That night, their magnificent house felt quieter than usual. David sat in the library, watching the fire in the fireplace that reflected the turmoil in his heart. Every second felt heavy. The image of a tormented Elara, her face filled with guilt and fear, continued to haunt him.
Then, from upstairs, he heard something that made his blood run cold.
"DAVID!"
Elara's scream. Not a scream of anger or defiance, but a heart-wrenching scream—full of despair and loneliness.
"DAVID... PLEASE... OPEN THE DOOR!"
The pleading voice was followed by the sound of a door being shaken violently. David immediately stood up, his heart pounding. All his anger, disappointment, and sense of betrayal suddenly felt meaningless compared to this urgent worry.
He took quick steps toward Elara's room. In front of the locked door, he could hear Elara's hysterical sobs from behind it.
"David... I'm begging you..." Elara's voice was broken by tears. "I can't take it... being alone..."
David let out a deep sigh. His hand, which was usually steady, now trembled as he took the key from his pocket. He had locked her in on purpose—to protect her, or so he told himself. But hearing her suffer like this made him feel like an executioner.
The door opened.
Elara collapsed on the floor right in front of him, her face swollen and wet with tears. She was wearing simple pajamas, her hair a mess. She no longer looked like the perfect Davina, but like a broken woman.
"David..." she grabbed the hem of his pants. "I... I can't..."
David knelt down, his usually hard face now contorted by deep inner conflict. "Elara..."
"Please don't leave me alone," she pleaded, her eyes red and swollen. "I know I've ruined everything. I know I don't deserve it... but please..."
David pulled her into his embrace. Elara's body shook violently, and she cried her heart out on David's shoulder. For the first time in days, David didn't hold her possessively or angrily, but with a long-forgotten tenderness.
"Shhh..." David stroked her hair. "I'm here."
"Why are you still with me?" Elara lifted her wet face. "After everything I've done... why don't you hate me?"
David looked at her deeply, and in his eyes, Elara saw something rarely visible: vulnerability.
"Because I love you, Elara," he said, his voice hoarse. "No matter what. In any condition. Even when you make me want to be angry, even when you hurt me... my love for you has never diminished."
Elara sobbed harder. "I don't deserve..."
"No," David interrupted softly. "You do. You always have."
He lifted her easily and carried her to the bed. For the first time since the scandal, they lay together—David holding Elara from behind, letting her cry until she was exhausted.
"David," Elara whispered in the darkness, after her tears had subsided. "I... I still love you. I know that sounds insane after... everything. But I do."
David clenched his fist under the pillow. "But it's not enough, is it? Your love for me isn't enough to make you forget him."
Elara was silent for a moment. "I don't know how to explain it. The love I feel for you is different. Deeper. More... real. But he... he's like a part of myself that I left behind."
David took a deep breath. "I'm not asking you to forget him, El. I'm only asking you to choose me. Every day. Like I've always done for you."
They lay in silence for a long time, each lost in their own thoughts.
"What's going to happen to us, David?" Elara finally asked, her voice small and afraid.
"I don't know," David answered honestly—something he rarely did. "But I promise you one thing: I will never stop fighting for us."
As dawn began to break, illuminating Elara's now calm face in her sleep, David whispered something he would never admit in the light of day.
"I may have imprisoned you in a gilded cage, Elara. But you know what? I'm trapped in it too. Trapped by my love for you."
And for the first time in their marriage, David cried—silently, without a sound, tears known only to the darkness and a damp pillow.