Chapter 3

The offer from Paris had been sitting in my inbox for months—

a chief designer position at a luxury fashion house, the kind people built entire careers chasing.

They had invited me three times.

This morning, I finally typed the word I’d been too afraid to write before:

Accept.

Last night replayed in my mind like a cruel joke.

The lace lingerie Enzo gifted me lay folded on the bed—delicate, elegant, absurdly expensive.

A few years ago, I would’ve slipped into it eagerly, lying beneath him as if his touch were the only thing keeping me alive.

But now?

Now I only laughed at myself—quiet, self-mocking.

Because I had almost worn it last night.

Almost waited for him like a fool.

Only for Enzo to never come home.

He’d spent the night with Lucia.

And the tiny, foolish hope inside me shriveled into something cold and unrecognizable.

So I moved on to the second task on my list before leaving him for good.

For years, I had believed that a man who didn’t love a woman would never waste money on her.

So every extravagant gift Enzo gave me—diamond sets, designer gowns, the vintage necklace he said reminded him of “us”—I held them close to my heart. I thought they meant our engagement was more than a political arrangement between our families. I thought they were proof of something tender, something real.

But now I see the truth:

those gifts were never love.

So I packed every glittering lie into donation boxes and sent them all to charity—letting them find better hands, better hearts, than mine.

Your recent test results are ready.

Please check your patient portal.

My fingers trembled as I opened the link.

Positive.

Pregnant.

For a second, the world simply…tilted.

I couldn’t breathe.

Twelve weeks…

Twelve weeks meant—

I grabbed my bag and rushed toward the hospital for confirmation.

But I never made it.

The accident

A screech.

A shattering impact.

People yelling.

When the world stopped spinning, I was sitting on the pavement, disoriented, my palms scraped and bleeding. A crowd rushed toward the other car.

Then I heard Enzo’s voice—sharp, frantic, almost feral.

“Move! Let me through—Lucia, are you okay?”

He pushed past the bystanders and lifted Lucia out of the damaged passenger seat. She clung to him trembling, tears streaking her cheeks.

“Enzo…my stomach—”

That single sentence was enough.

Panic ripped across his face.

He scooped her into his arms and carried her toward the ambulance that had just arrived.

He yelled at the paramedics. “She’s pregnant—save her first!”

“Do you hear me? ”

Pregnant？

The word drilled into my skull.

The doctor leaned out of the ambulance door.

“Are you the father, sir? If you are, I need your signature.”

Lucia whimpered, curling into Enzo like a frightened child.

“Please…Enzo…don’t leave me. Don’t let go. I’m scared…”

Her performance was flawless—fragile, trembling, perfectly timed.

Enzo didn’t hesitate.

He grabbed the clipboard and signed.

To everyone watching, it looked unmistakably like a husband signing for his pregnant wife.

I felt the blood drain from my body.

For one awful heartbeat, I believed it—

Believed this was why he’d stayed out all night.

Believed this was the ending written for me from the very beginning.

He spotted me then—standing in the crowd, glass-eyed, frozen.

“Bianca—wait,” he said, stepping toward me.

But Lucia’s hand shot out, clamping around his wrist.

“Enzo…don’t leave me…please,” she whispered, voice shaking. “I—I’m scared. Stay with me. Please…”

Her fingers tightened, knuckles white.

Her body curled into his.

Everyone watching saw a terrified pregnant woman begging the father of her child not to abandon her.

And Enzo—

Enzo didn’t pull away.

Something inside me cracked.

“Go home, Bianca,” he finally said, eyes flicking to me with something like guilt.

“We’ll talk later.”

Talk.

Later.

As if anything was left to say.

The ambulance doors slammed shut.

The sirens wailed.

And I stood alone on the sidewalk.

My phone buzzed again.

Your flight to Paris has been booked.

Departure: Monday, 07:20.

I stared at the confirmation, the city lights blurring around me.

Paris.

A new life.

A new beginning.

And a child he would never know existed.

For the first time, I didn’t look back.