Over the next few days, I discharged myself from the hospital. I claimed my daughter’s body from the morgue, placed her ashes in a small pink urn, and brought her home.

Darius wasn't with me when I laid her to rest. He said he was busy, but I knew exactly where he was. He was with Verona and Carson.

When Darius finally returned to the mansion days later, he acted as if nothing was wrong. He even had the nerve to try and be gentle.

He noticed I had been quiet, so he cleared his schedule and took me out himself. He booked an entire restaurant, filled it with roses, like flowers could fix what was already rotting between us.

For a while, I just sat there and watched him try.

Halfway there, his phone started ringing nonstop.

His jaw tightened when he saw the name, and something in his expression changed instantly. “Fuck!” he muttered under his breath, already pulling the car over.

He answered fast, and I heard the panic before I even understood the words.

“Darius, please help me,” a woman’s voice cried through the speaker. “President Dunnington is drunk, he’s trying to take me away, I can’t—ah!”

The line cut off.

Darius didn’t even hesitate. He turned to me immediately, already unbuckling my seatbelt. “Marianne, something came up! Get a taxi. Go to the restaurant first. Wait for me there, I’ll handle this shit and come right back.”

I didn’t move.

I just looked at him.

“Darius,” I said quietly, “it’s raining.”

He blinked like he had just remembered I was even there. Then annoyance flashed across his face. He shrugged off his coat and shoved it toward me. “Take it. Don’t argue, just listen for once.”

His hand brushed my head like I was a child he didn’t have time to fully deal with. “Be good, okay? I’ll handle the board shit later, just go.”

Before I could respond, he pushed the door open and pushed me out. My forehead slammed hard against the pavement and dirty rainwater rushed into my mouth. I coughed, choking on it, and for a second I just lay there, stunned, like my body forgot how to move.

My suit jacket was completely soaked, heavy against my skin.

I stayed there for a moment longer before pushing myself up. My hands were shaking slightly, but I didn’t reach for the coat Darius had thrown at me. It lay there on the wet ground, getting ruined, and I just looked at it.

Tears started to fall but I stopped them.

Getting a taxi in the rain was almost impossible. Cars passed without stopping, lights blurring through the downpour like I didn’t even exist so I just walked. By the time I finally reached the restaurant, I was soaked through.

But the restaurant was empty.

Completely empty.

No Darius.

I stood there for a long time, just listening to the silence of a place that used to mean something to me.

How many times had I come here believing things would be different this time?

The rain outside slowed, then came back heavier again, like it couldn’t decide whether to stop or keep punishing me. I stayed anyway, waiting, because some stupid part of me still thought he might walk through that door.

He said he would come. He always said he would come.

I don’t know how long I waited before I finally called a waiter over.

“Serve the food,” I said quietly.

The waiter hesitated, glancing toward the empty entrance. “Mrs. Davenport… Mr. Davenport hasn’t arrived yet. The dishes are already cooled down. We can reheat them, but it won’t taste the same.”

“He’s not coming,” I said.

The waiter didn’t know what to say after that, so he just left.

I sat there and watched the plates get served anyway. The food used to be my favorite. Now it tasted like salt and nothing else. I kept thinking, how did something so warm become so empty?

By the time I finally left, my body was already burning up. The fever hit fast, like my body had been waiting for permission to break down. The world blurred around me, and every step home felt heavier than the last.

I remember thinking, is this what it feels like to disappear slowly while still being alive?

Somewhere between waking and sleep, I felt a hand on my forehead.

“Mommy… are you sick? I’m here… I won’t go away…”

My breath caught. “Lara, my baby…”

My body reacted before my mind did.

I reached out and grabbed it tightly, clinging like I was drowning. I don’t remember falling asleep after that.

...

When I opened my eyes again, morning light was spilling through the room.

I flinched and pulled away immediately, my hand pushing against whoever was sitting beside me.

“Miss Marianne… did I wake you?”

I blinked, confused for a second, before I saw her. One of the household maids.

My chest tightened instantly.

“Were you here all night?”

“Yes, madam,” she said quickly. “I tried calling the master, but he didn’t answer. I couldn’t leave you alone like that. You were holding my hand the whole time.”

I stared at her for a moment.

Darius hadn’t come, not even once.

The maid hesitated again. “Should I try calling him again?”

Before I could answer, my phone lit up with notifications. My fingers moved on their own. And the moment I opened it, I already knew.

The messages weren’t from Darius.

They were from Verona Stuart.

And inside were hundreds of photos and videos.

Darius.

Verona.

A night that didn’t end.

