The other woman was ME
img img The other woman was ME img Chapter 2 The Woman in the Mirror
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Chapter 6 The Quiet Before the Unraveling img
Chapter 7 The Hollowing Out img
Chapter 8 When Morning Comes img
Chapter 9 The Space Between img
Chapter 10 The House We Build img
Chapter 11 The Promise We Make img
Chapter 12 The Quiet After img
Chapter 13 The World We Make img
Chapter 14 The Quiet Before the Bloom img
Chapter 15 The Noise After the Bloom img
Chapter 16 The Names We Grow Into img
Chapter 17 The World We Bring Her Into img
Chapter 18 The Letter That Shouldn't Exist img
Chapter 19 The Visitir with No Ghost img
Chapter 20 The First Sentence img
Chapter 21 The First Draft and the First Fire img
Chapter 22 Where the Silence Begins to Speak img
Chapter 23 The Words We Can't Erase img
Chapter 24 What the Wind Brought Back img
Chapter 25 The Ghost We Choose to Keep img
Chapter 26 An Aftermath img
Chapter 27 The Shpae of What Comes After img
Chapter 28 The Woman in the Mirror img
Chapter 29 The Unexpected Love Letter img
Chapter 30 The Fire We Build img
Chapter 31 The Unwritten Rule img
Chapter 32 Ashes Don't Lie img
Chapter 33 The Woman at The Door img
Chapter 34 The Woman in the Photograph img
Chapter 35 What We Fight For img
Chapter 36 The Weight of Two Hearts img
Chapter 37 In The Eyes of The Law img
Chapter 38 The Weight of Her Name img
Chapter 39 What Love Doesn't img
Chapter 40 The Custody of Fire img
Chapter 41 The Custody of Fire (continued) img
Chapter 42 The Smoke Between Us img
Chapter 43 The Weight of Her Name img
Chapter 44 Bastards and Bookshelves img
Chapter 45 Inheritance of Silence img
Chapter 46 The Last Word img
Chapter 47 Some Letters Find You img
Chapter 48 The House We Inherit img
Chapter 49 A Name Remember img
Chapter 50 The Shape of Returning img
Chapter 51 What the Wind Remembered img
Chapter 52 The Daughter's Version img
Chapter 53 Where the Roads Fork Gently img
Chapter 54 The Reckoning of the Unchosen img
Chapter 55 The Thread Between Us(1) img
Chapter 56 The Thread Between Us(2) img
Chapter 57 What We Keep Burning img
Chapter 58 The Confronting Hour img
Chapter 59 The Next Step img
Chapter 60 The Launch img
Chapter 61 What We Keep img
Chapter 62 What the Silence Breaks img
Chapter 63 The Book That Wasn't About Her img
Chapter 64 The Quiet Crown img
Chapter 65 The Thread We Mend img
Chapter 66 Faultiness img
Chapter 67 The Story They Tried to Steal img
Chapter 68 What We Still Carry img
Chapter 69 The Language Between Us img
Chapter 70 What the Pages Remember img
Chapter 71 The Things We Dare To Keep img
Chapter 72 Where the Silence Used to Be img
Chapter 73 Where the Ink Begins Again img
Chapter 74 The Archive We Built img
Chapter 75 The Quiet Between Pages img
Chapter 76 When the Wind Stopped Asking img
Chapter 77 What We Chose to Keep img
Chapter 78 The Archive We Leave Behind img
Chapter 79 What the Wind Forgot to Take img
Chapter 80 The Garden of Soundless Things img
Chapter 81 Where the Light Waited img
Chapter 82 The Man Who Left The Frame img
Chapter 83 The Studio With the Red Door img
Chapter 84 The Panel Invitation img
Chapter 85 A Door She Didn't Knock On img
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Chapter 2 The Woman in the Mirror

CHAPTER TWO

The Woman in the Mirror

Elena Voss watched the young woman through the hidden pane of glass in her dressing room. The East Wing used to be her sanctuary. Now it belonged to a stranger with a womb she herself couldn't command.

She ran her fingers along the marble counter, past her untouched makeup brushes, pausing at the silver frame that held a photo of her and Damian on their wedding night. They were laughing in that picture. She used to love how easily he made her laugh.

Now, they barely spoke. Their words, when they came, were brittle and calculated-like negotiating a truce rather than sharing a life.

She adjusted the satin robe around her waist and moved toward the long mirror.

The reflection showed her everything she hated: the faint lines beneath her eyes, the slight pallor of her skin, the perfection that no longer felt powerful. She used to feel radiant. Now she only felt... replaced.

Claire had warned her. "Elena, this girl-this choice-it's a recipe for emotional disaster. You're handing him temptation wrapped in youth and hope. And you think you can just manage it like a PR crisis?"

But Elena had refused to listen. She was desperate. Desperate not just for a child, but for a reason to believe she still had a place in her husband's life. So she smiled at events, wore the right dresses, said the right words-and signed the surrogacy agreement with hands that trembled only after the ink dried.

Now the girl was here. Mia. Pretty, yes. But more than that-she radiated something Elena had long buried: hope without bitterness.

The sound of approaching footsteps broke her trance.

"Elena," Damian's voice came soft behind her. She didn't turn immediately.

"You saw her," she said.

"I did."

"And?"

"She's... composed."

Elena turned. "Composed. Is that what you were looking for?"

He didn't answer.

She studied him, still every inch the man she married-chiseled, distant, polished to perfection. But there were shadows under his eyes. Worry lines that weren't there a year ago. Guilt, maybe. Or was it anticipation?

"You'll be kind to her," Elena said, stepping closer. "We asked her to do something unimaginable. We owe her that."

Damian met her gaze. "Of course."

A pause. Too long.

"You're still here," she whispered. "But I haven't felt you in years."

He didn't move. "You know why."

"Yes," she said, bitter rising. "Because I can't give you a child."

Damian's jaw tightened. "That's not fair."

"Isn't it?"

They stood in silence, years of heartache thick between them.

Finally, he said, "Dinner is at eight."

And he left her too-like always-with the mirror, and the memory of who they used to be.

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