HE WAS NEVER MINE

Avery's Pov

I checked my reflection one last time, smoothing down the navy blue dress.

My hair down, the way he'd once said he liked it, back when he looked at me once.

The diamond bracelet he'd given me for Christmas glinted under the light. His assistant had probably picked it, but I wore it anyway.

Tonight had to be perfect.

Richard, my father-in-law, was hosting fourteen important guests, and I intended to be what they expected, the graceful hostess. The perfect wife.

Maybe if I tried hard enough, he'd finally see me. Pathetic, I knew that.

I'm Avery Monroe Sterling. Twenty-four. Married for fourteen months to a man who keeps me in a separate bedroom and barely speaks to me.

We signed a one-year contract marriage to protect his company's image and satisfy his father's wishes. That contract expired two months ago but I'm still here.

Before Nate, my husband, I was engaged to someone else. I caught him cheating with someone I trusted.

The betrayal sent me running into traffic...straight into Richard Sterling's car. He saw an opportunity where everyone else saw a broken girl

I headed downstairs, heels clicking against marble. The dining room was filled with expensive conversation, men in suits, women dripping with jewelry.

Nate sat at the head of the table, laughing at something Richard said. He looked perfect, untouchable. My heart still did that stupid thing whenever I looked at him.

His eyes met mine for half a second before sliding away again, dismissing me as easily as he always did.

I took my seat, smiled at guests, and played my part. The food smelled rich.

Conversation carried on around me as though I wasn't there.

Then the smell hit me. Rich salmon drenched in butter.

My stomach turned violently. I gripped my fork, swallowing hard against the rising nausea.

Not now. Please, not now.

"Mrs. Sterling, you look pale," Mrs. Waters said, her voice carrying across the table. "Are you feeling alright?"

Every head turned, including Nate.

"I'm fine," I forced a smile. "Just..."

Another wave crashed over me.

The room tilted and I stood fast, chair scraping loudly against the floor.

"Excuse me..."

I took only three steps before my stomach betrayed me and I doubled over, vomiting onto the Persian rug.

Gasps erupted around the table. A woman let out a quiet sound of disgust

I couldn't stop, body heaving while humiliation burned through every nerve.

Mrs. Waters was the first to break the silence, her voice full of excitement.

"Could it be? Richard, are we finally getting a grandchild?"

The room fell silent.

I looked up, wiping my mouth with trembling hands. Richard's expression didn't change.

But Nate... he was staring at me like I'd just confirmed his worst suspicion.

He strode over and clamped a hand around my arm, his grip hard enough to bruise. He hauled me toward the stairs while I stumbled to keep up.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I didn't mean..."

"Just shut it."

He shoved me into our bedroom and slammed the door behind us.

I stood there shaking, not from the sickness anymore, but from the coldness in his eyes.

"Are you pregnant?" he demanded, voice deadly calm.

"What? No, I..."

"Don't lie to me, woman." He stepped closer, towering over me. "Whose is it?"

For a second, the words didn't register.

"Whose is what?"

"The baby," he said, voiced sharp. "Whose baby are you carrying?"

"I'm not pregnant!" I shot back. "I'm just sick!"

"Everyone downstairs thinks you are," he said coldly. "And since I've never touched you, we both know it can't be mine."

The implication hit like a slap. He thought...he actually thought...

"Wait, you think I'm cheating on you?"

"What else am I supposed to think?" His jaw tightened. "You disappear during the day and you end conversations when I walk into the room."

"Those conversations are with your mother!" I snapped. "And I 'disappear' to work at the hospital!"

He "Working with all those male doctors"

"You're insane," I whispered.

"Stay here." He moved toward the door. "Don't come downstairs. You've embarrassed me enough for one night."

"Nate, please..."

He stopped and pulled his phone from his pocket. The screen lit up.

For a split second, his expression softened. He slipped the phone back into his pocket.

"I said stay here."

Then he walked out. The door clicked shut behind him, that quiet sound hurt more than if he'd slammed it.

I sank into the bed, my whole body shaking. Not from sickness anymore. From anger, from the crushing weight of knowing this was what he thought of me.

