All Chapters of SHE WAS NEVER HIS MISTRESS : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

FLYNN'S POV I left the office later than usual. The city lights blurred past my car window as I drove home. My mind stayed on Sienna. She had called earlier, her voice shaky. The baby kicked hard tonight and she felt scared and alone in that small apartment. I told her I would check on her tomorrow. I always said that and I always meant it. I gripped the steering wheel so tight my knuckles turned white. I was protecting Aria from my father’s sins. That was the truth I repeated to myself everyday. Richard Thornfield denied Sienna her whole life. He left her mother broke and broken after years of lies and empty promises. When Sienna showed up pregnant and desperate seven months ago, I could not turn her away. I was not going to be like him. I refused to let another woman suffer because of my father’s choices. But helping her came with a cost I never fully counted until now. The memory hit me hard as I turned onto our street. Sienna had arrived at my office one rainy afternoon with br

CHAPTER 4: “The Confrontation” ARIA'S pov I drove to Sellwood with the address Rebecca gave me burned into my mind. The modest apartment building sat on a quiet street lined with trees. Rain started to fall again as I parked across from it. I sat in the car for ten minutes. My hands gripped the steering wheel. I breathed slowly and deep. The pain in my chest felt like a living thing. It clawed at me with every breath. I wanted answers. I needed to see her face. I needed to know what kind of woman took my husband’s money and his time for seven months. And who was good enough to replace me in my husband’s life. I finally got out and the cold air hit my face. I crossed the street and found the right door on the second floor. My knock sounded too loud in the quiet evening. I waited. My heart beat hard against my ribs. The door opened and a young woman stood there. Her blonde hair fell around her shoulders. She looked younger than twenty four. Her blue eyes were eerily like Flynn’s.

ARIA'S POV The apartment was four hundred and fifty square feet on the fourth floor of a walk-up in Hawthorne. Jordan stood beside me while the landlord unlocked the door."It's small," Mrs. Kowalski said. She was maybe seventy, with white hair and kind eyes. "But the light is good. And it's quiet."The door swung open. Hardwood floors. White walls. Two windows that faced east. Empty except for dust motes floating in the afternoon sun.Our house had been twenty-four hundred square feet. This place would fit in our living room."Can I see?" Jordan asked.Mrs. Kowalski gestured us in. "Take your time."The main room served as everything. Living room, bedroom, dining room. A tiny kitchen in one corner with a two-burner stove and a sink the size of a mixing bowl. A bathroom so small I could touch both walls at once. A closet that might fit half my clothes.Jordan opened the windows. March air rushed in, cold and sharp. "The bones are good."I walked to the window. Below, Hawthorne Street

FLYNN'S POVThe meeting was going well. Three potential investors, all nodding in the right places while I walked them through our Q2 projections. Harrison sat to my right, pulling up data on the screen when I needed it. We'd done this presentation a dozen times. Smooth. Professional. The kind of performance that built empires.Then Amanda knocked on the conference room door.She never interrupted meetings. In five years as my assistant, she'd learned that closed door meant unavailable. The fact that she was standing there, looking pale and uncomfortable, meant something was wrong."Excuse me." I stood. "One moment."The investors exchanged glances. Harrison's eyes followed me to the door.Amanda handed me an envelope the second I stepped into the hallway. "A man just came. He asked for you by name. Said I had to give you this personally."The envelope was thin. Legal size. My name typed on the front."He said it was time-sensitive," Amanda added quietly.I opened it right there. Pull

FLYNN'S POVHarrison showed up at nine with a bottle of Scotch and no explanation.I let him in without a word. We walked to the kitchen because the living room felt wrong tonight. Too open. Too full of the shape of her.He set the bottle on the counter. Found two glasses without being told where they were. Poured wine and said nothing.We drank standing up for a while. The kitchen light was too bright and neither of us moved to fix it."She went to Sienna's apartment," I said finally.Harrison looked at his glass. "I know.""She saw the baby things. The vase she'd bought me two years ago. Sienna had it on her counter." I stopped. "I gave it to her because Sienna's apartment had nothing personal in it. I… I thought it would help.""Flynn.""I know how it sounds.""Do you? Because from where I'm standing, your wife walked into a strange woman's apartment and found your things there."I said nothing. The refrigerator hummed. "Walk me through your logic," Harrison said. "The real versio