“Cleo’s not doing well. I need to go back for a while. Can you sign this travel clearance?”
He didn’t even read it. Just scribbled his name and handed it back
“Sure, Go. Take care of our kid. ”
He didn’t ask what was wrong with Cleo. Didn’t ask how bad it was. He didn’t care. He was already smiling again, like my absence was a favor!
I left the mansion before sunrise. The soup pot still sat on the table, untouched. Cold. Just like everything else in that house. Torren didn’t even say goodbye.
The drive to my father’s estate took six hours. The gates were taller than I remembered. Black iron with the Calderon crest at the center, flanked by clipped hedges and grim–faced guards in gray uniforms. Everything looked the same, like it had been frozen in time.
But I had changed. I was thinner. Older Worn down in places I didn’t know how to mend.”
I stepped out of the car and walked up alone. No maid came to greet me. No butler opened the grand double doors. The estate was silent
Watching.
Then the door creaked open, and there he was.
Duke Rafe Calderon.
He didn’t smile. He didn’t welcome me. His silver hair was slicked back like always, his suit crisp, his expression carved in stone.
“You,” he said. “You are the daughter who buried our name for love.”
I stood straight, even if my knees ached from the ride. I didn’t cry. I didn’t flinch. I had already done enough of that in Torren’s house.
I looked my father in the eye and said, “The wedding proposal you offered me eight years ago. Is it still open?”
Silence.
I could hear the wind through the marble columns. The distant clang of the gardener’s shears. Somewhere behind him, the staff had gathered like shadows. Listening.8
Finally, my father spoke.
“No. That man is already married now. To someone whose family did not shame me.”
He started to close the door.
I didn’t move. I just held his stare.
Then he stopped. His hand on the handle.
“But,” he said slowly, his younger brother is unmarried. Your sister was meant to marry him, but she wants to finish her studies first.”
He studied me the way he used to study business mergers. Cold. Calculated.
“If you are willing,” he said, “the seat is open.“&
I didn’t ask questions. lididn’t pretend to be offended. I just nodded once.
I would marry whoever he wanted.
Not for pride. Not even for Cleo anymore.
Just for survival. For strategy. For whatever came next.
They gave me a guest room. It smelled like dust and lemon polish. All my old photos had been taken down. Even the staff wouldn’t look me in the eye. It was like I had already died eight years ago and just came back to haunt them.
That night, after dinner, I was told to meet him.
The younger brother.
The forgotten prince.
His name was Ephraim Lambert.
He was sitting in the old observatory, alone, dressed in black. The room was dimly lit. His features were delicate but sharp, like glass that had once shattered but had been glued back together with care. I had expected tubes, weakness, blank stares. But he stood when I entered.
movement I made… Like he studied me for a long time.
He moved slowly, but not clumsily. His eyes tracked every m “So,” he said quietly, “the runaway bride returns.”
paulda’s fed wards Tall mot
8:30 PM
0
I couldn’t find words. Tell me,” he said, “did you come here for redemption or revenge?”
I bit my lip. Not to flirt. Not to act coy. Just to keep from trembling. He chuckled softly and turned away. I looked out the arched window where the moonlight touched the glass floor.
“Go,” he said. “Come back once your divorce is final.”
I wanted to thank him. I wanted to tell him it was not that easy but I couldn’t speak.[
So I left.X
I closed the door behind me and walked back to the cold room that had no blankets, no pictures, no trace of me. And I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor.”
Just breathing. Just trying to remember who I was before love ruined me. Before grief hollowed me out. Before I became this quiet ghost.E
-X
I did not sleep.
The sun came up, but it never felt like morning. Just a new layer of silence on top of the old one. I got up anyway. My body still moved on its own. Like it had done every day since Cleo got sick. Like it forgot what rest meant.
The halls of my father’s estate were cold. Still. The kind of silence you do not speak into. No one said good morning. No one looked at me. I sat at the long dining table and ate a piece of dry toast that turned to dust in my mouth. No butter. No coffee. Just quiet.E
Then my phone rang.
Torren’s name on the screen.
J’answered without thinking.
“We’re heading out,” he said. “Jude wanted to try parasailing. Ruby couldn’t say no. You know how she is.“8
He laughed like it was some little joke between us. Like we were still partners. Like Cleo had never existed.
“My parents are dropping by the mansion later. Can you assist them while they’re there?”
I swallowed. “Alright.”
“Thanks,” he said, then hung up.
No mention of the date. No mention of Cleo.
Today was his birthday.
Cleo’s &
I told my father I would return to the mansion. I said I would be back once the divorce was finalized. He didn’t say anything. Just drank his coffee and kept reading the newspaper. Like I had never left eight years ago. Like I had never come back.
—
I got in the car and returned to that glass mansion. The one that never felt like home. And as I stepped inside, I remembered what day it was.!
Cleo’s birthday.!!
My hands started to tremble. I went straight to my room. The only part of this house that still held him.
I lit a small candle beside his photo and the pink urn that sat under it. His favorite dinosaur plush was still there too, sitting against the wall like it was waiting for him to come back and grab it.
No one remembered.”
No calls. No flowers. Not a single message. Not from Torren. Not from his family. They were too busy celebrating Jude.