Downstairs, the party carried on as if nothing had happened

I moved to the window, trying to catch my breath. Then I heard Nate's voice from the hallway.

"...didn't expect to see you here."

I moved to the door, straining to hear.

"I had to see you, Nate."

The woman's voice was soft, confident and far too familiar.

"Celeste..."

My heart hammered against my ribs.

The name felt like ice in my veins, his first love... the ghost that lived in this marriage.

I heard she was back in New York a week ago.

Everything suddenly made sense. That's why he has been different, distracted and checking his phone constantly.

But why is she here tonight?

"You shouldn't have come," he said quietly, but there wasn't much certainty behind the words.

I heard them walking towards the stairs.

I slipped out of the bedroom quietly and followed their voices to the conservatory at the back of the house, the door was slightly opened.

Nate stood with his back to me then I saw her.

Celeste, blonde, beautiful, everything I wasn't, standing close to Nate, too close.

"I know I hurt you," she whispered. "I know I shouldn't be here, but I had to."

"We are both married, Celeste. There is no point..."

"I am not," she cut him off. "Not anymore, I ended it."

"You what?"

"The marriage," she said quietly. "I ended it. I wasn't happy, Nate. I tried but I couldn't forget you."

"When I heard you got married, I thought I'd lost you forever. I had to come back, to tell you I still love you."

My chest tightened until breathing hurt.

"You left me..."

His voice came out low and controlled but the hurt underneath it was impossible to miss.

"Three years ago, you left!"

"I am sorry Nate." Tears welled up in her eyes. "I was scared."

"Young and stupid and scared of how much I felt and that was the biggest mistake of my life."

"Celeste..."

"Are you happy with her?" she asked. "Do you love her?"

Silence stretched between them. I held my breath, waiting for his answer.

He still didn't answer.

I shouldn't have been listening. I shouldn't have cared. But I couldn't move.

"We can fix this," She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. "We can still have everything we should have had."

She rose on her toes and kissed him. Nate stood frozen for some seconds.

The world around me stopped. I waited for him to push her back, to remember he had a wife upstairs.

But instead, his hand came up to her waist and the other to the back of her neck and he kissed her back.

Avery's Pov

I stayed frozen in the hallway long after they left the conservatory, my heart pounding so violently it hurt.

The kiss won't leave my head.

His hands on her waist, pulling her against him like she was the only thing keeping him alive.

I should go to my room, pretend like I didn't see anything, be the good wife who swallows pain.

My legs began to move on their own, following the sound of their footsteps going towards the stairs.

I kept to the shadows, my pulse racing.

Laughter and whispers echoed, his voice lower than I ever heard it.

They went towards the master bedroom, his room... the same one I was never allowed to step foot in.

I stood in the hallway for a moment, trying not to imagine what would possibly happen there.

I walked toward the door when I heard moans. The bedroom door hadn't closed completely.

I crept inside, barely breathing as I looked through the gap.

Celeste pressed him against the wall, kissing him as if she'd been starving for him.

His hands slid into her hair as he pulled her closer, a low groan escaping him into the kiss.

"Fuck, I've missed you Nate." She whispered between the kiss, unbuttoning his shirt. "God, Nate I missed this."

"Celeste..."

He breathed her name like a prayer as his trembling hands found the zipper of her dress.

They stumbled towards the bed, her red dress pooled on the floor beside his jacket.

Her hands in his dark hair, body pressed together like they couldn't get enough of each other.

My body went completely still. My lungs forgot how to work, and my feet refused to move.

He laid her on the bed, the same bed l'd never touch and kissed her neck down while she arched to him.

"Nate..." she moaned, arching into him.

A rough sound escaped him, one I'd never heard before, raw and hungry.

Everything inside me went cold.

They kissed again, slower this time, and his hand slid higher along her thigh.

I must have made a sound, gasped because his head jerked up.

Our eyes locked across the room. For a few seconds, the room fell completely silent.

Her lipstick was smeared across his mouth, his hands were still on her body.

Then his face burned with anger.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He exploded off the bed, grabbing his shirt. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough."

"You're spying on me now?" He rushed toward me. "In my own house?"

"Your house?" My voice trembled. "I'm your wife, Nate!"

