NOT IN MY NEXT LIFE

Chapter 3:DARIAN

DarianAlistair Thornwell stood in the vast study of the Thornwell estate, the thick silence pressing against the walls like a judgement itself . Floor to ceiling windows framed a view of the misty lake behind the house, a view Zaria once loved. He remembered how she used to curl up on the window seat wth a book and acup of tea, her silhouette glowing in the golden light of dusk. Now the spacefelt holow, much like the void that had began to claw at his insides.

He couldn't breathe. Not because he didin't have the air. No, the estate was as well ventilated as any of his properties.. He couldn't breathe because of her silence. Zaria hadn't said a word since the news broke. Not when the tabloids splashed Celestine's pregnancy across their digital front pages. Not when his mother called to ask why he hadn't prepared ZAria for the embarassment. Not even wehn he walked into the bedroom last ight and found it stripped of all her personall belongings.

She hadn't left a note. Just silence.

Darian dropped onto the leather chair behind his desk and ran a hand through his neatly trimmed hair. Everything in his life had been a calculated move. Everydecisison from the merger with the carrington Group to carefully orchestrates dinner parties designed to keep the Thornwell name prestine. Except Zaria.

She was the one thing he had not been bale to control.

And now he was losing her.

He had known, deep down, that she would find out about celestine. He had even tried to prepare a speech. Something about timing about not wanting to hurt her,but the moment kept slipping away.Then the news broke before he had had the chance, or maybe he never intended to tell her. Maybe some part of him thought she would just accept like she always did.

But this time, she didn't.

Darian stared at the stack of files on his desk , but the words blurred into meaningess scribbles. His mind was back back in that hospital room three years ago. The white sheets, the smell of antiseptics and Zaria's pale face as she clutched clutched the doors hand , the doctor's voice heavy with finality.

"We couldn't save the baby. And we might have saved your womb but you might never get pregnant again."

He remmeber how Zaria didn't cry, didn't scream, just stared at the ceiling like her soul had floated away. He remember hiding in the shadows like a coward.

He had caused that.

He had shoouted at her that morning, called her selfish for refusing to attend Celestie's art gallery opening. She had tried to hold ont o his had while she tried to expain something but he was not having it. In his haste to pull away he accidentally his her and she went rolling down the stairs. He panicked but then saw as she struggled to sit up holding on her stomach and trying to say something, but he had just walked over her and left assumming she was going to be okay.

H hadn't know she was bleeding already, hadn't cared to notice that she was in pain.

He buried his face in his hands. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

He and Zaria were legacies. BLue blooded powerhouses raised to ruled empires, not feel emeotions. They had grown side by side , forced together by mergers and deals made decades before their births. Marriage was a formality, love optional. That's what his father always said.

But Zaria loved him foolishly,Wholeheartedly and silently.

She had loved him when he bought Celestine a penthouse downtown. She had loved him when he ignored her birthday four years in a row. She had loved him when her own family lost everything because of a leaked financial report he had handed to the competition.

She knew.

Darian stood up snd walked to the fireplace where a photo of their wedding sat on the mantel. Zaria's smile im the photo was hesitant but real. Back then , he thought she would get over her feelingds and adapt like everyone else , but she hadn't.

He hadn't realized how deeply he had dammaged her until last week , when his assistant nervously told him Zaria hadn't shown up at the women's charity gala she was chairing. She had been in bed , staring at the ceiling , not crying. Just..gone.

And when the news broke that celestie was carrying his child , Zaria's final string snapped.

His family knew before she did. His sister texted him a congratulatory message during brunch with their board members. His mother called to say how nice it would be finally have a child bearing the Thornwell name. Even the staff whispered about the nursery dceorations, but no soul thought to tell Zaria.

Not even him.

Because in the twisted hierarchy of his world, a mistress with a womb ranked higher than a wife with one that will never carry a chid.

Darian didnt know when he started crying, but the tears came sharp and fast. Rage mingled with regret pride with pain. He had everything, money, power, women but yet he had lost the only thing that ever made him human.

Zaria.

The door creaked open and his sister , Lenora stepped in, heels echoing acroess the polished floor. "You look like hell."

He didn't answer.

"You should've told her," Lenora continued."You had every chance. She didn't deservr to find out likt that."

"i know."

Lenora's voice softened.'Darian.. she knew everything about the company, about mom and dad's hands in her family's collapse. She even knew you gave the dossier to the Halsteads."

His head snapped up." She knew?"

silence stretched between them.

"She never stopped protecting you," lenora said.

The words landed like a punch to the chest.He had spent years thinking Zaria was cold, distant, and detached, but in truth was just surviving.

"where is she now?"

"Gone."Lenora said simply. "packed her things. Took her grandmother's ring, the journals she used to write in, and her mother's necklace. She's doen."

"I can fix this."

Lenora shock her head."You can't fix what you ever tried to hold on to."

She left him alone again, drowning in the silince he had created.

HE walked to the window and looked out at the lake' The mist was thicker now, rolling over the ater like ghosts from a forgoteen past. He remembered Zaria telling himm once that she believed in reincarnation.

"If i am ever born again," she had said with a sad smile,"i want to be free. Not someone's pawn , not someone's contract . Just ... free."

And now she was gone.

BUt he couldn't stop hoping. Couldn't stop loving her in the quiet broken way he never had the courage to show.

He whispered her name into the empty room,"Zaria."

But only silence answered back.

And in the silence, Darian finally realized he might have everything the world could offer , But he had lost only thing that reslly sctusly mattered.