Chapter 5: She Finally Left

The morning sun had just risen, casting a warm orange glow across the eastern sky as the large grandfather clock in the hallway of the Blackwell mansion showed 7:45 a.m.

Damian woke with an overwhelming sense of unease weighing heavily on his chest.

He had barely slept throughout the night.

The image of Sienna's signature on the divorce papers had haunted his thoughts without end.

Pushing the unsettling feeling aside, Damian got out of bed, took a quick shower, put on his work shirt, and headed downstairs with a pace noticeably quicker than usual.

"Joanna!"

He called out the moment he stepped into the living room, looking for the head housekeeper.

There was no response.

The mansion felt unusually empty, as though all of its warmth and life had been drained away.

Damian walked into the kitchen and found Joanna standing beside the dining table, her expression gloomy and her eyes slightly swollen.

"Where's Sienna?" Damian demanded, trying to suppress the growing sense of dread tightening around his heart.

Joanna didn't answer immediately.

Instead, the elderly woman silently pointed toward the dining table with a trembling hand.

Damian walked over.

Resting on the spotless marble surface was a dark blue document folder.

Placed neatly on top of it were the house gate key, a black Blackwell Group credit card that was still sealed in its original plastic wrapper because it had never been used, and a handwritten note.

Damian snatched up the note.

'Damian,

At exactly 7:30 this morning, our one-year contract officially came to an end. I've confirmed through an independent notary that all legal documents concerning ownership of my mother's house have been completed properly, so they will never become a burden to Blackwell Group in the future.

The divorce papers that I've already signed are inside this folder. Please hand them over to your lawyer so they can be processed by the court. I won't be asking for anything, because to me, getting my childhood home back is more than enough compensation for this past year.

Thank you for your cooperation.

I wish Blackwell Group continued success.

Sienna Hayes.'

Damian crushed the note in his fist until it crumpled.

His eyes darkened with a mixture of disbelief and something far deeper.

"When did she leave?!"

His voice echoed through the silent dining room.

"Young... Young Madam left about fifteen minutes ago, sir," Joanna answered in a trembling voice as tears began streaming down her cheeks. "She refused to let the driver take her. She only brought one small cardboard box and an old suitcase before walking to the front gate to find a taxi. I tried to stop her, but she only smiled... and hugged me..."

Damian didn't hear the rest of Joanna's words.

He spun around, strode toward the front entrance, and broke into a run toward the main gate of the exclusive residential estate.

His hurried footsteps echoed against the quiet pavement.

But by the time he reached the gate, the main road beyond was already crowded with the morning rush.

There was no sign of Sienna.

The taxi carrying her had long since disappeared into the endless flow of traffic.

Sienna was gone.

Truly gone.

She had left without a sound, without any drama, and without leaving behind a single trace of emotion in the luxurious mansion.

Damian stood at the roadside, breathing heavily.

His hand tightened around his phone as he immediately dialed Sienna's number.

"The number you have dialed is currently unavailable or out of service."

The automated voice sounded almost like mockery.

Damian slowly lowered his phone.

For the first time in his thirty-five years of life, Damian Blackwell felt as though the ground beneath him had disappeared.

Something he had always regarded as nothing more than an ornament in the corner of his life had vanished, leaving behind an enormous, cold emptiness inside his chest.

Meanwhile, inside a taxi driving away from the elite neighborhood, Sienna sat quietly in the back seat.

She looked out the window as towering skyscrapers gradually gave way to densely populated residential streets.

She had already switched off her old phone, snapped the SIM card in half, and replaced it with a new number known only to a handful of trusted people at her foundation.

Her fingers gently touched a small key inside her pocket.

It was the key to her late mother's old house on the outskirts of the city—a place where she planned to open a small café and a reading space for children, building her own future from the ground up.

Sienna let out a quiet sigh of relief.

A small smile appeared on her lips.

For the first time in an entire year, the tightness in her chest was gone.

She was free.

**

Back at the Blackwell mansion,

Damian had just lowered himself into a chair at the dining table.

His left hand pressed against his forehead as a sudden headache throbbed behind his temples.

His gaze remained fixed on the folder Sienna had left behind.

His fingers slowly massaged his forehead, but nothing eased the sharp pain that had suddenly taken hold.

Why was he so desperate to chase after Sienna?

Had he lost his mind?

Wasn't this exactly what they had agreed upon?

Why had he run after a woman who had walked away from this house without the slightest hesitation?

He had barely managed to regain a moment of composure when the front door slammed open, startling him.

Damian looked up to see Beatrice and Elena hurrying into the house.

"Damian, is it true that Sienna finally left?" Beatrice asked, uncertainty flickering across her face.

"So she finally left," Elena said, folding her arms across her chest. "At least she had enough self-respect not to keep depending on us."

Beatrice looked at Damian, who remained silent, before asking again,

"So, what's your plan now? Are you going back to Vivian? She's finally come home. Don't waste this opportunity to—"

"Enough."

Damian's voice was quiet, yet filled with such unmistakable menace that both Beatrice and Elena fell silent immediately.

The two women exchanged uneasy glances, not daring to speak another word.

Damian didn't even look at his mother or his sister.

Instead, his eyes settled on the blue folder lying on the dining table.

He picked it up and carried it into his private study, ignoring their presence entirely.

Once inside, he shoved the folder into the lowest drawer of his desk and locked it securely.

"I'm not signing it," Damian whispered, his gaze fixed on the drawer he had just locked.

Every part of him still refused to accept reality.

"You can't just leave like this, Sienna. We're not finished. I should be the one deciding when you're allowed to leave this house—not you."

Damian clenched his fist.

He had to regain the control Sienna had taken from him without him ever realizing it.