From what I could see, it started at the entrance of some high-end place, then a private room, then a balcony. Laughter, bodies too close, his hand on her waist like it belonged there. The kind of closeness that didn’t need explanation.

“Isn't it romantic?” Verona texted.

I stared at the screen for a long time. Strangely, I didn’t cry right away.

I just felt tired.

I turned the phone off and placed it face down.

“No need,” I said quietly when the maid looked at me again. “Just get my package ready.”

The divorce agreement.

My lawyer had already prepared everything. All that was left was my signature, and maybe my last mistake finally turning into something permanent.

Later, I signed it without hesitation.

My name looked unfamiliar on the paper, like it belonged to someone who still believed in love.

I took the folder and went to Davenport Group.

That was when I saw Verona, standing at the front desk like she owned the place.

I tried to walk past her without stopping, but her voice cut through the air immediately.

“Hey! Do you have an appointment? You can’t go in without one.” Her expression changed the moment I stepped closer, turning cold and sharp.

“Verona, everyone in this company already knows who I am."

She tilted her head and smiled, like she had been waiting for this moment for a long time. “So what if you’re the president’s wife? That title doesn’t change a single thing for me. I still won’t let you go upstairs, and I still won’t let you have anything you came here for. I gave you five years, Marianne, and you still failed as a mother of Lara. Pff! What a loser."

For a moment, everything inside me went completely silent, then something inside me snapped forward without permission.

SLAP!

My hand hit her face.

The sound echoed through the lobby.

“Maybe if your mouth wasn’t so filthy, you wouldn’t need to cling to this job just to feel like you exist in the same world as me.”

She slowly touched her cheek, then let out a short laugh. “You really think that changes anything, Bitch? That little slap doesn’t erase the fact that you’re standing here desperate and exposed in front of everyone,” she said, stepping closer with her voice dropping. “We both know how this works. I build my future while you protect a marriage that’s already cracked beyond repair. You are not getting past me today.”

She snapped her fingers at security and gave a simple order. “Take her out. I don’t want her lingering here like a mistake someone forgot to clean up.”

I didn’t move right away. I just stood there, unsure if I still had the energy to fight or even care what happened next. But before anyone could reach me, the elevator doors slid open behind them.

The entire lobby seemed to change temperature.

Darius stepped out.

“What the fuck is going on here?” he said, his voice cutting through the space so sharply it made even the air feel heavier.

Verona straightened instantly, shifting into something softer, almost careful. “Darius, she assaulted me without reason! I was just doing my job, trying to stop her from causing a scene in your building—”

“Shut your mouth,” he snapped without even glancing at her properly.

His eyes found me immediately, and the entire intensity of him changed in a way that was almost disorienting.

“Marianne,” he said, stepping closer, "Tell me what happened. Did she touch you, did she say anything to you, are you hurt anywhere at all?”

His hand lifted slightly like he wanted to check for injuries, but I didn’t move toward him. My eyes had already locked into the faint red mark on his neck.

His brow tightened when he noticed my stare. “What are you looking at like that? Talk to me, Marianne. Why do you look like I just became someone you don’t recognize?”

I almost laughed.

“I’m fine. You should go handle your meeting. Don’t worry about me, just do what you came here to do.”

For a moment, he looked caught off guard, like I had stepped out of a version of myself he had gotten used to controlling.

“Marianne,” he said again, softer now, “I have a partner meeting upstairs. Go ahead first, wait in my office like usual. I will join you after I’m done, alright?”

Wait again.

That word landed heavier than it should have.

How many times had I been told to wait, to understand, to stay patient while he disappeared into rooms I was never invited into?

I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat and gave a small nod. “Alright. I’ll wait.”

Something in him relaxed immediately. He even gave me a faint smile before turning away.

“Good girl.”

The elevator doors closed between us, and the sound felt final in a way I wasn’t ready to name.

I stood there for a moment, then pressed the elevator button, realizing I didn’t even have access anymore. Of course I didn’t. I let out a slow breath and pulled out my phone to ask the secretary to escort me upstairs instead.

My hands didn’t shake.

That was the part that unsettled me most.

As I turned to leave, voices drifted from the emergency exit hallway. Darius’s voice first, low and irritated, followed by Verona’s softer tone, and almost amused.

“What were you thinking pulling something like that in front of her?” he said sharply. “I told you not to make things messy when she’s around. Lara just died because of our son, Carson. Stop messing around with her!”

“Relax,” Verona replied, her voice carrying a teasing edge. “She hit me first, so I just returned the favor in my own way. Besides, you’re not really going to act like this is a big deal, are you? So tell me, how exactly are you going to make it up to me?”