"Really?" He grabbed my arm, fingers digging into my skin.

"Nate, let her go." Celeste said, wrapping the sheet around herself.

But he didn't let go. He dragged me out of his room, into the hallway, his grip bruising.

"You had no right to be there," he hissed, finally releasing my arm.

"No right?" I jerked my arm free. "You brought another woman into our home! Into our bed!"

"My bed." He corrected, his voice cold enough to freeze the hair between us. "You've never been in that room, you've never touched that bed, you've never been my wife in any way that matters."

"We're married!"

"On paper." He spat out. "That's all you've ever been. A signature, a name I had to say in front of cameras."

"I've been your wife for fourteen months!" Tears burned my eyes. "I've done everything right! Everything you wanted!"

"You've done what you were paid to do and you will be paid for." He stepped closer. "You played a role. That's it.

"I thought..."

"What?" He laughed coldly. "That I would fall in love with you?"

"That if you smiled enough, cooked my favorite meals, wore the right dresses, I'd suddenly want you?"

Each word carved deeper than the last.

"I tried..."

"You tried to be someone you're not." He cut me off. "You tried to make me forget her but you could never be compared to Celeste."

"You could never be what she is to me, get that!"

I looked into his eyes and saw nothing. No guilt or regrets, just irritation that I was still standing there.

He looked at me for a long moment.

"You know what?" He finally spoke.

"I think it's time we get divorced."

My world tilted. "What?"

"You heard me." He crossed his arms. "It's long overdue."

"The contract we signed ended two months ago. This should have been over then."

"You're...you...not serious about this, are you?"

My heart cracked open. Cold spread through my body until I couldn't feel my hands.

"I am completely serious about it." His eyes drifted toward the bedroom behind him, where Celeste was waiting. "I'll call my lawyer in the morning."

"When the papers are ready, I'll let you know. Until then, stay out of my way, stay clear from my sight!"

"That's it?"

My hands shook beside me. "Fourteen months and that's it?"

"What did you expect?" He asked. "Tears? An apology? You knew what this was from the beginning."

"I thought maybe..."

"You thought wrong." He walked past me as though I wasn't even there. "Don't come near my room again.

"Don't speak to me unless I speak to you first. And for God's sake, don't make a scene. I'll let you know when it's time to sign."

He walked away, back toward his bedroom, back to her.

I stood frozen in the hallway, tears spilling silently down my face.

A second later, I heard the bedroom door close... then the lock clicked into place.

Then she laughed, soft, quiet and victorious.

I staggered into my room, closed the door, and slid to the floor.

The sobs tore out of me, raw and violent.

I pressed my hand over my mouth, trying to keep the sound in, but nothing could stop them.

Months of trying, all of it for nothing.

Then I heard Celeste laugh softly... A second later, her moan echoed through the wall.

I closed my eyes and cried harder.

Avery's Pov

The sounds from the other room continued for hours.

Her moans, his groans and the sound of his bed creaking.

I lay there, staring at the ceiling, hands pressed over my ears. But I could still hear everything. Every whispered word. Every sound of happiness I had never heard from him.

When it finally went quiet, I turned away from the door and cried into my pillow until exhaustion finally took over.

The doctor arrived once the guests had gone home. Richard and his wife had also left.

Dr. Matthews examined me in my room. The result was simple. I wasn't pregnant. I was exhausted and severely stressed.

He'd recommended I should rest and he left within twenty minutes.

Nate never asked about the results, never came to check on me.

He'd been too busy with her.

Three days had passed and Nate didn't come home.

I knew where he was. At her hotel. Somewhere he could finally live the life he had always wanted without me in it.

Even the house felt different. Bigger and colder as if every room reminded me I no longer belonged there.

I stopped going down for meals. The staff brought trays I barely touched.

Richard came to the house, knocked on my door twice. I pretended to be asleep. I guessed the staff had told him what was happening.

That day, I walked past Nate's study. His coffee cup still sat on the desk from three days ago I had brought to him the morning after that night, cold and abandoned , just like me.

I picked it up with shaking hands. His scent still lingered faintly on the cup, and that hurt more than I expected

The cup shattered against the wall before I realized I'd thrown it in anger.

