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.