There was a pause before he answered, voice dropping into something looser, less controlled. “Make it up to you? Fine. I’ll give you what you want, my time, my attention, even my name if that’s what you’re after. Just stop making this more complicated than it needs to be.”

Verona gave a soft laugh. “That still doesn’t sound like enough.”

His voice turned rougher at the edges. “Damn fine! I’ll give you everything if that’s what it takes. My entire life if you really want it. We can even build whatever future you’re imagining, I don’t care anymore.”

A soft giggle followed, and I heard the faint shift of movement between them, too close, too familiar.

I stood frozen in the hallway shadow, unable to step forward or back, like my body had forgotten how to belong anywhere.

Because I had heard those words before.

I remembered him once kneeling in front of me, blood on his hands, his voice breaking as he held a ring.

“I don’t make promises I can’t keep,” he had said back then, staring at me like I was the only thing holding him together. “Marianne, I swear on everything I am, I will give you my whole life. Just stay with me, don’t walk away from me.”

I had believed him.

I had thought that kind of devotion only broke or built empires.

Now I wasn’t sure what I had actually married.

Because the same man who once spoke like I was his entire universe was now laughing softly in a stairwell, offering the same life to someone else like it had no weight at all.

I stepped back slowly, one step at a time, until the sound of them faded.

My chest felt tight, like something inside me had finally reached its limit but didn’t know how to collapse yet.

So this is what I am now?

A place he returns to when nothing else is interesting enough?

...

The secretary led me up without much conversation, like I was just another file being moved through his world. By the time I reached Darius’s office, my hands had gone cold and my chest felt strangely empty.

He looked up the second I entered.

His face softened instantly, that switch in him I used to mistake for tenderness.

“What’s that?” he asked, nodding toward the folder in my hands. He stepped closer, took it from me without waiting, already opening it.

“For whatever you need, just take it to my study, get it stamped,” he said, flipping the pages without real focus. “Don’t come to me for small things. You know I’ve got enough shit to deal with.”

My throat tightened, but I forced my voice out anyway. “It’s not something you can just stamp and forget.”

That made him pause for half a second. Before he could respond, the door behind him opened.

A secretary stepped in, “Mr. Davenport, the rooftop setup is ready. Verona said everything’s prepared. We can go up now.”

Darius didn’t even turn fully.

“Yeah,” he muttered, already distracted by the papers. “Give me a minute.”

He signed the last page without reading it properly, a quick scratch of ink that meant nothing to him in that moment.

My words got stuck in my throat again.

I tried anyway. “Darius, this is a di—”

“Later,” he cut in, already putting the folder down. “Whatever it is, just leave it. I’ll handle it after this.”

After.

Always after.

I stopped fighting for the sentence and just held the folder tighter. “Go ahead,” I said quietly. “I’m leaving too.”

I turned toward the door but his hand caught my wrist.

“Don’t go yet,” he said, pulling me slightly back. “Come upstairs with me. Just for a bit.”

There was no room in his tone for refusal, only expectation.

And I followed because that was what I always did.

The rooftop was already waiting when we arrived.

The cold wind hit first, sharp enough to burn my lungs. Below, the city stretched out in dull lights and distance, but above us, something new had been set up.

Drones.

Dozens of them hovering in formation against the night sky, blinking red and white in perfect lines, waiting for a signal.

Darius stood behind me, his arm resting around my shoulders.

“Verona organized this. Some bullshit apology thing. She called in favors, and used company resources. I can’t just fire her for that.” Then he added, softer. “She knows she crossed a line earlier. This is her way of fixing it.”

My stomach twisted.

Fixing it.

“You said once you wanted something different,” he said. “Something you could remember. I remember shit like that, Marianne.”

Then the drones above us shifted slightly, lights flickering out of sync for a heartbeat.

Verona’s voice came from the control station nearby. “Mr. Davenport, I’m starting the sequence now.”

Darius nodded. “Do it.”

The sky lit up.

At first it was controlled, precise patterns forming shapes above the city. Letters, hearts, shifting designs that were meant to look beautiful.

Then one of the drones sparked. A sharp crack cut through the air.

Another followed and within seconds, the formation broke.

Lights scattered out of rhythm, drones losing control, dipping too low, veering sideways. Metal started falling from the sky in sudden violent drops.

Something brushed past my arm.

Hot.

Too hot!

I flinched back instinctively.

“Fuck,” Darius muttered, stepping forward. “What the hell is happening?”

Another drone slammed into the rooftop structure, exploding in a burst of heat and light. The shockwave threw me off balance.

I hit the ground hard.

