Do You Still Love Me When We Meet Again? (Aubrey and Damon) novel Chapter 242

Strikes Back

Seeing Damon had finally arrived, Zach ended the video call and slid his phone back into his pocket.

Tracy and Olivia both let out a long, shaky breath of relief.

Charles spoke up, his voice dripping with indignation. “Perfect. Damon is back. Now he can end this mess once and for all in front of the whole family. No more dragging his feet.”

The icy wind surged through the open door. Aubrey shivered, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. She felt small and defenseless, her eyes glued to the floor in silence.

Her heart felt hollow–a barren wasteland of helplessness.

Damon turned and shut the door behind him.

He didn’t say a word. He marched into the living room, grabbed the remote, and cranked up the heat.

Aubrey had a weak constitution. Being from the South, she had always been sensitive to the cold.

Everyone stared at him, bewildered. He just walked in and the first thing he did was adjust the thermostat?

He shed his coat as he walked, heading straight for Aubrey. He draped it over her shoulders, his voice low and incredibly tender. “I told you it was going to be freezing today. Why didn’t you wear more layers?”

Damon’s sudden warmth felt like a lifeline. Aubrey’s heart arched, but the fear remained. Once he heard that audio recording, would he still care for her like this?

The thought made her eyes well up. She forced a bitter smile and tried to push the coat back. “It’s fine. I was just leaving.”

‘Where are you going?” Damon whispered, a bitter smile tugging at his lips. “Going home?”

Aubrey froze. She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

Just having Damon there brought her a strange sense of peace. But she knew it wouldn’t last. It would all disappear the second he heard that recording.

Uncle Charles and his family were out for blood today. They were determined to get rid of her and tear her away from Damon for good.

Besides, Damon didn’t even want to marry her. What was the point in staying?

Aubrey had already braced herself for the worst. Tears pooled in her eyes, threatening to spill over. Her voice was weak, hollow with despair. “I don’t have a home.”

Her grief hit like a tidal wave. Memories sprouted like weeds, clawing their way out of the dirt where she’d buried them, piece by agonizing piece.

These weren’t the sweet ones.

She remembered Damon’s uncle and Aunt Hannah cornering her, pressuring her to leave him. To save his career, she’d agreed to their demands. She’d staged a fake affair with her best friend, using it as an excuse to abandon Damon.

It was a sick joke. And remembering it now brought nothing but pure agony.

No home?

Hearing those words, Damon’s eyes turned red instantly. He grabbed her wrist, his grip tight and his voice thick with emotion. “I heard a recording during the FaceTime with my brother just now. Is it true?”

A sharp pain pierced Aubrey’s heart. She nodded weakly. “I said those things, but… please don’t be mad. They were all lies.”

Damon’s eyes grew even redder, brimming with raw emotion. “They can’t be lies,” he muttered. He turned to Charles, his voice hard. “Uncle Charles, play it again. I want to hear exactly what she said.”

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Evan picked up the remote and hit the play button.

As the recording played back, Aubrey felt her heart clench with every word. she had no idea how Damon would react. This was it, wasn’t it? He was going to break up with her.

Every person in the room was staring at Damon, waiting for the explosion.

Once the audio finished, Damon’s eyes were bloodshot and wet. His breathing was heavy, and a look of deep sorrow washed over his face. Then, he let out a faint, shaky laugh.

The others thought he was in agony. They assumed he was crying out of betrayal, disappointment, and pure rage.

Little did they know, his heart was pounding for a completely different reason. He was overwhelmed with emotion because he finally realized the person Aubrey wanted to marry was him. He was drowning in guilt for his own misunderstandings, and his chest tightened with a searing pain, knowing she had stayed silent while all these people bullied her.

He couldn’t stay calm. His eyes were bloodshot as he looked at Aubrey, his hand tightening around her wrist. “Bree, you never talked about marriage with me,” he whispered. “You never said anything about quitting. My work is classified; it’s not like a normal job where you can just walk away. A six–month transition period isn’t enough. So… I never even considered that the person you wanted to marry in six months was me. I got it wrong. I completely misunderstood you.”

“Wait, what?” Aubrey stared at him, totally lost. “What do you mean?”

Damon gave a bitter, self–deprecating laugh. “I thought you wanted to marry another man. That’s why I broke up with you. I thought I was setting you free.”

Aubrey clenched her fists, biting her lower lip to hold back the rush of emotions. She wanted to punch him. She really wanted to hit him. He had put her through so much hell and heartbreak these past few weeks because of this?

What kind of woman talks about marrying someone else right in front of her boyfriend? If you’re talking about marriage, you’re talking about your boyfriend. Isn’t that common sense?

How could he possibly misinterpret that?

Were the brains of these STEM guys just not wired to understand anything outside of a lab?

Seeing her face flushed with anger, the smile on Damon’s face only grew brighter. His deep, red–rimmed eyes suddenly lit up, shimmering with a brilliant, crystal–clear light.

Damon grabbed Aubrey’s arm and guided her into a chair. He knelt in front of her, buttoning his coat over her one by one. The thick, warm fabric wrapped her up tight, shielding her from the room:

His eyes were incredibly soft as he looked at her. “Wait for me here for a second before we go home,” he whispered. “My wife was just bullied. There’s no way I’m letting us walk out of here like cowards.”

Aubrey stared at him, stunned.

He’d heard that audio and he wasn’t angry? He actually thought ‘she was the one being mistreated?

When Damon was kneeling there, buttoning her up, he had been so gentle. So tender.

But the second he stood up, his expression went cold. His entire aura shifted. He looked tall, powerful, and absolutely lethal.

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