Chapter 30 Shattered Illusions
Elena：POV
My head snapped up. "What?"
"You heard me." His eyes were cold. So cold it felt like being buried alive in ice. "You're going to tell her you're sorry."
"For what?" I stood up, my voice rising. "For existing? For being in the way of your perfect little reunion?"
"For whatever you did that made her fall—"
"I didn't do anything!" The words exploded out of me, loud enough that several people turned to stare. I didn't care. "Jesus Christ, Julian. Do you even know me? Do you have any idea who I am?"
His expression flickered.
I stepped closer, my voice shaking with barely contained fury. "You've lived with me for three years. You really think I'm the kind of person who would hurt someone?"
"I didn't say—"
"You don't have to say it." Tears burned behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not here. Not for him. "It's written all over your face. You've already convicted me."
"Elena—"
"Do you have a heart, Julian?" The question came out raw, desperate. "Do you even remember what it's like to know someone? To actually see them?"
His jaw clenched. "This isn't about—"
"It's about exactly this." I laughed, bitter and broken. "Three years. Three years I've been your wife, and you don't know the first thing about me. You don't know that I can't stand the sight of blood. That I'm terrified of hospitals."
"But the moment I walked in, Victoria was lying there in a pool of blood. If it wasn't you, then who the hell was it?"
"So you only believe what you see with your own eyes?" I asked, my voice full of pain.
Silence.
He looked at me—really looked at me—and for the briefest moment, I saw something flicker in his eyes. Doubt. Uncertainty.
Then Victoria's room door opened.
A nurse poked her head out. "Mr. Sterling? Ms. Astor is asking for you."
Julian's expression hardened again, all that doubt disappearing like it had never existed. He looked at Victoria's door, then back at me.
"Come on." He grabbed my arm, his grip firm. "Let's get this over with."
I wanted to pull away. To tell him to fuck off, to walk out of this hospital and never look back.
But I couldn't.
So I'll play along. One last time.
He pulled me down the hallway, his hand like a vice around my wrist. We stopped outside Victoria's room.
Through the small window, I could see her lying in the hospital bed, a white bandage wrapped around her head. She looked small. Vulnerable. Exactly how she wanted to look.
Julian took a breath, then pushed open the door.
Victoria's eyes found us immediately. They were red, like she'd been crying. But there was something else there too—something sharp and calculating that disappeared the moment Julian moved closer.
"Julian." Her voice was hoarse. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to cause trouble."
"Don't apologize." He moved to her bedside, his hand covering hers. "None of this is your fault."
Of course it isn't. Nothing is ever her fault.
Victoria's gaze slid to me, standing by the door. "Elena. I—I understand if you're angry. I shouldn't have come to your home uninvited."
The words were perfect. Apologetic. Reasonable.
And completely fucking fake.
Julian turned to me, his expression expectant. "Elena has something she wants to say to you."
My jaw clenched so hard I thought my teeth might crack.
He's really going to make me do this. He's really going to force me to apologize to the woman who's been systematically destroying my life.
I looked at Victoria. At her perfect, innocent expression. At the bandage on her head that she'd probably wear like a crown.
At Julian's hand covering hers.
And something inside me just... broke.
Not with sadness. Not with despair.
With cold, crystalline clarity.
"If I don't apologize?" I asked Julian, my voice eerily calm. "What happens then? You'll fire my mother? Destroy my career? Remind me again how powerless I am?"
His eyes widened slightly. "That's not—"
"Because I'm done," I continued, cutting him off. "I'm done playing your games. Done pretending this marriage is anything other than a prison sentence."
"Elena." His voice dropped to a warning. "Don't do this here."
"Why not?" I laughed, sharp and humorless. "Isn't this the perfect place? Victoria can witness the final nail in our marriage's coffin."
Victoria's hand tightened around Julian's. "Maybe we should talk about this later—"
"Shut up." The words came out harsh, venomous. "You don't get to speak. You don't get to play mediator after everything you've done."
Julian stepped toward me. "Watch your tone—"
"Or what?" I met his eyes, and I saw him flinch at whatever he saw in mine. "You'll divorce me? Please. Fucking do it. Save us both the trouble."
Silence crashed over the room.
Victoria looked between us, her expression shifting from shock to something else. Something that looked almost like... victory.
Julian's face had gone pale. "You don't mean that."
"Don't I?" I turned to Victoria, my voice dropping to something cold and precise. "You wanted an apology? Fine. Here it is: I'm sorry you're such a pathetic, manipulative bitch that you have to stage accidents to get attention.
I'm sorry Julian is too blind to see what you really are. And I'm sorry—" My voice cracked despite my best efforts. "I'm sorry I ever thought this marriage could be anything real."
I looked back at Julian. His expression was unreadable, but his body had gone rigid.
"There," I said flatly. "I apologized. Are we done?"
"Get out." His voice was so quiet I almost didn't hear it.
"What?"
"Get out." Louder now. Angrier. "Get the fuck out of this room."