Pain shot through my arm immediately, sharp enough to steal my breath. I tried to move, but something else burned past my shoulder, tearing heat across my skin. Not a small burn but a real fire contact!

My clothes caught for a second before I managed to roll, smothering it with my hands, my skin screaming under the pressure.

“Darius!” I shouted, voice breaking. “I'm burning! Help me!"

Smoke filled the air now, thick and suffocating.

Footsteps came closer.

I thought he was coming for me. I reached out blindly, fingers shaking, grabbing the only thing I could feel.

“Is that you?” I whispered, clinging to it. “Darius, please… I can’t move. Don’t leave me here.”

For a second, he stopped, then he pulled his leg free.

“Marianne, Verona got hit. She’s down,” he said. “I’m taking her out first. Find your way down. I’ll come back for you, okay? Crawl if you have to.”

“No! Darius, I can’t fully see anything. I’m burned, I don’t know where to go…”

But he was already moving away.

The heat around me grew stronger.

Fire somewhere nearby had spread across part of the rooftop structure, crawling closer in waves of orange and white. My skin felt like it was being pulled apart by the air itself.

I forced myself to move anyway, dragging my body toward what I thought was the exit. One step then another. My foot slipped on debris I couldn’t see and the world tilted without warning.

I fell.

…

The first thing I felt when I opened my eyes was pain.

A deep, relentless burn stretched from my shoulder down my arm and across the side of my neck. Even breathing tugged at damaged skin. The faint smell of scorched hair lingered around me, and every small movement dragged me back to that rooftop.

A thick bandage covered part of my shoulder and collarbone.

Instinctively, I raised a hand toward it.

Someone caught my wrist before I could touch it.

"Marianne, you're awake. How are you feeling? Does it still hurt?" Darius immediately leaned forward. "Do you need me to call the doctor? Your fever was high all night and you wouldn't wake up. You scared the hell out of me."

The concern in his voice came too quickly.

A few weeks ago, hearing him sound like that might have broken me. Now? It only exhausted me.

I pulled my hand from his grasp.

"GET OUT."

He exhaled slowly and rubbed his jaw.

"You're angry because I didn't save you first, aren't you?" His voice lowered as he watched me carefully. "That's what this is about, right?"

I stared at the white hospital ceiling. I didn't answer.

"Marianne, listen to me." He leaned forward again, urgency creeping into his voice. "Verona had already passed out. The drones were falling everywhere and pieces of them were crashing down around us. She wasn't moving, and if I left her there, she could've died."

His fingers tightened around the edge of the bed.

"I got her downstairs and handed her over to the emergency team. After that I came back immediately." He paused, and for the first time his voice cracked. "But when I found you... fuck, Marianne. You were already unconscious."

I closed my eyes.

Such a perfect explanation.

The only problem was that I knew it wasn't true.

He hadn't come back.

Not when I begged him, not when I couldn't move, not when my skin was burning and I thought I was going to die.

I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat and nodded once.

"Okay. I understand."

For some reason, that seemed to bother him more than any argument ever could.

His hand closed around mine again. "Marianne." His voice dropped lower. "Don't do this. Don't sit there acting like everything's fine when it obviously isn't."

I almost laughed. Do what? Believe my own eyes?

"Don't be angry, baby." He squeezed my fingers harder. "I already handled the people responsible for what happened. The idiots who supplied those drones are finished. They'll never work in this city again, and I made sure of it personally."

Of course he did. A man like Darius Davenport could ruin lives with a single phone call. Yet somehow Verona always remained untouched.

"I swear nobody's ever going to hurt you again," he continued quietly. "Not them. Not anyone. I'll make sure of that."

A bitter smile touched my lips. What a ridiculous promise.

Slowly, I pulled my hand away.

"Darius, I'm tired."

His expression darkened immediately.

I had rejected him again and Darius Davenport was not a man accustomed to rejection.

"For fuck's sake, Marianne!" Impatience slipped into his voice as he stood. "I already explained everything. What else do you want me to say?! Fuck, fucking fuck! I dealt with the people responsible. I fixed the problem. If you're still unhappy, then tell the fuck exactly what you want from me."

Something inside me finally snapped.

Ignoring the pain tearing through my shoulder, I forced myself upright.

"Darius." My voice trembled, not from fear but from rage. "You really want to know what I want?"

The room became completely still.

I looked directly at him.

"Verona caused it! She's the reason all of this happened." My chest rose and fell heavily. "So send her to prison too. Destroy her life the same way you destroy everyone else's whenever they cross you."

A bitter laugh escaped me.

"Can you do that? Can you punish her the way you'd punish anyone else?"