A Divorce He Regrets

Chapter 221:

And when the dust settled, Raina would be mine.

RAINA

He’s said it a few times now. Those three little words, carrying so much weight that they left me breathless. “I love you.”

Why did he keep saying it so casually, like it wasn’t a big deal? Like it wasn’t carving through the walls I’d spent years building around my heart?

“Snap out of it,” I muttered to myself, but the words did nothing to stop the memories from crashing in.

My reflection in the dressing mirror stared back at me, flushed and conflicted. No matter how much I tried to focus on something else, my mind dragged me back to that night. The night I’d been trying—and failing—not to think about.

Who was I kidding?

His kiss still lingered on my lips, his touch still burned on my skin, and the way he looked at me made me feel like the only woman in the world. For one night, he wasn’t the man who had broken me. He was the man who had loved me once—the man I thought I’d lost forever.

I didn’t regret it. Not one bit.

But the fear… oh, the fear was a cruel mistress. What if the past repeated itself? What if I let him in again, only to have my heart shattered all over again?

“What if it doesn’t?” my mind whispered back.

The thought stopped me cold.

What if this time was different? What if this time I could actually be happy? How long was I going to punish myself by holding onto the past, when Alex had done nothing but prove that he wanted me?

I abruptly stood up, the chair scraping noisily against the floor. “That’s enough,” I muttered to myself.

The thoughts swirling in my head were relentless, a storm I couldn’t escape. My heart and body screamed for him, craving the warmth of his touch and the sincerity in his voice. I bit my lip, my mind replaying the intensity of his kiss—soft at first, then all-consuming. But the logical part of my brain, the self-aware part, kept shouting at me to run.

Run from a man who hadn’t hesitated to break me before.

“Raina?”

Grandma’s voice startled me, and I whipped around to see her standing in the doorway. My face instantly heated.

“Are you okay, child?” she asked, stepping inside, her eyes narrowing as she studied me.

“I’m okay,” I muttered, but I instinctively brought my hands up to cover my cheeks. The heat emanating from them gave me away, though, and Grandma’s head cocked to the side as a knowing smile played on her lips.noveldrama

“Why are you so red?” she teased, folding her arms. “Were you thinking about Alex?”

“What? No!” I exclaimed, my voice shriller than I meant it to be.

Grandma’s eyebrow arched. “Don’t lie to me, Raina. I know what happened between you two.”

I froze, my heart pounding. “You… you know?”

She chuckled, clearly enjoying my mortification. “It’s not my fault you two were so loud.”

The words hit me like a freight train, and I covered my face completely, wishing the floor would open up and swallow me whole. “Oh no. Oh no, no, no.”

Grandma let loose with a rich, honest laugh. “Ease up, child. The kids didn’t hear anything, but you need to know your walls ain’t exactly soundproof.”

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