Chapter 101
ELODIE’S POV~
Liora stepped aside, watching her mother’s car idle in the driveway.
The butler’s brow furrowed. “Madam, it’s quite late. You’re leaving, already p>
Elodie didn’t offer much explanation. Her voice was light. “Yes. I have something to handle p>
Then she paused.
“It’s cold out,” she added. “Get inside quickly p>
“Understood, Madam.” The butler nodded, placing a gentle hand on Liora’s shoulder.
Liora waved at the car with her small hands and big eyes.
“Bye, Mom p>
The car began to pull away while she watched until the taillights disappeared around the corner.
Then she went inside.
The house was warm and quiet when little Liora stepped in. It was that particular kind of quiet that came with having so many expensive architecture and too much space.
Liora looked up at the butler. “Where’s Daddy p>
“The study, I believe p>
She nodded and headed for the stairs.
The study door was open when she reached it and it was unusual. Normally her father kept it closed when he was working.
But he wasn’t working.
Dante stood by the window, his tall figure was silhouetted against the night sky. A cigarette between his fingers, the smoke curling upward in lazy spirals.
He was looking out at something.
The driveway, maybe.
Where Elodie’s car had just been.
“Daddy p>
He turned. His expression was unreadable.
“Mm p>
Liora padded into the room. “Mommy had something to do. She left right after dropping me off p>
Dante stubbed out his cigarette in the crystal ashtray on the windowsill, slowly.
“I know.” His voice was quiet. “I saw p>
He’d been watching.
He had been standing at this window, watching his wife drive away without coming inside.
Liora didn’t notice the weight in his words. Didn’t catch the way his jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.
She just wrinkled her nose. “Mommy’s been so busy lately. She’s almost as busy as you now p>
Dante’s lips curved. But it wasn’t quite a smile.
“Mm p>
He didn’t correct her. Didn’t explain that her mother wasn’t busy with work.
That she was busy avoiding him.
That something had broken between them.
Liora yawned dramatically, “I’m going to shower and sleep.” She rubbed her eyes. “Goodnight, Daddy p>
“Goodnight.” His voice softened. Just slightly. “Sweet dreams p>
She shuffled out of the study, her footsteps fading down the hallway.
And Dante stood there, alone. The cigarette still smoldering in the ashtray.
____________
I came home that night with nothing left in me.
No tears. No anger. Just… this hollow kind of tired that sits in your bones and refuses to leave.
I washed up, went through the motions, my face wash, moisturizer, the silk pajamas I always wore because they felt like the one small luxury I allowed myself and then I crawled into bed.
The sheets were cold.
They were always cold now.
I used to hate that. Now I’ve grown used to it. Isn’t that the saddest part? How quickly we adapt to loneliness when it’s the only thing that stays consistent?
I stared at the ceiling for a while. Didn’t think about anything specific. Just… existed.
And then sleep came, the way it always does when your body is too exhausted to let your mind keep torturing you.
The next morning, I went to work on time.
Cole Technologies had become my sanctuary in ways I never expected. It all made sense here. Unlike my marriage. Unlike my family.
Here, I was just Elodie.
Not Dante Bellini’s unwanted wife. Not the woman whose husband chose her half-sister. Not Liora’s mother who somehow became a stranger to her own child.
Just… Elodie.
Johnny dropped a coffee on my desk around ten, the way he always did.
“You look like hell,” he said, not unkindly.
“Thanks. You really know how to make a girl feel special p>
He grinned. “It’s a gift p>
I wrapped my hands around the warm cup and let the heat seep into my palms. Small comforts. That’s what life had become, a collection of small comforts strung together to get me through each day.
In the afternoon, things got interesting.
And by interesting, I mean the universe decided to test me again.
Simon gathered the technical team for a maintenance run. And the location? Wilson Corporation.
Of course it was.
I sat in the van with the rest of the team, staring out the window as the city blurred past. My reflection looked back at me calmly.
Good. That’s exactly what I needed to project.
Walking into that building felt like walking into enemy territory. Every employee who glanced my way all reminded me of what I used to be. What I almost had. What was taken from me piece by piece until there was nothing left.
But I kept my head high.
I did my job.
And I didn’t see Dante.
I didn’t see Sienna either.
Part of me was relieved. The other part, the small, pathetic part I tried to smother, felt something else. Disappointment? No. That couldn’t be right.
Why would I want to see them?
I finished the maintenance work, packed up my equipment, and left without looking back.
The days blurred together after that.
I worked. Stayed home. Slept. Repeat.
Thursday came, and with it, my weekly obligation, cooking for Liora at the villa.
Nonna had suggested it months ago, back when she still believed this marriage could be saved. “A mother should cook for her child,” she’d said, her old hands clasped around mine. “It’s how we show love when words fail us p>
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that my love had never failed. It was Liora who stopped receiving it.
I arrived at the villa around five, ingredients in hand. The house was quiet…too quiet.
“Where’s Dante?” I asked Sabina, as I set the grocery bags on the kitchen counter.
“The Alpha has personal matters to attend to. He won’t be home for dinner p>
Personal matters.
I almost laughed.
