Chapter 30 CHAPTER 30
Dinner with her? No way!
The restaurant was hushed, cloaked in soft golden light. Crystal chandeliers shimmered above, their glow spilling across white tablecloths and gleaming cutlery. It was the kind of place where laughter echoed warmly and glasses chimed like music. But tonight, it was empty. Ares had booked the entire space for one reason alone, to be with her.
Tessa sat across from him, her hair falling in sleek waves, her skin glowing in the candlelight. She hadn’t stopped feeling nervous since she arrived, but Ayisha’s words still rang in her mind—make him want you, don’t beg, don’t ask. So she sat straighter, let her smile be easy, and tried to quiet the hammering of her heart.
Ares, for his part, was different tonight. Not the cold businessman she had braced herself to meet, not the aloof father she feared. His eyes softened when they rested on her. His lips curved more easily, as though laughter was no longer a foreign language.
“You still eat fries with ketchup?” he teased, watching her dip one and take a bite.
“I didn’t think there’s much you can remember about me.” Tessa laughed, shaking her head. “Some habits don’t change.”
“You used to drown them in ketchup,” Ares added, chuckling. “I swear half the bottle would disappear when you ate.”
Her cheeks flushed at the memory, and she rolled her eyes. “And you stole them off my plate one time. You were such a bully.”
He leaned forward slightly, eyes glinting. “Correction, I still might.”
The table filled with laughter, soft and genuine, the kind that came from a place of comfort. For the first time in years, Tessa felt like herself. Not the mother fighting for her children, not the woman haunted by loss and betrayal, but simply Tessa.
They ate slowly, conversation flowing as freely as the wine. Ares told her stories of his travels, of the chaos of business meetings in Dubai, of how much he hated bland hotel breakfasts. She teased him for being so serious all the time. He teased her back for still wrinkling her nose when she laughed too hard.
It was warm. It was easy.
It was dangerous.
Because neither of them noticed the shadow at the edge of the room.
Chloe.
She had followed him, careful not to be seen, her chest pounding with equal parts dread and fury. When she slipped into the restaurant, unnoticed thanks to the staff being dismissed for the night, she froze at the sight before her.
Ares—her husband. Laughing. Smiling. Leaning across the table as though he were twenty again, as though he wasn’t cheating on her. And across from him, the woman who had ruined everything. Tessa.
Her throat tightened, rage boiling hotter with each passing second. For six months she had endured cold shoulders, unanswered questions, empty nights. She had waited, longed, cried into pillows. And here was the reason why.
Her heart cracked at the sound of his laugh. He had never laughed like that with her. Never.
Chloe’s fists clenched. Her vision blurred red.
And then she moved.
Her heels clicked furiously against the marble floor as she stormed toward the table. Ares looked up, startled, just as Chloe’s voice ripped through the air.
“So this is your business meeting?”
The sound shattered the fragile peace like glass hitting stone.
Tessa’s fork froze halfway to her lips. Ares’s jaw tightened, his chair scraping against the floor as he pushed back.
“Chloe,” he said sharply, rising. “What are you…”
But Chloe was already there. Her hand shot out, grabbing the edge of the table, flipping glasses, plates, and cutlery in one wild sweep. Wine spilled like blood across the cloth, dishes crashed onto the floor, shards scattering. The laughter that had filled the room moments ago was gone, replaced by chaos.
Tessa scrambled back, eyes wide. “Chloe!”
The name barely left her lips before Chloe’s hand lashed out. The slap landed across Tessa’s face with brutal force, the crack echoing like a whip.
Tessa gasped, her head snapping to the side, skin already stinging under the impact. She tasted blood on her lip. Her hand rose instinctively to her cheek, but it came away wet, a sharp edge of Chloe’s ring having split the skin.
Chloe’s chest heaved as she stood over her, fury blazing in her eyes. “You think you can take everything from me? You think you can sneak back, ruin my marriage, ruin my life?” Her voice broke, raw with pain and venom. “You abandoned your children, Tessa! You left them! Don’t you dare come back now pretending to be anything but a slut!”
Tessa’s lips parted, but no sound came. Her cheek throbbed, her body frozen between fight and flight.
Ares was there in an instant. His hands gripped Chloe’s arms, dragging her back as she tried to lunge again. His voice was thunder, his anger finally unleashed.
“Enough!”
Chloe thrashed, tears spilling down her face, her fury now tangled with heartbreak. “She’s bleeding because of me? Good! Let her bleed the way I’ve bled every night for months while you ignored me! You married me, Ares! Me! And you haven’t touched me once, don’t you dare look at her like you want her!”
Her voice cracked on the last word, her chest heaving as though the storm inside her had finally erupted.
Tessa sat trembling, blood trickling from the cut on her cheek, her eyes shining with unshed tears.
Ares’s jaw clenched, his grip tightening as he forced Chloe toward the exit. His voice was low but dangerous. “You will not touch her again. Do you understand me?”
She twisted in his grip, her eyes wild. “And what about me, Ares? Do you understand me? Or am I just a shadow in your perfect life?”
He didn’t answer. He couldn’t. His face was carved from stone as he dragged her across the ruined dining hall, past broken glass and overturned plates.
The door slammed behind them, leaving Tessa alone in the silence.
She lifted trembling fingers to her cheek, wincing at the sting. The blood was warm against her skin, the pain sharp but it was nothing compared to the ache in her chest.
She had come tonight ready to hope. Ready to believe that maybe, just maybe, things could change. But as the echoes of Chloe’s words lingered in her ears, the truth settled heavy in her heart.
“How could she lie on me like this?” Tessa wondered. “She was even the reason I left…and…”