Divorce With Benefits: A Second Chance At Love
Chapter 34: The Stranger He Has Become

Chapter 34: The Stranger He Has Become

Victoria sat frozen, her body tense with shock. Her son—her Jared—had shouted at her. The disbelief was etched into every line of her face, her lips parted as if searching for words but finding none.

The room’s tension was thick, the silence that followed Jared’s outburst pressing heavily against her chest.

Jerica, too, stood rooted to the spot, staring at Jared as if seeing him for the first time. The man standing before her—his face contorted with anger—was a stranger.

Her heart raced as she recalled another moment, one from the recent past, when his expression had terrified her. That night by the bathtub when she had almost drowned, the same cold fury had flashed across his face, and now, as she stood before him, she felt that same fear creeping back.

Her voice was barely a whisper, her brow furrowed as pain lanced through her arm. "Let go."

Jared’s grip loosened at once, as if her words had cut through the fog of his anger. His eyes, still sharp with frustration, softened the moment they landed on her. But when he saw the fear etched into her features, his expression shifted again—this time to one of guilt and dread.

His hand fell from her arm like a lifeline severed, and Jerica immediately took a step back, her body instinctively recoiling from him.

Without another word, she turned away from him, her heart heavy with confusion and hurt. Bending down, she pressed a soft kiss to Victoria’s cheek, the gesture tender, but brief. Then, without a glance back at either of them, Jerica walked out of the room.

Jared watched her leave, his heart hammering painfully in his chest. His mother, still too stunned to speak, looked at him, her eyes wide with disappointment and something much worse—pity.

The silence between the mother-son pair was suffocating, and when Jared couldn’t bear it any longer, he moved to follow Jerica.

"You’re turning into an animal," Victoria’s voice cracked through the air, sharp and accusing. The words struck Jared like a blow, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he fisted his hands tightly at his sides and shut the door behind him as he left.

The hallway was empty. Jerica was gone. Without realizing what he was doing, Jared broke into a run, panic swelling in his chest. His heart pounded as he rushed through the hallways of his childhood home, his mind swirling with fear that she was already gone—that she was slipping away from him for good.

What would he do if she stayed away from him like his mother said?

But when he burst through the door leading to the garden, his steps faltered. There she was. Jerica stood outside, the gentle breeze tugging at her hair, her back to him as she gazed up at the evening sky. The garden was quiet, serene, but Jared could feel the tension still clinging to the air between them, fragile like a thin thread that could snap at any moment.

Jerica closed her eyes, taking in the cool night air, trying to calm the storm inside her. How had it come to this? How had Jared, the man who had always balanced his fiery temper with a quiet grace at home, transformed into someone who could shout at his own mother?

The man she loved was never like this. Despite his cold reputation as "The Siberian Beast" in the courtroom, he had always kept that part of himself far away from her. It was one of the things she loved most about him—his ability to keep his work avatar on a leash.

But now, here he was, unleashed.

What had happened to him?

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted as she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist from behind, pulling her close. Jared. His familiar woody scent enveloped her, and she could feel the roughness of his cheek brushing against hers, the coolness of his skin as he pressed his face into the crook of her neck.

He was silent, but she could feel his breathing—heavy, ragged, like he was on the verge of breaking. His chest was pressed tightly against her back, and though he wasn’t making a sound, Jerica could sense the unspoken turmoil inside him, the wheeze of his breath betraying his struggle to hold it together. It was as if he were sobbing without tears, his pain a quiet, internal thing that he couldn’t let out.

She didn’t turn to look at him, but her hand instinctively reached up, resting gently on his arm in a soothing gesture. She didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how to fix this fracture between them. But she could feel his desperation, the way he clung to her like she was the last thing tethering him to something good.

"You’re very important to me, Jerica," Jared whispered, his voice rough, barely audible. His lips lingered at her ear, his breath warm against her skin. There was a vulnerability in his words that made Jerica’s heart tighten, and she swallowed hard, unsure of how to respond.

He took a deep breath, his arms tightening around her as if he feared she might slip away if he let go. Jerica could feel it in the way he held her—the weight of something heavy, something unspoken that he was carrying inside. She could feel it in the tension of his muscles, in the way his breathing hitched with each inhale. He was hiding something—something he couldn’t say aloud.

She let him lean on her, her heart conflicted. Part of her wanted to pull away, to demand answers for the anger she had seen in him, for the way he had scared her tonight. But another part of her—the part that still loved him deeply—couldn’t help but let him stay. She could feel his fear, the way he trembled against her, and she couldn’t turn away from that.

Not yet.

They stood like that for what felt like an eternity, Jared clinging to her, Jerica silently offering the comfort he so clearly needed. She didn’t know how long they stayed in the garden, the night air cool around them, but eventually, Jared’s breathing evened out, his grip loosening slightly as the storm inside him began to calm.

When Jerica finally moved to walk toward the car, Jared rushed ahead of her, his body tensing again as he reached for the car door to open it for her. But before he could, Jerica opened it herself, stepping aside to face him. Her eyes were steady, though the uncertainty still lingered in her chest.

"Please," she began, her voice quiet but firm. "Refrain from shouting at women. It’s..." She paused, searching for the right words. Her throat tightened as she swallowed down the harsher thoughts swirling in her mind. "I do not like it."