Was it a date with Sienna? A romantic dinner at some exclusive restaurant where he’d look at her the way he never looked at me? Or maybe they were at her apartment, tangled in sheets that should have been mine—
No.
I stopped that train of thought before it could derail me completely.
It didn’t matter. Whether it was business or pleasure, whether he was signing contracts or whispering promises into Sienna’s ear, it didn’t matter.
I was here to cook for my daughter.
That was all.
Friday evening, I was contemplating dinner options, something simple, maybe takeout from that Thai place Johnny recommended when my phone buzzed.
Liora’s name lit up the screen.
I answered on the second ring. “Hey, sweetheart p>
“Mommy.” Her voice was flat. Not cold, exactly, but not warm either. The voice of a child who had learned to tolerate rather than love. “Daddy won’t be home this weekend. When are you coming back p>
So.
This was how it worked now.
Dante had “personal matters” again, whatever that meant and suddenly, Liora needed me. Not because she wanted me, but because I was the backup option. The second choice. The mother who only existed when her father and beloved aunt weren’t available.
I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat.
“I’ll be there soon,” I said, keeping my voice light. “Have you eaten p>
“Sabina made me a snack p>
“Good. I’ll bring dinner p>
“Okay p>
She hung up without saying goodbye.
I stood there for a moment, phone still pressed to my ear, listening to the silence.
Then I grabbed my keys and left.
Dinner that night was quiet.
Liora picked at her food, grilled salmon with vegetables, her favorite, or at least it used to be while I watched her from across the table. She looked so much like Dante. The same dark hair, the same sharp features, the same guarded expression that revealed nothing.
When did my daughter become a stranger?
“Is there anywhere you want to go this weekend?” I asked, trying to fill the silence.
Liora paused, her chopsticks hovering over her plate. For a moment, something flickered in her eyes, a thought, a wish, a longing she quickly suppressed.
Then she shook her head. “I don’t have any special place I want to go p>
She was lying.
I could see it in the way she wouldn’t meet my eyes, the way her shoulders slumped just slightly, the way her fingers tightened around her chopsticks.
She wanted to be with Dante and Sienna.
Wherever they were, whatever they were doing, that’s where Liora wanted to be. Not here, in this cold villa, eating dinner with the mother who had somehow become irrelevant.
I should have been used to this by now.
I wasn’t.
“What about horseback riding?” I offered, keeping my voice casual. “You haven’t been in a while p>
Something shifted in her expression. Interest. Genuine interest.
“Yes!” she said, and for one brief, beautiful moment, she sounded like my little girl again. “I want to go p>
I smiled, and it almost didn’t hurt.
“Then we’ll go tomorrow p>
Saturday morning came immediately.
I drove us to the equestrian club with the windows cracked open, letting the cool air fill the car. Liora sat in the passenger seat, quietly. Maybe the promise of riding had softened her. Maybe she’d simply run out of ways to push me away.
Either way, I’d take it.
The club was elegant and understated, a favorite among the elite families of the Bellini Pack. I’d been here before, years ago, when Dante and I were newlyweds and he still pretended to care.
“Don’t be afraid,” he’d murmured. “I’ve got you p>
Lies.
All of it, were lies.
I shook off the memory and focused on the present. Liora was already walking ahead, eager and impatient, and I quickened my pace to catch up.
The changing rooms were in a separate building near the stables. I sent Liora ahead to meet with her instructor while I changed into my riding clothes, a fitted black pants, a cream blouse, tall leather boots. I pulled my hair back into a low ponytail and checked my reflection.
I looked composed. The picture of a woman who had everything under control.
If only they knew.
I made my way to the practice arena, and then I stopped.
Liora’s voice drifted through the open doorway, bright and animated in a way it never was with me.
“My dad and one of my aunts are amazing at horseback riding,” she was saying. “They’re so cool! Too bad they couldn’t come with me today p>
My hand froze on the doorframe.
‘My dad and one of my aunts p>
Not my parents. Not my mom and dad.
My dad… and my aunt.
Like they were a unit. Like they belonged together. Like I didn’t even exist in whatever fantasy Liora had constructed in her head.
I stood there, just out of sight, and let the words wash over me.
They shouldn’t have hurt. I’d heard worse. I’d endured worse. I’d watched my husband hold another woman, kiss another woman, choose another woman over and over again while I stood there and said nothing.
But this—
This was my daughter.
The little girl I’d carried for nine months, the baby I’d held in my arms and promised to protect forever. The reason I’d stayed in this godforsaken marriage for as long as I had.
And she wished Sienna was here instead of me.
I pressed my palm flat against the wall, steadying myself. Breathed in. Breathed out. Counted to ten the way I always did when the grief threatened to swallow me whole.
You will not break.
Not in front of her.
When I was certain my face betrayed nothing, I stepped into the room.
The instructor noticed me first. He stood quickly, offering a polite smile. “Miss Miller p>
Liora turned, and for a split second, something flickered across her face. Guilt? Shame? It was gone before I could name it, replaced by that familiar neutral expression.
I nodded at the instructor.
The instructor asked, “Should I call someone else to assist you, Miss Miller p>
I nodded. “Yes, please p>