Chapter 2

Carmel Henson POV:

Gus had been surprisingly quick to act. Within hours of my call, he sent a legal team to my house. They were quiet, efficient, and discreet. The agreement was simple: I would move out, take what I needed, and in return for my silence regarding Augustine's... unconventional family arrangement, I would receive a substantial settlement, enough to start fresh.

"Are you sure about this, Carmel?" Gus had asked, his voice etched with concern. "You and Augustine... you've been together for so long. He always seemed so devoted, in his own way."

I could only offer a hollow smile. "He was devoted to his plan, Gus. Not to me." The words tasted like ash. I wanted to tell him everything, about the birth control, about Asia' s cruel taunts, about the recorded confession. But for now, my silence was my only leverage. And my dignity.

Augustine, for his part, had been conspicuously absent during this entire process. He was still at the hospital, playing the doting father and lover to Asia and their twins. It was as if I no longer existed, a ghost haunting the edges of his perfectly constructed new reality. Every day, I heard snippets from the house staff, whispers of Augustine doting on Asia, bringing her extravagant gifts, ordering gourmet meals for her convalescence. He prepared her favorite herbal teas, fussed over the babies' feeding schedules, constantly checking in on them.

I remembered the countless times I had asked him, jokingly, to cook for me. "It's not in my plan for today, Carmel," he would say, his gaze already back on his laptop. "Order something. Or I'll have the chef prepare it." He never once cooked a meal for me. Not once in eight years.

Now, he was cooking for Asia. Making her special broths, preparing light, nutritious meals to aid her recovery. I was never worthy enough to disrupt his plan, but she was. She was the plan. I was just the unfortunate detour.

He returned three days later, his "business trip" finally concluded. I was in the living room, a small duffel bag and a single carry-on suitcase sitting by the door. That was all I was taking. Everything else, the house, the furniture, the memories, felt tainted.

He walked in, his eyes scanning the room, then landing on my meager luggage. His brow furrowed in confusion. "What's this, Carmel?" His voice was devoid of emotion, a flat statement rather than a question. He looked at my bags as if they were an inconvenient mess, an unplanned disruption.

I didn't answer. What was there to say? He wouldn't understand. He wouldn't care. My entire life was packed into those two small bags, a stark contrast to the sprawling mansion, the countless possessions we had accumulated. But for him, it was just... clutter.

A baby's cry pierced the silence. It came from upstairs, from our master bedroom, now his and Asia's. Augustine's head snapped up, a flicker of concern, then adoration, crossing his face. The sound seemed to pull him, a magnetic force I could never compete with.

"Carmel," he said, turning back to me, his voice slightly rushed. "I have something to tell you. I've adopted two children. They're twins." He said it so casually, as if announcing a new business acquisition.

My body stiffened. My heart hammered against my ribs, a desperate bird trapped in a cage. Adopted. The word felt like a lie, a flimsy veil over his monstrous deception. I felt a cold wave wash over me, making my limbs heavy, my movements sluggish.

"Augustine," I managed, my voice a strained whisper. "What are you talking about?" My feet moved without my conscious command, dragging me towards the sound of the crying.

I saw them then, in the living room, in two pristine white bassinets. A boy and a girl, their tiny faces red from crying. My vision blurred around the edges, but the sight of them was undeniable. Real. And utterly devastating.

"What is this?" I asked, my voice barely human. "What have you done?"

He walked over to a nearby table, picking up a stack of papers. "These are the adoption papers," he said, handing them to me. His tone was clinical, detached. "Everything is perfectly legal. They are officially mine now. And of course, ours. You've always wanted children, Carmel. Now we have two. Exactly as planned."

My hands trembled as I took the papers. The words swam before my eyes – Herrera, Augustine. Herrera, Carmel. My name was on them. He expected me to raise them. His children. With her. The sheer audacity of it left me breathless, suffocated by a potent mixture of anger and humiliation.

Just then, a voice, soft and melodious, cooed from the doorway. "Oh, my poor babies, are you hungry?" Asia swept into the room, her eyes going straight to the bassinets. She picked up the crying boy, cradling him expertly.

My breath hitched. She was standing barely ten feet from me, holding his child, looking so heartbreakingly familiar. Her features were softer than mine, her eyes a shade lighter, but the resemblance was still startling. The tear-shaped mole, though-that was identical. The one Augustine had always been so fixated on, the one he had once traced on my own cheek, telling me how beautiful it was. He had been looking at her all along. I was just a substitute with the right features.

"Carmel," Asia said, her voice a little too sweet, a little too loud. "You must be wondering who I am. I'm Asia Whitney. And I'm the twins' nanny. Augustine hired me." She smiled, a triumphant, knowing gleam in her eyes. "I'm here to help take care of Elias and Elara."

Nanny. My husband's secret lover, the mother of his children, was now officially moving into my home as the "nanny."

Augustine, ever the master of efficiency, barely acknowledged my presence. "Asia, the master bedroom is ready for you and the children," he announced, gesturing towards the stairs. "We've got everything set up for the nursery in there. Carmel will help you get settled."

I felt a hysterical laugh bubble up inside me. Help her settle? In my room? With his babies? The babies he had secretly planned for, the babies I had unknowingly been prevented from having.

"No," I said, the word coming out as a strangled gasp. "No, I won't. And you can forget about this 'arrangement,' Augustine." My voice gained strength, fueled by a searing rage. "I want a divorce. Now."

His eyes, which had been so soft and warm when looking at Asia, hardened. A shadow flickered in their depths. "Divorce?" he said, his voice dangerously low. "That's not an option, Carmel. It's not in my plan."

"Your plan?" I scoffed, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. "Your plan involves secretly giving me birth control, having twins with your high school sweetheart, and then expecting me to raise them? And you think my leaving you is the unplanned event?"

He stared at me, his face impassive. "Divorce is messy. It's inefficient. It disrupts the structure. We are married, Carmel. We will remain married. You will be a mother to these children, as you always wanted. Asia will be here to assist." He spoke as if he were dictating terms in a boardroom, utterly devoid of empathy.

He turned, walking towards Asia and the twins, his back to me. "Come, Asia," he said gently. "Let's get the children settled."

I watched them go, the picture of a perfect, albeit twisted, family ascending the grand staircase. My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the floor, the adoption papers fluttering from my grasp. He wasn't refusing to divorce me because he loved me. He was refusing because it was an inconvenient deviation from his meticulously crafted life. I was still just a means to an end. An inconvenient, discarded detail in his grand design.