex-wife, but he can't stop searching for the woman with sad eyes who haunts his dreams.
When he finds Elara thriving in Seattle, she refuses to let him back in. But this Damien is nothing like the cold husband she remembers, and as he uncovers their past, devastating secrets emerge.
Can you forgive someone who doesn't remember breaking you?
Chapters
Share
Chapter 3
He stood there in the rain looking lost, like a child who couldn't find his way home. I hated that it affected me. I hated that some traitorous part of me wanted to reach out to him.
"Three years," I said, my voice shaking. "I spent three years trying to be enough for you. Do you know what that feels like? To live with someone who looks through you like you're invisible?"
"I'm sorry. I know that's not enough, but-"
"You're right. It's not enough." I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly cold despite the jacket I was wearing. "You want to understand? Fine. I'll tell you exactly who you were."
Damien's face was pale, water dripping from his hair. He looked nothing like the man I'd signed divorce papers with. That man had been composed, distant, untouchable. This man looked like he was barely holding himself together.
"When we met, you were different. Warm. Attentive. You pursued me like I was the only person in the world. You asked about my work, my dreams, what made me happy. You made me believe in fairy tales." I laughed bitterly. "The wedding was beautiful. Your mother hated me from the start, but I thought it didn't matter because we had each other."
"What changed?"
"You did. The day after our honeymoon, you went back to work and never really came home again. You'd stay at the office until midnight, sometimes later. When you were home, you were on your phone or your laptop. I'd try to talk to you and you'd give me one-word answers. I'd make dinner and you'd eat while reading reports."
He flinched. Good. Let him hurt.
"I tried everything. I dressed up for you. I planned dates. I learned to cook your favorite foods. Nothing worked. You treated me like an assistant, not a wife. Actually, no. You were kinder to your assistants."
"Elara-"
"I'm not finished." The words were pouring out now, three years of silence breaking open. "Your mother made comments about my background, how I wasn't sophisticated enough for the Cross family. Your brother Julian made inappropriate remarks and you never defended me. Your father ignored me completely. And you? You stood by and let it happen."
"I wouldn't-"
"You did. You absolutely did. Because you didn't care enough to stop them." I wiped rain from my face, or maybe tears. I couldn't tell anymore. "The worst part was that you gave me just enough hope to keep me trapped. Every few months, usually late at night after you'd been drinking, you'd come to me. You'd make love to me like I mattered. You'd hold me and I'd think maybe, finally, you remembered you had a wife who loved you."
His hands clenched at his sides. "And in the morning?"
"In the morning, you were a stranger again. Cold. Distant. Like those nights never happened."
The rain was coming down harder now. We should go inside, but I couldn't move. Three years of words were finally finding their way out.
"I lost myself in that marriage. I quit my job because your family said it was inappropriate. I stopped seeing my friends because I had nothing to say that wasn't pathetic. I existed in this beautiful penthouse feeling like a ghost." My voice broke. "Do you know what it's like to be married and completely alone?"
"I'm so sorry."
"Stop apologizing. I don't want your apologies." I stepped back, creating distance between us. "You want to know what happened at the end? You called me into your office. You had divorce papers ready. You explained calmly that the marriage had run its course, that you'd been generous with the settlement. You had a flight to catch, so if I could sign quickly, you'd appreciate it."
Damien's face went white. "I said that?"
"Word for word. You thanked me for being reasonable. Then you reminded me to leave my key card at the front desk on my way out." I smiled without humor. "That was the last thing you said to me. Not goodbye. Not I'm sorry. A reminder about a key card."
"Jesus Christ." He looked like he might be sick.
"So now you know. You were cruel, Damien. Not because you hit me or screamed at me. Because you just didn't care. And somehow that was worse."
"Let me make it right."
"Make it right?" I stared at him. "You can't make it right. You can't give me back three years of my life. You can't undo the damage."
"I'm not that person anymore."
"You don't even remember being that person. That's not the same as changing." I turned toward the gallery door. "Go back to New York. Forget you found me. I already forgot you."
"That's a lie."
I froze. He was right, it was a lie. I wished it wasn't.
