Adam's P.O.V.

Five years.

That's how long it's been since I saw Addison Storm.

It's been five years and counting. Five years of a horrible marriage and loneliness.

Three years of unanswered calls. Three years of aimlessly searching, only to be met with dead ends. Her parents and brother have refused to disclose her whereabouts or give me any hint. Three years of knowing—I made the wrong choice.

My wedding anniversary was two days ago, and I celebrated it alone.

Elara did not care enough to acknowledge it—didn’t even pretend to. She rarely gives a damn about me or my feelings.

At the start of our marriage, she was sweet and caring and tried to hide her affairs despite her knowing that I know after all; it was part of our agreement. But over the years, she stopped pretending. Now, she parades her lovers like trophies and seems unaware of my existence.

I suppose I deserve it.

The night after our wedding, everything fell apart when she found out I had slept with Addison on our wedding night. She didn't cry, scream or make a big deal of it or even demand an apology. She just presented me with a document the next day, and I had no choice but to sign it.

It was an agreement, cold and legally binding—one that freed me to be with anyone I wanted. Anyone except Addison Storm.

The woman I truly love.

Elara’s exact words still echo in my mind: “Addison Storm will destroy our marriage and everything we are trying to build.”

Now I wonder—what was there to destroy?

A marriage that neither of us wanted? A business arrangement disguised as a union? A marriage that stops us from having what we truly desire?

I made a mistake five years ago by choosing this marriage.

I grip my glass of whisky before drowning it in one go, but the burn does nothing to numb the pain in my heart.

This city that I lived in for most of my years with Addy's daughter suffocates me. My marriage suffocates me. I need a break, I concluded as I rose to my feet.

That's how I found myself booking an impromptu flight. A last-minute plan to escape from my troubled heart.

Just a week away—no Elara, no business meetings, no responsibilities.

THE AIRPORT

Dragging my suitcase behind me, I barely register the small body that collides with me.

A little girl.

“Hey there, little one.” I kneel down, grabbing my suitcase with one hand and offering my other to help her up.

She blinked at me, wide-eyed; her stormy blue gaze reminded me of someone I once knew.

Addison.

My heart hollows.

“Where are your parents?” I enquired gently, holding her tiny hand, disturbed that a little girl was running around alone.

Before she could answer, a deep voice called out over the crowd.

“Mia.”

“Daddy,” the little girl by my side called back, removing her fingers from my hand and running to a man standing a few feet away. She hugged his legs and looked up at him, smiling, while he smiled back at her before bending down and scooping her off the ground with ease—like something he has done a million times before.

My stomach knots at the sight.

This could have been me.

I had hoped, despite how our relationship started or how it was going, that one day Elara and I would have a child. If she doesn't want to conceive naturally, I am open to surrogacy. Adoption, even. But she shut down every option.

****

Three Years Ago

“Two years married and nothing to show for it!”

Elara's grandfather thundered at us during our intimate two-year anniversary party.

“I will not be passing my company to you if you don't produce a male heir. I don't care if you are my first grandchild; after all, you are still a woman,” her patriarchal grandfather said.

Elara sat beside me, poised and expressionless, until she spoke.

“Is it my fault that he can't get me pregnant?”

The words struck me like a slap, and I turned to face her with wide eyes, but she did not flinch and continued.

“We have tried a million times,” she continued, her voice smooth and deceptive. "But his sperm count is extremely low." She lied outright.

I should have spoken up. I should have told the truth: I had only seen my wife naked while she was dressing. She has never let me bed her. We never consummated our marriage.

But I didn't.

Because back then, Elara was still nice to me. She wasn't cruel yet, wasn't the ruthless woman she would eventually become.

That night, something shifted.

Her grandfather, fuelled by her words, began using every opportunity to discredit me.

And Elara?

She changed.

The young woman who once faked kindness no longer bothered to hide her true nature. She became controlling, cold, and dismissive. She saw me as weak; after all, I didn't defend myself.

To her, I was simply a pawn—a means to an end.

That was what prompted me to try to contact Addy's daughter after two years of avoiding her. But it was too late, and I could not find her.

PRESENT

And now as I stand in the airport, watching a little girl call another man “Daddy”, I feel the weight of my choices again five years ago.

This should have been me.

I lost something that I never knew that I wanted so badly.

That's when I see her.

Addy's daughter.

She walks towards the man and child with effortless grace, different from what I remember. Her hair is shorter and back to her natural hair colour compared to when I saw her last during my wedding. She looked so mature and different, but I still recognised her.

She smiled at him.

My chest tightened. Five years, and she still has the power to steal my breath.

He naturally rested his hand on her shoulder and drew her close while the child balanced on the other side of his hip. Addison kissed the little girl on her cheeks, and she smiled brightly before saying something and pointing in my direction, and as Addison turned to look, I hid.

I could not let her see me like this.

Not like this.

Wearing my sadness like a badge.

And that's when it hits me, full force.

Addison Storm is back in town.