CHAPTER 2

Welcome home, Aurora."

The words rang in Selene's ears as she stood frozen in the hallway.

Aurora. She knew that name. She'd spent three years trying not to think about it, and here it was, hanging in the air like it had never left. Slowly, she tightened her grip on her handbag. The tiny baby shoes inside suddenly felt like a cruel joke.

She made herself move.

The closer she got to the living room, the louder the voices became. A servant hurried past her carrying a tray of drinks. It didn't feel like a family gathering, it felt like a celebration.

When she reached the doorway, she stopped.

The room was packed. Vance family members filled the sitting area, along with Damien's cousins. And at the center of all of it sat a woman Selene didn't need to be introduced to.

Aurora moon.

The woman Damien had loved before he married her. The woman who had vanished three years ago without a word. The woman he had never forgotten.

She was beautiful. Long silver-blonde hair, bright eyes, an easy confidence that made her look like she'd never left. Like she belonged there.

Nobody noticed Selene in the doorway. They were all too focused on Aurora, who was in the middle of telling a story.

"I honestly thought I would never make it back," Aurora said with a soft laugh.

Damien's aunt immediately reached for her hand. "Oh, sweetheart, you've suffered enough."

"I was lucky to survive," Aurora said.

"You're home now. That's all that matters." A chorus of agreement followed.

Then Selene's eyes found Damien, and the sight hit her harder than she expected.

He was smiling. Not the polite smile he gave guests, not the faint one he occasionally gave his grandmother. A real warm smile. The kind of smile she had spent three years hoping to see directed at her. Aurora laughed at something, and Damien chuckled in response, and the familiarity between them was impossible to ignore. It was like no time had passed at all.

Something sharp twisted in Selene's chest.

Then one of the servants noticed her. "Mrs. Vance is here."

The room went quiet. Every head turned. Aurora's eyes landed on Selene and she blinked. Surprise first, then curiosity, then something else Selene couldn't read.

Damien turned too. Their eyes met, and Selene waited. Waited for him to smile, to walk over, to acknowledge that his wife had just come home.

Instead, he just looked at her. Then he turned back to Aurora. "Continue," he said.

The word landed like a slap.

Nobody spoke. The awkwardness was thick enough to choke on. It was Aurora who finally broke the silence, rising from her seat and glancing toward Selene.

"Damien," she said quietly. "Aren't you going to introduce me?"

Several family members exchanged uncomfortable looks. Everyone in that room knew exactly who both women were.

Damien was silent for a moment. Then, "Aurora, this is Selene."

Just Selene. Not my wife, not Mrs. Vance Just Selene, like she was someone he'd met in passing.

Aurora raised her brows slightly, then smiled. "Oh." Her eyes moved over Selene — not rudely, but enough to make Selene feel like she was being measured against something. "So this is Selene."

She stepped forward. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Selene made herself nod. "You too."

Aurora tilted her head. "Damien mentioned you once."

Mentioned. like Selene was a small detail he'd brought up briefly and moved on from.

Before she could respond, Damien's cousin Ethan cleared his throat. "Selene just got home. She should sit down."

"Yes, of course," Aurora agreed, looking genuinely apologetic. Or at least good at appearing that way — Selene honestly couldn't tell.

She moved toward an empty chair. The only one available was directly across from Damien and Aurora. As she sat down, her fingers brushed the envelope inside her handbag. The pregnancy report. A few hours ago she'd been so excited to hand it to him. Now she wasn't sure she wanted to.

Conversation slowly picked back up, and most of it centered on Aurora — where she'd been, what she'd survived, how she'd made it back. Everyone listened closely, Damien most of all. Selene sat quietly and watched.

At one point Aurora said, "Do you remember that camping trip near Silver Lake?"

Damien nodded right away. "How could I forget?"

Aurora groaned. "You got lost for two hours."

"You gave me the wrong directions."

"I was twelve!"

"You were still wrong."

The room filled with laughter. Selene looked down at her hands. She had nothing to add. She hadn't been there. She didn't know that version of Damien — the relaxed one, the playful one, the one who laughed easily. Selene had spent three years married to him and somehow never met him at all.

A servant came in with refreshments. As cups were handed around, Aurora reached for the sugar bowl at the same moment Damien did. Without even glancing at her, he passed it to her. The movement was automatic, the kind of habit built over years.

Aurora smiled. "You still remember."

"Some things don't change," he said simply.

Selene felt something settle in her stomach — not quite jealousy, but something heavier. Understanding, maybe. Because sitting there watching them, it became clear to her. Aurora had never really left this house. Not in the ways that mattered. She'd stayed behind in Damien's memories, in the empty spaces of his life. And now she was back to fill them.

The room felt too warm suddenly. Too crowded.

Selene stood quietly. "Excuse me."

A few people looked over. Aurora's brow creased with concern. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. It's been a long day."

"You should rest," Aurora said, nodding sympathetically.

She sounded like she meant it. Somehow that made it worse. Selene could have handled hostility — she'd have known what to do with it. But genuine kindness left her with no place to put any of what she was feeling.

She turned to leave.

"Wait."

Aurora's voice stopped her. The room went quiet again.

Aurora smiled, soft and almost gentle, and then asked the question that made every single person in the room tense up.

"You must be the replacement they found for me?

The words made everyone stiff. Nobody moved nor said a word.

And for the first time since she'd walked into that room, Damien looked directly at Selene.