For two weeks we existed in careful fragments of stolen dinners in restaurants far from Milan’s fashion crowd. Late nights at his penthouse that ended before dawn so I could slip back to my own apartment unseen. Texts that said more in their restraint than either of us dared say aloud. It wasn’t enough. It also, impossibly, was everything.I told myself the secrecy was temporary—a necessary shield while Damien untangled the mess his father had built around him. Most days I believed it. On the days I didn’t, I buried myself in the spring collection, pouring every unspoken feeling into fabric and silhouette until Louisa started giving my sketches a second, more careful look.“This is good work,” she said one afternoon, studying the latest boards. “Uncomfortably good, actually. What’s changed?”“Nothing,” I lied.Her raised eyebrow said she didn’t believe me, but she let it go.The fragile equilibrium held until the morning Contessa Elisa Ricci appeared at my desk directly—no assistant,
Last Updated : 2026-10-11 Read more