Chapter 2

"Medicine won't fix everything."

I looked at Damian. "She needs someone who cares. Someone who stays. Someone who makes her feel safe."

Clara's cheeks immediately flushed. "Elena, that's not what I meant"

Damian's expression darkened. "You've been angry ever since I left for Sicily. It was business. Did you really expect me to report every move to you?"

Two weeks ago, it had been our wedding anniversary.

I'd spent days preparing dinner myself. His favorite wine. His favorite dessert.

Even the vintage watch I'd commissioned months earlier had finally arrived.

I waited until after midnight. He never came home.

Instead, I saw Clara's Instagram updated.

She was standing beside Damian on the Blackwood estate in Sicily.

The caption read:

Safe because you're here.

When I called him, his voice remained calm.

"It was Family business. There wasn't time to explain. Our anniversary happens every year. This meeting didn't. I thought you'd understand the difference."

Then he added, "Don't make my schedule the center of your life. You should have your own."

Something inside me finally broke. "So that's how it is? No matter what happens, I'll always come last."

There was a long silence. Then Damian sighed. "We'll talk when I get back."

The line went dead.

That night, I signed the contract with a company in London. The recruiter looked at me in surprise.

"You're relocating overseas? Does your boyfriend know? That's a pretty big decision."

I signed my name. "I don't need anyone's permission."

Months earlier, I'd once asked Damian whether I should accept a position inside the Family's investment division or continue helping oversee the foundation.

He hadn't even looked up. "It's your life. You decide."

Yet he'd personally spent hours teaching Clara how to navigate the Family.

Introducing her to every captain. Every advisor. Every ally she might need.

He always said I depended on him too much.

When I wanted to tell him something exciting, he barely looked up from the reports on his desk.

When I asked him to drive me somewhere, he reminded me his schedule couldn't revolve around me.

When I wanted to accompany him to Family dinners, he told me to build a life outside of him.

I used to think that was simply who Damian Blackwood was.

Quiet. Reserved. Difficult to love.

I believed, if I stayed long enough, I'd become the exception.

Then Clara came back into my life. She was my younger half-sister.

We'd never been particularly close.

After our mother's death, she had nowhere else to go.

I was the one who asked Damian to help her.

I thought he'd refuse. Instead, he agreed without hesitation.

And before I realized it, she had become the exception I'd spent years waiting to be.

She complained about a disagreement with another woman at the Blackwood estate. He listened patiently.

She mentioned craving dessert late at night. He drove across the city to bring it to her himself.

At Family gatherings, He introduced her personally.

"This is Clara. Take good care of her."

Whenever I questioned it, Damian always frowned.

"She's just a kid. Are you really jealous of that? Don't make something out of nothing."

A kid. She was only three years younger than me.

Every excuse I'd ever made for him, he's just emotionally distant.

He's too busy. He's not good at expressing affection.

One by one, they crumbled. Because I'd finally seen the truth.

He was capable of tenderness. It simply wasn't meant for me.

Maybe that was for the best.

Tomorrow after my surgery, I'd leave New York.

Damian would never know that I'd walked away carrying his child.

My phone rang. It was Ava.

"Elena, I'm coming over tonight. I'll stay with you after the procedure. I know the doctor already said it's nothing serious. But you're pregnant. You shouldn't be going through anything alone."

My fingers tightened around my phone.

"Ava," She lowered her voice. "Have you decided when you're going to tell Damian? The anniversary dinner?"

I didn't answer. Because I didn't know anymore.

"Anyway, you'd better get the guest room ready. Your favorite babysitter is moving in."

"I asked people to clean it twice. I even bought you new—"

The room door swung open.

The words caught in my throat.