006

1 year later.

Selene~

I stood in the middle of the master bedroom, staring at the open suitcase on the bed.

Every dress, every blouse, every pair of heels I folded into it felt heavier than it should have. It wasn’t just fabric. It was time. A year’s worth of memories, arguments, silent dinners, lingering touches we both pretended meant nothing, and midnight cries I hid in the pillow when no one was watching.

The contract was over and I was free.

So why did I feel like I was about to break my own heart?

I zipped the suitcase shut, the sound of it slicing through the silence like a knife. I grabbed my coat, took one last look at the room that had truly felt like mine, and walked out.

The floors of Dominic’s mansion echoed with my every step as I descended the staircase, half-expecting him not to be here, he was always off in a meeting, handling some empire-shaking crisis, or flying to God-knows-where for a board vote.

But today? Today, he was waiting.

He came down the stairs slowly, his presence commanding as ever, but different somehow, softer. More human.

Cradled in his arms was the reason I hadn’t been able to sleep the past week. The reason I’d second-guessed this decision a hundred times in the mirror.

Our daughter. Ariana.

Her tiny hands were curled, her head resting against his shoulder, soft tufts of dark hair messy from sleep. She looked so peaceful, so perfect, so his and mine.

I swallowed the lump rising in my throat and dropped my gaze, gripping the handle of my suitcase like it was the only thing keeping me upright.

“Leaving without saying goodbye?” he asked, voice calm but heavy.

I looked up and met his eyes. They were darker than usual, blank. The same eyes that once looked at me like I was a contract now held something closer to… longing.

I hated how it made my chest ache.

“I said everything I needed to say last night,” I murmured.

He descended the last step, adjusting Ariana gently in his arms. “You think this is what you need? You don't want to rethink it?”

I didn’t answer, Instead, I turned toward the door.

“Selene.” His voice stopped me.

I froze, staring at the cold brass handle, my heart pounding.

He shifted her weight and walked closer, stopping a few feet behind me. “Do you really want to go?”

I turned to him, finally facing what I’d been trying to avoid for the past month. His gaze wasn’t angry. It wasn’t cold. It was… pleading.

That made it harder, so much harder.

But I held my ground.

“I need to,” I said, my voice quieter than I wanted it to be. “For me. I lost myself in this arrangement. I need to find myself again.”

“And leave her behind?” he asked, nodding toward the baby in his arms.

A sharp stab of guilt pierced through me, but I didn’t flinch.

“I’m not abandoning her. I’ll be in her life. I just… I need time.”

Dominic's jaw tightened. “I can hire the best nanny. She’ll be cared for. But she’ll need her mother.”

“She has her father,” I whispered, looking at Ariana, who stirred slightly in his arms.

He was silent for a moment, then exhaled and reached into his pocket.

“I didn’t want to do this like a business transaction, but I know you better than that,” he said and pulled out his phone. A few swipes, a click. He didn’t even hesitate.

Seconds later, my phone buzzed in my coat pocket.

I frowned, digging it out, and when I saw the notification, I felt the air leave my lungs.

Wire transfer received: $10,000,000.00

“What the hell is this?” I gasped, holding the screen up toward him.

“Money,” he said simply.

I narrowed my eyes. “That wasn’t part of the agreement.”

“I know,” he said. “But it’s yours. Do whatever you want with it and if you need more, you can just tell me. I don't want anything happening to the mother of my child”

I stepped forward, shaking my head. “Dominic, this wasn’t a paid arrangement. You said no strings—”

“There are no strings,” he cut in. “You can walk out that door right now and choose never to speak to me again. That money is still yours.”

My fingers trembled around the phone. “This feels like a trap.”

He chuckled bitterly. “It’s not a trap. It’s a safety net. You gave me something this year I never expected do fast, you gave me her. You think ten million dollars even begins to match that?”

I stared at him, and for a terrifying second, I almost let myself cry.

“I didn’t do this for a payout,” I whispered.

“I know,” he said softly. “That’s why you deserve it.”

I turned away again, clutching the phone like it burned my palm.

Ariana whimpered, and he gently rocked her, his voice low and soothing.

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be,” I said without turning back. “Please.”

Dominic’s voice followed me to the door. “I’m not trying to make it harder. I just want you to be sure. Once you walk out, it’s different.”

“I am sure.” The lie scraped my throat raw.

I opened the door and stepped outside. The crisp air hit me like a slap. Spring was blooming everywhere, flowers on the edge of the driveway, sun streaking through the clouds, birds singing like life was normal.

But nothing about this felt normal.

I dragged my suitcase across the pedestrian path, my heart cracking open with every step. I didn’t dare look back, even when I heard the door shut quietly behind me.

When I reached the sidewalk, I pulled out my phone and ordered a cab.

I waited there like a stranger outside a home I’d once known. A home where I’d learned how to breathe again and how to break. Where I’d loved silently, and hated loudly. Where I’d given birth to the one person who now tethered me to a man I was terrified of loving.

Minutes passed. I heard the front door open again.

I didn’t turn. But I heard his footsteps.

“Selene.” His voice was close.

I clenched my jaw. “Please, Dominic. Don’t.”

“She’s already asking for you when she cries.”

“She’s ten months old. She asks for everyone.”

“You know that’s not true.”

I turned then, my eyes locked with his. “Don’t make me feel like a bad mother for choosing myself.”

“I’m not,” he said, his tone firm. “I just need you to understand choosing yourself doesn’t mean you can’t choose her too.”

“I am choosing her. I’m choosing the version of me she’ll be proud of. The version that didn’t lose herself in revenge and fake contract love and—” I choked on the rest.

He stepped forward. “It was never fake, Selene. Not for me.”

I blinked, stunned. “Don’t do that.”

“It’s the truth,” he said.

“No,” I shook my head, my chest heaving. “You made this a business deal, remember? Don’t rewrite it now because it’s inconvenient.”

He looked down, his jaw clenched. “Maybe I was protecting myself.”

“Yeah? Well, so am I.”

The cab pulled up then. A quiet blue car, humming softly like it hadn’t just arrived to collect the shattered pieces of my life.

I turned to go.

“Selene.” His voice stopped me again.

I hesitated.

“I hope you find what you’re looking for,” he said.

I looked back one last time. “I hope you do too.”

And with that, I got in the cab.

As it pulled away, I pressed my forehead to the window, watching the mansion disappear behind me.

A part of me stayed behind with him and with my daughter.

But the rest of me? It was finally moving forward.

It's been a year since I wanted to revenge on Adrian and my best friend but I have had the least time to do that, but now, my journey starts and I would make sure no one steps on me, not even love.

I didn't abandon my child even though it was a signed contract, I want to be better and be able to take care of us because I would come back for her!