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 4
I flew back to New York feeling like I'd been gutted. James picked me up from the airport, took one look at my face, and didn't ask questions until we were back at the penthouse.
"That bad?"
"Worse." I poured myself a drink I probably shouldn't have with my medications, then poured it down the sink. "She told me everything. James, I was a monster to her."
"You weren't a monster. You were just-"
"Don't." I cut him off. "Don't make excuses for me. I read the letter I wrote. I knew I loved her. I knew I was hurting her. And I did nothing."
James sat down, loosening his tie. "So what now?"
"I don't know. She told me to forget I found her. To use my second chance somewhere else."
"Maybe you should listen."
I looked at him. "Would you? If you'd hurt someone you loved and couldn't even remember doing it, would you just walk away?"
"That's not fair. You can't remember her. You can't remember loving her. You're chasing a ghost of a feeling."
He was right. I knew he was right. But something in me couldn't let go.
Over the next two weeks, I became obsessed. I hired people to tell me everything about those five missing years. I read through emails, meeting notes, journal entries I'd apparently kept. I built a picture of who I'd become, and I hated him.
The Damien Cross of the past five years was ruthless, cold, brilliant, and empty. He'd sacrificed everything for success. He'd pushed away everyone who cared about him. He'd married a woman he loved and systematically destroyed her because he was too afraid to be vulnerable.
I found security footage from the penthouse. Hours of it. I watched myself come home late, ignore Elara's attempts at conversation, eat dinners she'd prepared while working on my laptop. I watched her face fall, watched her slowly stop trying, watched the light go out of her eyes.
In one video, she'd decorated the living room for our second anniversary. Candles, flowers, she was wearing a beautiful dress. I'd walked in, barely looked at it, told her I had a conference call and went into my office. The camera caught her standing there alone for twenty minutes before she blew out all the candles.
I threw up after watching that one.
"You need to stop this," James said, finding me in my office at three in the morning surrounded by files. "You're torturing yourself."
"I need to understand."
"Why? So you can feel worse? Damien, the doctors said forcing these memories could damage your recovery."
"I don't care about my recovery. I destroyed someone who loved me. I need to know why."
James grabbed my shoulders. "Listen to me. You were drowning. After your father started pushing you to take over, you changed. You worked yourself to the bone trying to prove you were good enough. You stopped sleeping, stopped eating properly, stopped living. Elara was collateral damage."
"That's not an excuse."
"I'm not making excuses. I'm giving you context." He let go, stepped back. "You want to know the truth? I think you pushed her away because you were terrified. Your parents had the worst marriage I've ever seen. Your father cheated constantly. Your mother stayed for the money and the name. You watched them destroy each other for years."
I remembered that. My parents' marriage was a battlefield disguised as a society partnership.
"You thought if you didn't let yourself love Elara, you couldn't hurt her the way your father hurt your mother. Instead, you hurt her worse." James shook his head. "The irony is fucking tragic."
My phone rang. My mother. I'd been avoiding her calls since the accident.
"Answer it," James said. "She's been calling me too. She knows you have amnesia and she's worried you'll do something stupid."
I answered. "Mother."
"Damien, darling. How are you feeling?" Victoria Cross's voice was saccharine sweet with an edge of steel underneath.
"I've been better."
"James tells me you flew to Seattle. To see that girl." The way she said 'that girl' made my jaw clench. "I hope you've come to your senses."
"Her name is Elara. She was my wife."
"Was being the operative word. The divorce is final. You're free. Why on earth would you dredge up that unfortunate chapter?"
"Because I need to understand what happened."
"What happened is you married beneath yourself, realized your mistake, and corrected it. It's quite simple." Her tone turned sharp. "Damien, I'm hosting a dinner party next week. Senator Morrison's daughter will be there. Beautiful girl, Wellesley educated, perfect breeding. I think you two would-"
"I'm not interested."
"Don't be ridiculous. You need to think about your future. About the family name. That Bennett girl was never suitable and you know it."
Something in me snapped. "Did you make her feel that way? When she lived here, did you tell her she wasn't good enough?"
Silence. Then, "I may have mentioned certain social realities. Someone had to. You were too infatuated to see clearly."
"You made her miserable."
"I made her aware of her position. There's a difference." Victoria's voice turned cold. "That girl was using you for your money and your name. I was protecting you."
"She never asked me for anything. Not once. I checked."
"Of course not. She was smarter than that. She played the long game. And look, she got a generous settlement, didn't she?"
I thought about Elara in that rainy alley, telling me about three years of pain. She hadn't mentioned the money once.
"You're wrong about her."
"I'm never wrong about people. It's how I've survived this family for thirty-five years." She paused. "Damien, whatever romantic notions you have about that girl, let them go. You don't even remember her. Move on."
"What if I don't want to move on?"
"Then you're a fool." Her voice turned icy. "That marriage nearly destroyed you. You were distracted, unfocused, weak. After the divorce, you became the man you were meant to be. Do you really want to throw that away for a woman who's already moved on?"
"Has she? Moved on?"
Victoria laughed, but it wasn't a kind sound. "Why don't you ask her? Oh wait, you did. And she told you to leave her alone. Take the hint, darling."
She hung up.
James was watching me carefully. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking my mother is poison. And I'm thinking I need to find out if Elara has really moved on."
"How?"
My phone buzzed. An email from my private investigator. Subject line: *Eleanor Bennett - Full Report*.
I opened it and my stomach dropped.
James leaned over. "What is it?"
I couldn't speak. I just showed him the screen.
The first line read: *Subject has been seen multiple times with Marcus Chen, owner of Chen Gallery. Relationship appears romantic in nature. Photographs attached.*
"Damien-"
"She's with someone else." The words felt like hollow in my throat. "She's already replaced 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?