Chapter 54: Six Months Later
Six Months Later
The sun streamed gently through the soft, ivory curtains of the Winters’ bedroom, casting a golden glow on the couple curled beneath the duvet.
Ruby stirred first, her fingers brushing across the crisp linen sheets as she rolled over to face the man who had somehow become her entire world in just six months.
Stefan Winters, the man who was supposed to be her sister’s husband.
He lay on his side, breathing softly, his arm draped over her waist in a protective hold. His hair was tousled, and his lips were parted slightly, like he’d been in the middle of whispering her name in his dreams. Even now, knowing he couldn’t see her, Ruby’s heart swelled with a bittersweet ache.
For six months, she had lived this lie. Woken up next to a man who thought she was someone else. A man who deserved the truth.
Her hand rose to his cheek, gently brushing back a strand of his hair, as she looked into his calm face.
"I have to tell him," she whispered to herself.
But she had been saying that for months. And each time he held her, each time he kissed her like she was his whole world, she found herself biting back the truth.
Because telling him might mean losing all this—their quiet mornings, the shared laughter, the way he pulled her into his arms as though she was something precious.
Though she would’ve loved for him to love her for her, as Ruby not Ivy but she couldn’t bear to lose him to the truth. No matter how she put it, it was betrayal to him because she knew he loved her—not because he thought she was Ivy but her person.
Stefan stirred beside her, his eyes opening though unfocused. He smiled in her direction, his fingers tightening around her waist.