Chapter 66

Chapter 66
Chapter 66
SOPHIA
I found out by accident.
Adam had fallen asleep clutching his stuffed elephant, exhausted from the excitement of coming home and exploring his new room. I'd tucked him in carefully, kissed his forehead, and was heading back downstairs when I heard Lucas's voice through his office door.
"Stay there. Watch her building. I'm sending a security team to relieve you."
A pause.
"I don't know yet. But whoever it is, they're dangerous. And they're watching all of us."
I froze in the hallway, my hand halfway to the banister. The tension in Lucas's voice was unmistakable—fear, urgency, something raw that I'd never heard from him before.
Who was in danger? Who was being watched?
I shouldn't have eavesdropped. Should have just gone downstairs, given him privacy. But something kept me rooted to the spot, listening.
"No, don't approach her. Just make sure she's safe. I need to know if anyone comes near that building."
Her. He was talking about a woman. A woman who was being watched, who needed protection, who Lucas was desperate to keep safe.
My stomach dropped as the pieces clicked into place.
Sofia. It had to be Sofia.
That's what the emergency had been about. Not work. Not some business crisis. Sofia Lang was in trouble, and Lucas had dropped everything—including his promise to be present for Adam's homecoming—to protect her.
I backed away from the door quietly, my chest tight with a complicated mixture of emotions I couldn't quite name. Hurt. Resignation. A terrible understanding that I'd been right all along about where Lucas's priorities lay.
Of course he'd choose Sofia. The woman who'd saved his mother's life. The woman he'd spent weeks searching for. The woman who represented something pure and heroic and worth protecting.
Not the contract wife. Not the desperate woman he'd married out of obligation to his dying mother. Not me.
I made it back to Adam's room and stood in the doorway, watching him sleep. His small chest rose and fell with steady breaths, his face peaceful in a way it hadn't been in over a year. This was what mattered. This was why I'd agreed to marry Lucas in the first place.
Adam was safe. Healthy. Home.
Everything else—my feelings, my heartbreak, my stupid hope that maybe Lucas could love me back—was secondary.
I repeated that to myself like a mantra as I headed to our bedroom. Secondary. Unimportant. Not worth risking everything we'd built.
Martha found me in the kitchen an hour later, staring blankly at the tea I'd made but hadn't touched.
"Mrs. Davenport? Are you alright?"
I forced a smile. "Fine. Just tired. It's been a big day."
"It has." She hesitated, then continued carefully. "Mr. Davenport is still in his office. Should I bring him dinner?"
"No, that's okay. He'll come up when he's ready." Whenever that would be. Whenever Sofia was safe enough that he could stop managing her crisis and remember his family existed.
"Mrs. Davenport..." Martha's voice was gentle. "Whatever is troubling you, I'm sure Mr. Davenport has a good reason. I've never seen him as devoted to anyone as he is to you and young Adam."
Devoted. The word felt hollow. What kind of devotion disappeared the moment another woman needed help? What kind of devotion made promises to a child and then broke them hours later?
But I couldn't say any of that to Martha. Couldn't reveal the cracks in our perfect marriage façade.
"I know," I said instead. "Thank you, Martha. I think I'm going to go to bed early. It's been an exhausting day."
I retreated to the bedroom and changed into pajamas mechanically, my mind replaying the day. The morning sex in the bathroom that had left me shaking. Lucas's tenderness during aftercare. His promise to be there for Adam's homecoming. The way he'd looked at both of us like we were his entire world.
And then that text message. Whatever it had said, it had been enough to make Lucas forget everything else. Forget his son waiting to show him his new room. Forget his wife trying to hold this family together. Forget every promise he'd made.
Because Sofia needed him.
I climbed into bed and turned off the lights, staring at the ceiling in the darkness. I should have been angry. Should have been furious that on Adam's first day home—a day that should have been about celebrating our son's recovery—Lucas had chosen to focus on another woman's crisis.
But I was just tired. Bone-deep exhausted in a way that had nothing to do with physical fatigue.
I was tired of pretending. Tired of hoping. Tired of loving someone who would never love me back the way I needed.
I must have dozed off because I woke to the sound of the bedroom door opening. Lucas moved through the darkness quietly, clearly trying not to wake me. I heard him undressing, the rustle of clothes, the sound of him brushing his teeth in the bathroom.
When he finally slipped into bed beside me, I kept my breathing steady, pretending to still be asleep. Maybe he'd just go to sleep. Maybe we could avoid the conversation until morning.
But his arm came around my waist, pulling me back against his chest, and his voice was rough when he spoke.
"I know you're awake."
I didn't respond immediately, trying to decide how to handle this. What to say. What to ask. What to ignore.
"Sophia." His lips pressed against my shoulder. "I'm sorry about today. I know I promised to be there for Adam, and I disappeared. That wasn't fair to either of you."
"It's fine." The words came out flat. "Adam understood. He's getting used to adults breaking their promises."
I felt Lucas flinch at the echo of what I'd said earlier. Good. Let him feel guilty. Let him understand the weight of what he'd done.
"It wasn't work," he said quietly. "I know that's what I told you, but it wasn't just work. There was a... a security threat. Someone I'm responsible for was in danger. I had to make sure they were safe."
Someone he was responsible for. Nice and vague. No mention of Sofia specifically. No acknowledgment that the woman he'd been so desperate to protect was the same woman I'd already felt insecure about.
"Okay," I said, because what else was there to say?