"I read a letter I wrote to you. Two years into our marriage. I told you I was falling in love with you but I was scared. I promised to try harder." His voice was rough. "I never sent it. I was too much of a coward."
"I don't care about a letter you never sent. I care about the three years you made me feel worthless."
"I know. And I can't fix that. But I can promise you I'm not that man anymore. The accident, the amnesia, it's like I got a second chance. I can see clearly now what I couldn't see then."
"Good for you." I opened the gallery door. "Use your second chance somewhere else. I'm done being your redemption story."
"Elara, please-"
"No." I looked back at him one last time. "You want to know the saddest part? I would have done anything for you. Anything. And you couldn't even bother to love me back."
I walked inside and locked the door behind me. Through the glass, I watched him stand there in the rain for a long moment before finally walking away.
My assistant Maya rushed over. "Are you okay? Who was that?"
I leaned against the wall, my legs suddenly weak. "No one."
My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number.
"I know I have no right to ask, but please don't block this number. I need you to know something. I found that letter I wrote. I was in love with you. I just didn't know how to show it. I'm sorry I learned too late."
I stared at the message, my hands shaking.
Maya touched my arm. "Elara? What's wrong?"
"He says he loved me." My voice came out as a whisper. "After everything, he says he loved me."
You may also like
7.1
I woke up gasping for air, expecting the cold concrete of a prison cell, but my fingers sank into the plush leather of a luxury Lincoln. I was twenty-four again, wearing the silver silk dress from the night my life was systematically destroyed.
Beside me sat my cousin Catrina, the woman whose carefully crafted lies had orchestrated my ruin and sent me to a penitentiary for five years.
In my first life, this was the night the dominoes fell. Catrina stole my jewelry to paint me as mentally unstable, and by morning, I was stripped of my medical license and labeled a criminal. My mother’s family, the Montgomerys, stood by and watched as my father’s company was devoured by wolves, treating my existence like a "liability" that needed to be managed. I still felt the phantom tremors in my hands from prison fights and the stinging betrayal of being discarded by the people I called family.
I had lived through five years of absolute hell, a former surgeon rotting in a cell while the people who framed me toasted to their success at galas I was no longer invited to.
"Don't be selfish, Dawn," Catrina whispered, reaching for the necklace that would later be used as evidence against me. "Let the jewelry shine on someone who actually matters."
She thought I was still the fragile victim she could manipulate, but she didn't realize I had returned from the grave with the cold, clinical calculation of a fixer.
Instead of walking into her trap at the gala, I forced the car onto a dark service road and dragged a dying billionaire, Jennings Stafford, from the wreckage of a burning SUV.
He was the only man powerful enough to destroy my enemies, and as I stitched his wounds with stolen supplies, I didn't ask for a thank you.
I looked him dead in the eye and proposed a contract that would set the world on fire.
"I want a strategic marriage. You get a harmless wife with a legacy name to calm your board, and I get immunity from everyone who ever touched me."
The bill for my five years in prison had finally come due, and I was here to collect.
8.2
Blurb:
Richard Tucker lost everything long before he died. Orphaned young, forced to work two jobs through college, and later dragged into a scandal with the daughter of a wealthy family, he became the unwanted son-in-law of the powerful Warrens. His mother-in-law despised him, every employer rejected him, and his life fell apart piece by piece.
Then one night, Richard was hunted down, beaten, and left to die in a cold alley.
But death wasn't the end.
Richard woke up with the Trillionaire System, a mysterious power that deposits $500 into his account every hour and rewards him with skills, strength, and unlimited financial advantages. With $360k a month at Level 1, Richard discovers a future he never imagined, one where he can rebuild himself, protect his wife, and rise far beyond everyone who mocked him.
Yet power comes with enemies.
A vengeful ex-suitor, a ruthless rival family, and a powerful heiress who wants Richard for herself move against him. Old threats return, new alliances crumble, and the truth about the scandal that ruined his life resurfaces with deadly consequences.
