The Wife He Never Meant to Love (Lila and Damon) novel Chapter 280

Chapter 280

Chapter 280

Every single day, Lila waited for Damian and Damon’s return.

She waited with a devotion so relentless it shattered the hearts of everyone around her.

Morning after morning, she sat beside the grand staircase with her phone clutched tightly in trembling hands, staring at the front gates as if sheer determination alone could summon them home. At night, she stayed awake beside the bedroom window until dawn painted the sky gray, refusing to sleep because she feared they might return while she rested.

Every hour without them felt like another nail sealing her inside a living coffin.

To the people around her, every single day looked like a death sentence slowly being carried out.

“You need to take care of yourself, Margaret,” the doctor said softly.

Margaret sat silently across from him, hands folded weakly on her lap. The room smelled faintly of antiseptic and old wood, yet neither scent could mask the suffocating heaviness of grief hanging in the air.

“I understand that what happened is devastating,” the doctor continued carefully.

Margaret lowered her eyes.

Once, she had been a woman who carried herself with elegance and composure. Her silver-streaked hair had always been neat, her dresses pressed perfectly, her smile gentle and warm. But the woman sitting there now looked decades older than her age.

Her cheeks had hollowed.

Her skin had lost its glow.

Dark circles bruised the skin beneath her eyes from countless sleepless nights.

She no longer cared about eating properly. She no longer cared about appearances. Most days, she remained trapped inside her room, staring blankly at walls that had become witnesses to her silent suffering.

But it was not her own grief she feared.

It was Lila’s.

Margaret could no longer bear the sight of her daughter-in-law wandering through the mansion with desperate hope still burning inside her eyes.

Because Margaret knew the truth.

And that truth was slowly killing her.

Damian was gone.

The child Lila waited for every single day had already passed away.

Yet no one possessed the courage to destroy the fragile hope keeping Lila alive.

Margaret especially could not do it.

She had already watched Lila break once.

The memory haunted her endlessly.

The screams.

The collapse.

The unbearable agony of a mother searching for her child.

Margaret feared that if Lila learned the entire truth, there would be nothing left of her afterward.

Her own heart weakened day by day beneath the crushing burden of guilt and grief. It felt as though sorrow had become a living creature feeding slowly on her soul, devouring her from the inside until only exhaustion remained.

Chapter 280

Tears slipped silently down her cheeks.

Then suddenly, the sobs came.

Violent.

Uncontrollable.

Margaret pressed a trembling hand against her mouth, desperately trying to stop the broken sounds escaping her lips. Her shoulders shook violently as years of strength crumbled apart beneath the unbearable pain she had tried so hard to contain.

The doctor moved closer and gently patted her back.

“I know this is hard for you,” he said quietly. “But Lila will be left completely alone if you do not stay strong for her.”

Margaret shut her eyes tightly.

Strong.

How could she remain strong when she felt herself dying every single day?

She had lost her grandson.

Her family was falling apart before her eyes.

And Lila…

Poor Lila still waited faithfully for a miracle that would never come.

Outside the room, Lila stood anxiously by the door.

She had come carrying a tray of soup, hoping Margaret might finally eat something. But the moment she approached, she heard soft sobbing from inside the room.

Lila froze.

Her grip around the tray tightened.

For the past month, Margaret had been avoiding her.

The older woman rarely came downstairs anymore. Meals were brought to her room untouched. Whenever Lila tried speaking to her, Margaret either pretended to sleep or asked the servants to say she was unwell. At first, Lila assumed Margaret simply needed time to process what had happen to her.

But lately…

Something felt wrong.

The staff no longer spoke normally around her. Conversations abruptly ended whenever she entered a room. Even Ina, her closest friend, could barely meet her eyes anymore.

It was as if everyone carried a terrible secret.

And somehow, she was the only one left unaware of it.

“Did I do something that upset her?” Lila whispered to herself.

Her chest tightened painfully.

No matter how much she thought about it, she could not understand why everyone seemed to look at her with pity.

Like she was sick.

Like she was fragile enough to shatter at any moment.

Inside the room, Margaret’s muffled cries continued.

Lila lowered her eyes slowly.

Then, without knocking, without saving a word, she turned

Chapter 280

Each step felt unbearably heavy.

The mansion that once felt warm and full of life had become painfully cold. Silence echoed through every hallway like a ghost haunting the walls.

When Lila finally reached her bedroom, she opened the door quietly and stepped inside.

The room still looked exactly the same.

Damian’s toys remained neatly arranged on the shelves.

His little shoes still sat beside the cabinet.

His favorite blanket rested folded carefully at the edge of the bed because Lila refused to move it.

She feared that touching anything would make his absence real.

Slowly, she sat down on the edge of the mattress.

Her eyes wandered around the room while countless thoughts consumed her mind.

Something was wrong.

Deeply wrong.

But every time she tried asking questions, everyone reassured her that Damian and Damon would return soon.

So why did their voices sound so forced?

Why did Ina cry after every conversation?

Why did Margaret hide herself away like someone drowning beneath unbearable sorrow?

Lila swallowed hard.

Her heart had been aching constantly lately.

A strange pain she could not explain lingered endlessly inside her chest, as though some invisible thread connecting her to Damian had been severed.

And yet…

She refused to believe anything bad had happened.

No.

Damian was with Damon.

Damon would protect him.

Damon promised.

Tears gathered in her eyes as she reached for her phone with trembling fingers.

She dialed Damon’s number.

The ringing filled the silent room.

Once.

Twice.

Again and again.

But nobody answered.

Lila bit her lip painfully.

“Please answer…” she whispered weakly.

The call eventually ended.

Still no response.

Trying to steady her breathing, she immediately dialed Mark next.

Again, the phone rang endlessly.

