chapter 4

The slow ticking of the wall clock echoed through the luxurious penthouse, breaking the oppressive silence. Seven o'clock in the evening. Arkana stepped through the front door, his body weighed down with exhaustion after burying himself in stacks of paperwork all day. It had been the best distraction from the explosive argument they had earlier that afternoon. The house was dark and unusually quiet. As he slipped off his wool coat, his gaze instinctively swept across the living room and kitchen. Empty. There was no sign of Aurelia anywhere. *She must already be asleep. Or maybe she's locked herself in the bedroom because she's still angry,* Arkana thought, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling creeping up the back of his neck. He let out a quiet breath, convincing himself that her outburst earlier had simply been the result of heightened emotions. The word *divorce* that Aurelia had thrown at him, along with his own harsh agreement, had surely been spoken in the heat of the moment. As he walked farther into the apartment, he made up his mind. Tonight, he would set his pride aside. He would finally explain who Selena really was, for the sake of the marriage they had built over the past year. What they had shared, three years of falling in love while working together and another year as husband and wife, was too precious to let fall apart so easily. Arkana headed toward the master bedroom. He carefully pushed open the heavy wooden door, making as little noise as possible. He didn't want to wake the wife he assumed was sleeping beneath the blankets. But the instant he flipped on the light, the sight before him stopped him cold. The room was neat. Too neat. The velvet comforter stretched perfectly across their king-size bed without a single wrinkle. The soft vanilla fragrance that always lingered whenever Aurelia was there was gone, replaced by a cold, lifeless stillness. His gaze locked onto the center of the bed. Aurelia wasn't there. Arkana immediately reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone to call her. Each attempt went straight to voicemail. Her phone was completely turned off. "Damn it, where are you, Aurelia?" he muttered through clenched teeth as anxiety mixed with irritation settled heavily in his chest. Using the emergency tracker connected to the spare car Aurelia had taken, Arkana quickly pinpointed her location. A quiet city park on the outskirts of town, not far from an apartment complex. Without wasting another second, he grabbed another set of car keys and sped through the evening traffic. Meanwhile, beneath the dim glow of the mercury streetlights, the winter fog drifted through the deserted park, biting at the skin. Aurelia sat alone on a long wooden bench, her fingers tightly intertwined. Even her thick casual clothes couldn't stop the shivering that ran through her body, not only because of the cold, but because of the turmoil raging inside her heart. She had deliberately turned off her phone that afternoon. She needed time to calm herself, far away from the walls of the penthouse that had begun to feel suffocating after the exhausting emotional collision. *Should I really give up and get divorced?* The question circled relentlessly through Aurelia's mind. At first, the unbearable pain had forced the word *divorce* from her lips without a second thought. She had been devastated by Arkana calling her childish and unreasonable. But after spending hours alone in the quiet park, her anger had gradually softened. Reason began to return. Four years together, three years of falling in love after meeting at work, followed by one year of marriage, was not a short chapter of her life. She still loved him. That love remained deeply rooted in her heart. Aurelia wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the blurred city lights through eyes clouded with fresh tears. *I can't accept our marriage ending like this without knowing the truth. I won't give up this easily before I hear the truth directly from Arkan himself.* She made up her mind. Once she had completely calmed down tonight, she would go home. She would demand a full explanation. No shouting. No more secrets. "Aurelia..." A familiar voice shattered the silence. She startled and looked up to find a tall man wearing a dark brown coat standing in front of her. "Jensen..." Aurelia whispered, her voice catching. The moment she saw the one person who had always understood her better than anyone else, every wall she had spent the entire day building around herself collapsed. Her careful reasoning disappeared beneath a tidal wave of grief. The man she had always regarded as an older brother, the one who had spent years protecting her, stepped forward without a word. He pulled her into a firm, protective embrace, allowing her head to rest against his broad chest. He had only recently returned from Italy with his wife and child. After spending four years abroad, he had come back just a few days earlier. Aurelia had never had the chance to introduce Jensen to her husband because of how busy he had been. Aurelia broke down in the arms of the man she considered her brother. Her shoulders shook uncontrollably as every ounce of pain, heartbreak, and loneliness she had carried since their ruined anniversary poured out in tears. Jensen remained silent. He simply stroked her back with gentle, reassuring motions, offering the comfort his little sister needed more than anything at that moment. Across the street, Arkana's car had just come to a stop. He climbed out in a hurry, intending to find his wife and clear up every misunderstanding between them. But after taking only a few steps into the park, he froze. Beneath the dim glow of the park lights, the sight before him struck him like a crushing blow. His wife, Aurelia, was in the arms of a man he had never seen before. The stranger held her tightly, gently rubbing her back in what looked like an unmistakably intimate embrace. Arkana's blood ran hot. His determination to explain everything about Selena and repair their marriage vanished in an instant, replaced by a searing fire that consumed his pride. Disbelief and suspicion immediately poisoned his thoughts. *So this is why you turned off your phone. This is why you were so quick to ask for a divorce.* Arkana's breathing became ragged as he struggled to contain his anger. He had believed Aurelia had left to cool off after their argument. Instead, she had sought comfort in another man's arms. His wounded pride and overwhelming sense of betrayal made his fist tighten inside the pocket of his coat. His eyes turned as cold as ice, filled with profound disappointment. He refused to lower himself by confronting them in the middle of a public park. He didn't want to know. He didn't care. He refused to find out who the stranger holding his wife was. To Arkana, what he had witnessed tonight was proof enough that Aurelia had already given her heart to someone else. His jaw tightened, carving sharp lines across his handsome face. Then he turned around and strode back toward his car.