But as Richard climbs, a new identity emerges in the shadows:
Mr. Tusks, the mysterious billionaire quietly becoming the largest shareholder in multiple corporations and preparing to launch the most anticipated company in the nation, RT Enterprise.
When the world gathers for the grand unveiling, Richard plans to reveal who he truly is...
And when he does, every enemy who called him worthless will finally understand the man they tried to destroy.
9.2
She's stubborn, young, and craving love.
He's rich, famous, and impossible to read.
When 19 year old Liana Harper is suddenly arranged to marry Ethan Blackwell, the continent's most popular pop idol and heir to a vast empire, their worlds collide in a storm of arrogance, cold stares, and fiery clashes.
Thrown together by family pressure, mismatched personalities, and high expectations, Liana and Ethan must navigate a life neither of them chose filled with secrets, jealousy, and unexpected emotions.
Can a stubborn girl and a grumpy superstar survive a forced marriage? Or will their differences tear them apart before love even has a chance?
Enemies forced into marriage sparks everywhere.
8.6
I thought I was living the dream as the wife of a billionaire, until my husband came home at 2 A.M. reeking of expensive Scotch and "Midnight Rose"—the signature perfume of his ex-lover, Lucinda. While I spent my nights alone in the nursery with our sick twins, William was out in the city, making it clear to everyone that our marriage was nothing more than a cold, calculated business merger.
When I finally confronted him with the evidence of his infidelity, he didn’t offer an apology. He simply looked at me with disgust and told me I was a "liability" who should stay home and play the part of the perfect mother while he lived his real life with someone else.
The humiliation reached its peak at the hospital when his grandfather suffered a massive heart attack. William showed up with Lucinda on his arm, comforting her in front of the entire Sterling clan while his mother publicly mocked me for being a useless gold-digger. Even after William tried to force himself on me in a drunken rage the night before, he had the audacity to treat his mistress like the grieving wife while I was pushed into the shadows.
I felt something inside me finally snap. The man I loved had turned into a monster who saw me as an acquisition rather than a human being. I was ready to sign the divorce papers and disappear with nothing but my pride, just to escape the suffocating weight of his indifference.
But then, the dying patriarch called me to his bedside and handed me a sword: five percent of the company’s voting shares and a three-month ultimatum. I’m not running away anymore. I’ve decided to stay for ninety days, but not to save a dead marriage. I’m staying to become the one thing William Sterling never saw coming—his most dangerous nightmare.
9.2
Lainey spent her last life destroying herself for Larry, only to become the woman he discarded most cruelly. He never loved her, never wanted her, and made no secret that his first love still owned his heart.
On their wedding day, he abandoned Lainey at the altar for that woman, then later used Lainey as nothing more than a stepping stone for his company's rise. In the end, he even had her kidney ripped from her.
Reborn at the very moment everything began, Lainey called off the wedding without hesitation. But after losing her, Larry begged desperately.
Lainey shot him a cold look, then turned and walked straight into the arms of a powerful, aloof man, who stared down at Larry with pure contempt. "She's my wife now."
7.2
Still nursing the wounds of a devastating breakup, Olivia turns to online dating When she agrees to meet a charming stranger, she braces herself for awkward small talk and forced smiles. What she doesn't expect is to walk into the wrong date.
Embarrassed. Olivia is ready to walk away. But then a perfect stranger Mr. Damian Carrington decided to make it worthwhile. Handsome, confident, and dangerously persuasive, he offers to salvage her ruined evening. One drink turns into two. One laugh turns into a kiss. And one reckless, drunken night leads to a one-night stand she swears she'll forget.
Until she walks into work the next morning... and finds out her new boss is none other than Damian Carrington.
He remembers everything.
And he's not letting her go.
Damian is powerful, relentless, and hooked on making Olivia his no matter how many walls she builds or how many times she says no. But Olivia knows the risks. She's already been burned by love, and getting involved with her boss could destroy everything she's worked for.
As fate pulls them together and buried secrets begin to surface betrayals, heartbreaks, and truths neither of them are ready to face Olivia must decide: will she protect her heart, or risk it all for a man who could ruin her... or love her beyond reason?
When love is born from a lie, can it survive the truth?