3/7

Chapter 280

Again, no one answered.

A painful ache spread through her chest so sharply she pressed her hand against her heart.

Why?

Why did everyone suddenly feel so distant from her?

The tears she had been trying desperately to hold back finally rolled down her cheeks.

Whenever she thought about Damian, her entire body felt hollow with longing.

She missed his laughter.

His tiny hands reaching for her.

The way he used to call for her endlessly every morning.

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, she swore she could still hear his footsteps running across the hallway.

And every time she woke up from those dreams, reality crushed her all over again.

Still…

Lila clung tightly to hope.

Because hope was the only thing keeping her alive.

“He’s okay,” she whispered shakily to herself. “Damian is okay. Damon would never let anything happen to him.”

But even as she spoke the words aloud, her voice trembled with uncertainty.

Far away from her room, Margaret remained seated beside the doctor, quietly weeping.

“I cannot do this anymore,” she whispered brokenly.

The doctor looked at her with sympathy.

“You have to.”

Margaret shook her head weakly.

“She keeps waiting by the gates every morning,” Margaret cried softly. “Every day she smiles whenever she hears a car outside because she thinks it might be them. How long can this continue?”

The doctor sighed heavily.

Grief had consumed the entire household.

The servants cried quietly behind closed doors.

Ina barely slept anymore.

Even the once lively atmosphere of the mansion had vanished completely, replaced by endless mourning hidden beneath forced silence.

But among them all, Margaret suffered differently.

Because she carried two griefs at once.

The grief of losing her grandson.

And the grief of watching Lila unknowingly destroy herself while waiting for someone who would never come home again.

“She’s becoming thinner every day,” Margaret whispered. “She barely eats. Sometimes I hear her talking to Damian’s room at night as if he can still hear her.”

Her voice broke completely.

“And I cannot even comfort her.”

The doctor remained silent.

There were no words capable of easing a pain like this.

A mother’s grief was already unbearable.

4/7

Chapter 280

But a grandmother’s grief carried another kind of torment entirely.

Margaret was grieving not only for the child she lost, but also for the mother being destroyed by that loss.

That pain was merciless.

Meanwhile, Lila remained alone in her room, staring endlessly at her phone screen.

She scrolled through old photos of Damian.

One picture showed him laughing while sitting on Damon’s shoulders.

Another captured him sleeping peacefully in her arms.

Lila touched the screen gently, tears falling freely now.

“I miss you so much,” she whispered.

The room felt suffocatingly empty without him.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated.

Lila’s heart leapt violently.

She answered immediately.

“Damon?”

But it was Ina.

For several seconds, neither woman spoke.

Ina could hear the hope in Lila’s voice moments earlier, and it shattered her heart all over again.

“H-hello?” Lila asked softly.

Ina forced herself to speak normally despite the tears clogging her throat.

“How are you feeling today?”

Lila frowned slightly.

Why did everyone keep asking that?

“I’m fine,” she answered quietly. “Have you heard from Damon?”

Silence.

A terrible silence.

Ina covered her mouth as tears slipped from her eyes.

Lila’s heartbeat quickened anxiously.

“Ina?”

“No,” Ina whispered quickly. “Not yet.”

Lila lowered her gaze.

“Oh…”

The disappointment in her voice was so painful that Ina nearly broke down completely.

“I’m sure they’ll come back soon,” Lila added, trying to sound hopeful.

Ina shut her eyes tightly.

The lie was becoming unbearable.

After ending the call, Ina cried silently in her car for nearly an hour.

Everyone around Lila was slowly collapsing beneath the weight of helplessness.

Because none of them knew how to save her from the truth.

Days continued passing painfully.

Chapter 280

Every night, Margaret cried alone.

The doctor visited frequently, increasingly worried about both women.

One was being consumed by hidden grief.

The other by false hope.

And somewhere between those two agonies, the entire family was breaking apart.

One rainy evening, Lila wandered quietly into Damian’s room again.

Thunder echoed outside while rain struck the windows softly.

She sat beside his small bed and hugged his favorite stuffed toy tightly against her chest.

“I know you’ll come home,” she whispered through tears.

Her voice sounded fragile.

Almost childlike.

“I’m waiting for you, baby.”

Down the hallway, Margaret stood frozen outside the partially opened door.

She had come intending to speak to Lila.

But hearing those words shattered whatever remained of her strength.

Margaret covered her mouth as sobs escaped her uncontrollably.

Lila immediately looked toward the doorway in alarm.

“Mother?”

Margaret quickly turned away, unable to face her.

But Lila rushed after her anxiously.

“Mother, wait!”

Margaret stopped walking.

Her shoulders trembled violently.

Lila’s expression filled with worry as she gently touched the older woman’s arm.

“Please talk to me,” Lila begged softly. “Why is everyone acting this way?”

Margaret could not answer.

Could not breathe.

The grief inside her chest exploded all at once.

Slowly, she turned toward Lila.

And for the first time in weeks, Lila saw the full extent of Margaret’s suffering.

The older woman looked utterly destroyed.

Her eyes were swollen endlessly from crying.

Her body appeared weak and fragile.

Lila’s heart clenched painfully.

“Mother…” she whispered.

Margaret lifted trembling hands and cupped Lila’s face gently.

Then suddenly, she broke down completely.

She pulled Lila tightly into her arms and cried with a pain so deep it sounded almost inhuman.

Lila froze in shock.

Chapter 280

Fear slowly crept into Lila’s chest.

Cold.

Terrifying.

“Mother…” her voice shook violently now. “Why are you apologizing?”

Margaret could not answer.

Because the moment truth left her mouth, she knew Lila’s world would shatter forever.

And she did not possess the strength to destroy the last fragile piece of hope keeping her daughter-in-law

alive.

Subscribe

1 Likes