Chapter 3

The door opened. Dominic stood in the doorway, slightly out of breath. When he saw me, his shoulders dropped.

But then his brow furrowed, and his voice carried a mix of relief and reproach.

"Where did you go? I have been looking for you for almost two hours."

I did not answer. If he had really been in a hurry, he would have come after me the moment he said the wrong name, not after dinner, not after the photos, not after the guests had gone.

He stepped inside and saw the suitcase and boxes by my feet. His face changed. "Where are you going at this hour?"

I looked at him. My voice was flat. "I am moving out. The rest will be picked up tomorrow."

Dominic sighed first, then reached into his pocket and pulled out the navy ring box. He opened it. The ring lay inside, as if it had never been worn.

"Alright," he said. "I made a mistake. I was nervous. You know I have never done this before. Take the ring. I will clear it up tomorrow. I have already talked to Bianca. She will not make things difficult for you. "

"If you do not want to wear the one she tried on, I will have a new one made. A better diamond. Whatever setting you want."

He said all of this while finally looking me in the eye. His tone had the certainty of someone who had already made a concession. He held the box out, waiting for me to take it.

I looked at the ring. "Dominic, you want to get me a new ring with a better diamond. Do you think that is what I am upset about?"

He paused, like the question had derailed the response he had prepared. "Then what are you upset about?" He sounded genuinely confused.

I gave a small, quiet laugh. "I am serious about ending this. The ring is yours. Give it to her, sell it, throw it away. I do not care."

Dominic closed the box. His face shifted, and the patience on it hardened into something I had seen many times before. "Clara, I said I would get you a new one. If you do not like the stone, we can change it. If you do not like the setting, we can change that too. But you do this every time. You make a scene over something small and threaten to leave. Why can you not be more understanding?"

The way he said "every time" made my skin cold.

I remembered something from a year ago. After the annual report came out, I found out I had been moved to a lower-priority team. The core client I had been handling was given to Bianca. I went to Dominic, and he did not look up from his phone. "She needs to prove herself. You are capable. One client will not make a difference."

"That client took me eight months to land."

"You can find another one. I will keep an eye out for you next quarter." His tone was like he was calming a child. I stood there and could not find any words. He said "next quarter." He thought everything could be postponed.

That time, we broke up. I stayed in a hotel for three days, and he did not send a single message. Later I understood that he counted on me loving him too much. He knew I would always come back. Just like when he said, "I do not want a long-distance relationship," and I quit my job in Boston and moved to New York.

When I came back that time, he took my suitcase and said: "When I take over the family, you will be the Donna standing beside me. There will be more pressure than this. Clara, if you keep acting like this, how can I trust you with the De Luca name?"

Now Dominic stood in front of me with the same voice. "You have had your say. I will get the ring remade," he said, looking at me like he had already given enough. "I have the family, the business, the company. I have pressure too. Can you not try to understand me and just let this go?"

I looked at his face and realized he had never truly understood me.

"I am serious about this, Dominic. I do not want a new ring. I do not want anything."

As the elevator doors closed, his voice came through the gap: "It is cold out. Do not stay out too long. Come back when you are ready. I will be here."

The elevator went down, floor by floor. My phone lit up. Bianca had posted another story. A photo of her hand holding a champagne glass, the ring catching the light.

I liked the story, got into the taxi, and gave the driver the name of a hotel.