Chapter 1

The pen shook violently in Elena’s hand as she fought to keep herself together.

She lowered herself slowly into the chair before her legs gave out completely. A broken sound escaped her throat despite her effort to swallow it back.

Across from her, Damian Lancaster spoke without a trace of emotion. “Stop being dramatic and sign the papers.”

As if this was another business contract waiting for approval instead of the end of five years of marriage.

She stared at the divorce papers lying neatly across the dining table she had spent all afternoon decorating for their anniversary dinner.

Five years of trying. Five years of loving Damian Lancaster alone.

She had imagined tonight differently. Maybe he would finally smile at her. Maybe for once he would look at her like a wife instead of an obligation.

She slowly lifted her eyes to the man sitting across from her. The billionaire king of Lancaster enterprise. Tall. Untouchably handsome.

Her throat tightened. She opened her mouth, but the air caught painfully in her chest before a single word could escape.

Her fingers tightened around the positive pregnancy test hidden inside her sweater pocket.

“Damian…” she finally forced her voice. Does this marriage ever mean anything to you?

For the first time that evening, something shifted in his expression.

Not warmth.

Not regret.

Just a brief flicker of discomfort before his face hardened again.

“There’s no reason to drag this out,” he said coldly. “Or have you forgotten the reason for this marriage?”

Elena felt those words settle heavily inside her chest. She looked down at the papers again. Her vision blurred slightly.

Damian had never married her because he loved her. To him, Elena was just the orphan girl he drunkenly spent one night with after a party. But when photos of them leaving a hotel together leaked to the media and rumors started spreading, the scandal forced Damian to marry her to protect his family's reputation.

Elena had married Damian because she loved him desperately after the one night stand. Everyone warned her he would never love her back but she married him anyway.

Back then, she truly believed love could make a person stay.

What a painful lesson that turned out to be.

Damian finally glanced at the dinner table. His eyes paused briefly on the candles. “The anniversary dinner isn’t necessary anymore.”

Not necessary anymore.

Elena felt those words slice deeper than the divorce itself.

She had spent hours cooking every dish he liked. Even the soup his mother once mocked her for making “too cheaply.”

A humorless smile touched her lips.

Her fingers trembled slightly inside her lap. She wanted him to ask why she looked pale. Why were her eyes red? Why did she keep unconsciously touching her stomach?

But Damian noticed nothing. He never noticed her unless she became a problem he had to solve.

Finally, Elena forced herself to ask the question, already breaking her heart. “Is it because of Victoria?”

For more than a minute, silence hovered over the room. That silence told her everything.

Damian leaned back in his chair slowly. “This marriage should never have happened.”

Elena swallowed hard.

Victoria Clarke.

The woman Damian had loved long before Elena entered his life.

Beautiful. Elegant. Perfect.

The woman the entire world believed Damian was supposed to marry.

Even Damian’s mother loved Victoria more than she had ever tolerated Elena.

Everyone had said Elena trapped him.

Maybe they were right.

Not with lies.

But with love and that love was apparently the worst mistake.

“Elena,” Damian said flatly, “you’ll be compensated generously. The penthouse downtown is already transferred into your name.”

A tiny crack finally appeared inside her composure. “You think I stayed because of money?”

Damian’s expression hardened slightly. “I think this arrangement stopped working a long time ago.”

Arrangement.

Not marriage.

And suddenly, Elena realized something terrifying. If she disappeared tonight, Damian would probably continue his life exactly the same way tomorrow morning.

Every word out of his mouth hurt.

Worse… a part of her still wanted him to stay.

She pulled the pregnancy test from her pocket beneath the table.

Two pink lines.

Their baby… the only real thing Damian had ever given her in their marriage.

This morning, she had cried in the bathroom holding the test.

Not from fear.

From happiness.

For one foolish hour, Elena allowed herself to imagine Damian smiling softly as she placed his child into his hands.

Now she realized how pathetic that hope had been.

Her throat burned.

For one reckless second, she almost told him. Almost said: Damian… I’m pregnant.

But then his phone lit up on the table. Victoria.

Damian immediately picked it up and smiled. A soft expression Elena had spent years trying to earn.

“I have to take this,” he said, already standing.

Elena stared at him silently while the last of her hope finally slipped away.

The room turned cold. Damian walked to the balcony, his voice softening.

Elena froze.

He had never sounded like that with her.

Elena looked at the divorce papers one last time. Then she picked up the pen.

By the time Damian returned, her signature was already there.

“Elena—”

“You should go,” she interrupted softly.

Damian frowned slightly, as if surprised she wasn’t crying harder. For a moment, he almost looked uncomfortable. But not enough to stay.

He collected the papers calmly. “I’ll have someone help move your belongings tomorrow.”

Five years reduced to belongings… reduced to a single signature.

Elena nodded numbly.

Damian hesitated near the door. Then, without another word, he left.

The sound of the mansion doors closing echoed through the empty dining room.

Silence.

Complete silence.

The candles were still burning.

Soft flames flickered over untouched food, casting shadows across everything she had prepared with hope she now couldn’t recognize as her own.

Elena wiped at her face angrily when the first tear escaped. She hated crying in front of empty chairs.

She sat alone at the anniversary dinner she prepared for a husband who no longer wanted her.

She stared at the closed doors for a long time before finally lowering her eyes to her stomach. Her trembling hand slowly moved to her stomach.

“I guess…” she whispered brokenly, “it’s just us now.”