CHAPTER 21

ELENA

His hand was on my face.

I stared at him. He stared back. Neither of us moved. His thumb rested just beneath my eye, right where he'd wiped away that last tear, and my heart was going way too fast for how still everything else felt.

"Adrian…"

His eyes flickered. For a second neither of us seemed to know what came next. Then he glanced down at his own hand, like he'd only just clocked where it was.

"I...."

He didn't get to finish. Something shifted beside me, and I turned to find Elias awake, watching us both.

"Oh." I turned my attention to him fast, grateful for the excuse. Adrian cleared his throat, standing up almost too quickly.

I looked at Elias properly. His hair was a mess from sleep. "You slept in my room?"

A nod.

I smiled. "Did you sleep well?"

Another nod, then....a smile this time. My chest went soft at the sight of it.

"I'm glad."

He crawled closer without warning and climbed straight into my lap. I wrapped my arms around him on instinct, and then his small hand reached up and touched carefully beneath my eye... trying, I realized, to wipe away tears that weren't even there anymore.

"Oh, baby." I kissed the top of his head. "I'm not crying anymore. I promise."

He nodded and settled against me, and I held on tighter than the moment probably called for.

A throat cleared from across the room. Adrian stood there having what looked like a longing gaze in his eyes, like he'd wandered into something he didn't quite know how to handle.

"Breakfast's ready."

"Breakfast?"

He gestured at a tray on the side table. "I'll take it down if you'd rather eat downstairs."

"You don't have to."

"I insist." He picked it up and turned to Elias. "Come on."

Elias slid off my lap without hesitation and took his hand. I watched them walk out together.... father and son, easy and natural, like it was the simplest thing in the world.

Something tightened in my chest watching them go. This wasn't supposed to feel this normal. It wasn't supposed to feel like home.

It did anyway.

I shook the thought off. I needed a shower.

The water ran over my head, eyes closed, and everything came flooding back the second I stopped moving.

Sophia. Her face. Her smile. Her hand resting over her stomach.

Pregnant. Happy. So visibly, infuriatingly happy.

And Daniel walking beside her made my stomach hurt just remembering it.

Weeks of trying to heal, trying to convince myself Daniel and Sophia belonged somewhere behind me now. One glance across a crowded amusement park had ripped that open again like it had never closed at all.

The worst part wasn't seeing them. It was watching them look happy while doing it.

How, after everything they'd taken.... my son, my marriage, my parents, my entire future....could they stand there laughing like none of it had cost them a thing?

I pressed my palms to my face and made myself stop there. No more crying today. They'd had enough of my tears already.

But something else sat underneath the grief now, quieter and colder. I wanted them to answer for it. Not out of cruelty. Just because people shouldn't get to burn someone's life down and walk away untouched.

I shut off the water. Not today. I wasn't giving Sophia another minute of it.

I dressed simple.... loose shirt, short skirt, nothing dressed up for anyone but myself. Hair clipped back, a long look in the mirror. Still tired underneath it all, but a little steadier than I'd been yesterday.

Downstairs, I stopped at the dining room entrance. Elias sat swinging his legs at the table, and Adrian stood beside it, turning as I walked in.

His eyes moved over me.... down, then up, then down again.... before he seemed to catch himself doing it.

"Your breakfast," he said, a beat too fast.

"Okay." I fought a smile and sat down. Pancakes, eggs, fruit, toast....more food than three people needed, laid out like an actual effort had gone into it.

"You made all this?"

"Yes."

"You cook?"

He shrugged. "Yes."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

I picked up my fork, then noticed the quiet. Everywhere was too quiet. "Where's everyone?"

"Everyone?"

"Mrs. Carter. Ruby. The staff"

"Sent them home."

My hand stilled. "Why?"

He hesitated. "You had a hard night. Figured you might want the privacy."

I didn't have a response for that. My eyes burned again, and I looked down at my plate instead. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

He sat down with us, and somehow breakfast turned into something  pleasant. Elias sat between us, nodding at everything either of us asked him, and more than once Adrian and I caught each other's eyes over the absurdity of holding an entire conversation with a five-year-old who only answered in nods.

Watching them both.... Elias eating, Adrian relaxed in a way I rarely saw from him.... something in my chest settled that had no business settling.

He didn't ask what happened yesterday and I'm glad he didn't.

This felt like home. It wasn't. It was a contract, a fake marriage, something with an expiration date built into it. But sitting there watching Elias's legs swing under the table, I understood exactly how easy it would be to forget that.

I liked it too much. That was the problem.

---

When we finished, I stood to clear the plates. "I'll help."

"No."

"I can help, Adrian."

"I said no." He gathered them before I could argue further. "Go. Take Elias to the movie room."

Elias perked up at the words. I looked between them. "You're doing all this yourself?"

"Yes."

"You don't have to."

"I know." He carried the plates toward the kitchen without turning back. "I want to."

I didn't have anything to say to that, so I took Elias's hand instead. "Come on, then."

The movie room was ridiculous.... big enough to fit half the mansion's other rooms inside it. Elias picked Tom and Jerry after much silent debate, and I settled in beside him, and for the length of the opening credits I actually forgot everything. Sophia. Daniel. My pain.

The door opened. Adrian walked in with an enormous bowl of popcorn, and Elias lit up at the sight of it.

"Can I sit with you two?" Adrian asked, looking at me.

"It's your house."

"Not an answer."

I laughed. "Yes. Sit."

He did, and somehow the three of us ended up watching the movie together like it was nothing unusual... Elias laughing silently, me laughing, and at one point, unbelievably, Adrian laughing too.

"You laughed."

"So?"

"Didn't think you knew how."

"I have a sense of humor."

"Prove it."

He looked back at the screen. "No."

I laughed harder, and he smiled.... actually smiled, easy and unguarded... and for the next hour everything felt normal in a way that scared me a little. The three of us. Popcorn. Laughing at a kids' movie like it was any other Sunday.

I hated how much I loved it, because none of this was supposed to be real. It felt real anyway.

Then my phone buzzed. One notification. I almost swiped it away before the subject line caught my eye.

Medical School Admission Decision.

My heart stopped in my chest. I opened it, read the first line, then read it again because I didn't trust myself the first time.

Congratulations.

My hands started shaking.

"Elena?" Adrian had noticed.

I looked up at him, eyes wide. "I...."

He sat forward. "What happened?"

I looked at the screen, then at him, a smile breaking loose before I could stop it. "I got in."

"Got in where?"

"Medical school." I laughed....a sound I barely recognized coming out of my own mouth after everything. "I got in!"

I was on my feet before I'd decided to stand. "I got in!"

Elias startled at the sudden movement, but I couldn't stop laughing. Years of thinking this dream belonged to someone I used to be, and here it was, handed back to me on an ordinary Sunday afternoon.

I turned and ran straight at Adrian without thinking it through. He caught me easily, arms closing around me while I laughed into his chest.

"I got in!"

"Congratulations," he said, quiet, his arms tightening around me.

I held on, and then, all at once, I stopped.

I became aware of everything at once.... his arms around me, my cheek against his chest, his heartbeat steady under my ear, how perfect it felt to hold each other. I lifted my head slowly. He was already looking down at me, and neither of us moved.

For a second the whole room disappeared. 

It was just the two of us, and the unsettling realization creeping in that a little part of me didn't want any of this to be fake anymore.