Kourtney's eyes widened in a mixture of guilt and shame as she tried to turn away, hiding the evidence of her pain. 

"It's... it’s nothing, just a little accident," she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper. 

Sebastian's heart clenched at her obvious distress, a surge of protectiveness and worry flooding through him. To think he was rushing home to see the pretty face of his wife, not knowing it had already been messed up and bruised.

The raw agony etched on her features hit him like a punch to the gut. Even her swollen eyes meant she had been crying for long, and the sight pierced through his heart ...