I sat on the floor, watching coffee drip down the expensive wallpaper, and laughed.

This was what I had become. A woman breaking cups because her husband chose someone else.

I pulled my knees to my chest and let the emptiness swallow me whole.

I heard his car in the driveway the next day, my heart jumped despite everything.

I sat on my bed, shaking, waiting.

His footsteps stopped outside my door. He knocked once before entering without waiting for permission.

"The papers are ready." He held up a folder.

I looked at him and hated that I noticed the difference. He looked lighter, happier as if being with her had returned something I could never give him.

"Already?" I said, arms wrapped around myself.

"I told the lawyer to make it a priority." He said, dropping the folder on my dresser. "Sign them today."

"Just like that."

I let out a small laugh that sounded hollow even to me.

"Just like that." He looked at his watch like he had somewhere better to be. "There's a settlement inside. Five million plus the Manhattan penthouse, more than fair."

Five million dollars, the number hung in the air between us.

That's what fourteen months of my life was worth. What sleeping in a cold bed was worth. What loving him was worth.

More than fair, really?

I wanted to laugh again or scream. Instead, I just stared at the folder like it might bite me.

"Sign them, Avery." His voice left no room for discussion. "Let's end this."

I moved to the dresser and picked up the folder with steady hands.

I opened it and I saw the divorce papers, clean and official. The end of everything I had hoped for was sitting in front of me, printed neatly in black and white.

"Okay."

His head snapped up. "What?"

"I said okay." I looked at the papers. "I'll sign."

Genuine surprise crossed his face. "You will?"

"Yes." I traced my name. "Right now if you want."

He just stared at me. "No fight? No tears?"

"Why would I fight for someone who doesn't want me?" I met his eyes. "You've made yourself very clear, Nate."

Something flickered in his expression, confusion or discomfort maybe.

"I didn't think you'd agree to this easily."

"What did you expect?" I asked. "Me begging? Crying? Throwing myself at your feet? Would that have changed anything?"

"No." He said firmly. "It wouldn't have."

"Then what's the point?" I set the folder down carefully. "You want this. I'm giving it to you."

He nodded slowly, still looking uncertain like he'd prepared for a battle and I'd just surrendered without firing a shot.

"Good." He said.

"On one condition though."

His jaw tightened immediately, shaking his head. "No...no! No conditions."

"One night." I said calmly. "Sleep with me, just once then I'll sign it."

"Absolutely not." He stepped back like I'd suggested something obscene. "That's insane."

"Then I won't sign." I crossed my arms. "Your choice."

"Avery, don't be ridiculous..."

"Fourteen months, Nate." I tried to keep my voice steady. "I was your wife for fourteen months."

"You didn't kiss me, not to talk of sleeping with me. You owe me one night, one real night, that's all I'm asking."

"I don't owe you anything." He snapped. "The contract is over."

"Then this divorce will take months." I sat on the edge of the bed, keeping my expression calm even though my hands were trembling. "Lawyers, negotiations, court dates."

"How long do you think Celeste will wait while we drag this out?"

His face darkened. "You wouldn't."

"Watch me." I held his stare. "I have nothing left to lose. You and your family already took everything."

Silence stretched between us. I could see the war happening behind his eyes. The calculations.

"Why?" He asked. "Why do you want this?"

"Because I need to know how it feels." I muttered. "To be touched by you, to be seen by you. Just once, one night then I'm gone."

"You get everything you want."

He turned away, I saw his jaw working. I waited and let the silence do its work.

"One night." I pressed. "Compared to months of legal battles. What's worse?"

His shoulders were tensed. I could see him weighing options from Celeste's impatience to public court proceedings. Time wasted.

Finally, he turned back. "Fine. One night then you sign after and leave. No more games."

"I promise, no more games."

"Tomorrow night." He said. "I have meetings all day. We'll do this tomorrow."

"Tomorrow."

He moved toward the door, hand on the knob ready to leave, ready to go back to her.

I stood up. "Tomorrow night, Nate. In your room, on your bed."

He stopped to look back at me. Something flickered in his eyes.

"That's where I want it." I held his gaze."The room I was never allowed to enter. The bed I was never allowed to share."