FAZER LOGINI fold my arms across my chest, the wool of my sweater rough against my palms. The café hums around us, but I barely hear it. "I'm listening. But I don't want another half-truth."He holds my gaze. No flinching. No deflection. "I won't hide anything from you this time."I wait.He takes a breath, slow and deliberate. "My marriage to Camille has been unhappy for a long time. We stayed together because of family expectations. Appearances. Obligations neither of us wanted to confront.""Why didn't you tell me any of this when we were together?"His jaw tightens. "I was so focused on protecting my family and business that I convinced myself pushing you away was the best solution.""You made that decision for me." My voice comes out sharper than I intended. "Without giving me the chance to decide what risks I was willing to take."He doesn't argue. "You deserved the truth. And I failed you."I let the words settle. "And the pregnancy?""Camille admitted the baby isn't mine."The world tilt
I stare at the screen until the words blur.I'm coming to Paris.Three words. Eight syllables. A bomb disguised as a text message.I read it again. And again. My thumb swipes up to check the timestamp, as if that will change what he wrote. The message stays the same, stubborn and absolute, sitting there in the dim glow of my studio.My fingers move before I can stop them.Why?The reply comes within seconds.Because I don't want to have another important conversation through a phone.I push off the bed and start pacing. The floorboards creak beneath my feet. The city glitters beyond the window, indifferent to the earthquake happening inside my chest.Paris isn't a place you can simply come to because you suddenly feel guilty.I type it fast, sharp, hitting send before I can second-guess the edge in my words.His response is slower this time. Deliberate.I'm not coming to ask you to take me back. I need to face you properly. To show you that I meant what I said.I stare at the message.
The message glows on my screen.I won't ask you to come back. But I'm not giving up on fixing what I broke.I read it again. The words don't change. They sit there, stubborn and patient, like him.I don't reply.Words are easy. I've heard enough of them from Elias, from men who promised things they couldn't deliver. If he wants another chance, he needs to prove it. With actions. With time.I set the phone face-down on the nightstand and lie back, staring at the crack in the ceiling. The city hums beyond the window, indifferent. My mind refuses to settle.He's not giving up.The thought circles like a bird with no place to land.I roll onto my side, pull the blanket up to my chin, and close my eyes. Sleep comes in fragments, each one edged with his voice, his face, the way he said my name on the phone.---Morning filters through the thin curtains, pale and gray.I shower, dress, tie my apron. The motions are automatic coffee, bag, keys. The city greets me with diesel and damp cobblest
The message glows on my screen, three dots still pulsing as if he’s waiting for me to read it.Mira, there’s something else I need to tell you.I stare at the words until they blur. The studio is dark, the city humming beyond the window, and my hand trembles against the phone. Why does he keep finding his way back? I’ve spent weeks building a new life—culinary school, independence, the slow ache of learning to stand alone. And now he’s here again, cracking the door I thought I’d sealed.My thumbs move before I can stop them.What do you want to tell me?I press send. The silence stretches. The cursor blinks. One minute. Two.Then his reply appears, slow and careful.I’m not asking you to come back. Or forgive me. I just want to be honest with you this time. That’s all.Honesty. The word lands like a punch. I wanted honesty from him before—in the penthouse, in the hallway of his mother’s house, in every moment I stood in front of him waiting for an explanation he never gave. And now he
The Seine caught the last light, gold bleeding into gray. I stood at the window of my studio, a half-empty cup of coffee cold in my hands, and watched the city prepare for evening.His words wouldn't leave me alone.Camille's baby isn't mine. I can prove it. I need your help.I'd read them so many times the letters had lost their shape. Every time I thought I'd buried them, they surfaced again during a sauce reduction, while chopping herbs, in the breath between sleep and waking.Elias was married. I repeated it like a prayer. He's married. He chose her. He pushed me away.But the photograph sat in my mind. The clinic logo. The timeline that didn't match. And beneath it, the memory of his face in his mother's hallway, raw and broken, telling me he'd never wanted any of it."You're burning dinner."I looked up. Enzo stood in the kitchen doorway, a bottle of wine in one hand, his brows raised.I looked down. The mushrooms in the pan had gone dark, their edges crisping into something bey
The words hit me like a physical blow. "The baby isn't yours." I stood frozen, the penthouse dark around us, a single lamp casting long shadows across Camille's face. The words echoed in my skull, refusing to settle. "Repeat that." She didn't look up. Her hands twisted in her lap, pale and trembling. "The baby isn't yours, Elias." "No." The word came out sharp. "Say it again. I need to hear it clearly." Her jaw tightened. She lifted her chin, and for a moment, I saw the old Camille—the one who'd walked into the Obsidian Club with a strategy and a smile. But the mask cracked. Her eyes were wet. "The baby isn't yours." The room tilted. I gripped the back of the sofa, my knuckles white. A strange sound escaped my throat—something between a laugh and a gasp. "All this time." My voice was low, unrecognizable. "You let me believe we were building something. A family. A future. You stood in front of a room full of people and announced—" I stopped, the memory of the loft burning thro







