He Favored The One That Got Away I Left

Chapter 6

Sophia stood before I could leave.

"Erin, do you have to tell everyone I stole your things?"

She stood in the doorway, her eyes red.

"If you want the house, I'll move out. Why bring in an outsider to question Luca?"

I stopped.

"Please move."

Instead, she held out the design catalogs.

"He helped me choose all of this. If you don't like it, throw it away. I only wanted a home."

Luca came over and caught the catalogs as they slipped from her hands. Inside the cover, I saw an order for a crib. He was listed as the payer.

My chest tightened. Before I could look closer, he'd closed it.

"Erin, you know what it means to bring someone outside the family into an internal property matter."

"It's my property."

His expression finally darkened. Sophia opened the office door and murmured that she should leave before everyone argued over her. Secretaries and guards outside turned to look.

Luca called her back, then turned to me.

"That's enough for today. We'll talk when you're ready to be calm."

I looked at him without moving. I hadn't raised my voice once since I came in. But if I wouldn't agree, even being calm didn't count as being calm.

He pressed the intercom button on his desk.

"Escort Ms. Whitlock downstairs. Suspend her access to the office floor. She'll need an appointment from now on."

His deputy hesitated outside.

"Boss, she's your..."

"Do it."

Luca kept his eyes on me. Perhaps he was waiting for me to give in, or ask him tearfully, as I had before, what I even meant to him.

I simply took out my access card. He'd given me the clip too. A tiny swallow was engraved on it. He'd said I was always traveling, and sooner or later, I'd need somewhere to come back and rest.

I unclipped the card and handed it to the guard.

"Thank you. I can find my own way out."

No one touched me. But before the elevator doors closed, I saw the receptionist lower her head to avoid my eyes. Inside the office, Sophia had finally sat back on the sofa. Luca bent to pour her a glass of water.

By the time the elevator reached the ground floor, my chest hurt so badly I could barely breathe. It was raining outside. The doorman asked if I wanted to wait for a car. I nodded, sat on the bench by the entrance, and reached for my inhaler.

It slipped out of my hand. As I bent to pick it up, my vision went black.

When I woke, I was in an observation room at the hospital. The nurse said the club's doorman had called an ambulance, and the doctor recommended keeping me under observation. The airway damage from the fire made me more susceptible to breathing problems triggered by cold air and emotional distress.

Luca sat beside the bed. His coat was draped over the chair, his cuffs still wet, as though he'd rushed here. The moment I stirred, he looked up.

"Where does it hurt?"

The concern in his eyes was real. So was the way he looked at Sophia first whenever he had a choice to make.

I shook my head and drew my hand out of his. He stared at his empty palm for a moment before speaking.

"The construction has stopped. None of your things were thrown away."

I looked out the window.

"The dinner photographs have been taken down too. Once the negotiations are over, I'll clarify the arrangement with Sophia myself."

"All right."

"I overreacted about the office floor. You shouldn't have gone to an outsider, and we shouldn't have argued in front of our staff."

Even now, he was setting my supposed mistake beside his, as though one concession each could take us back to this morning. I said nothing.

Someone knocked. A coordinator in a light gray uniform stood outside. Luca rose to take the papers she was holding. She lowered her voice, but I heard every word.

"Mr. Moretti, Ms. Conti is already waiting for you at the fertility center. For today's consultation, we still need you to confirm whether you'll continue participating as the intended father."

He didn't take the papers right away. I watched them at the door and thought of my darkroom being put to another use, the crib, the 10-year living arrangement.

They weren't separate things after all.

Sensing the tension, the coordinator apologized and withdrew. Luca closed the door and returned to my bedside.

"It isn't what you think."

My throat was dry.

"Then what is it?"

He crouched down, trying to get me to look at him.

"Sophia's afraid the Valenti family will keep pursuing the marriage agreement her father left behind. She suggested that if she had a child the Moretti family acknowledged one day, they'd give up for good."

"So she wants your child."

He was silent for a moment.

"We're only consulting for now. There won't be any physical relationship between us. You know who I love."

I looked at him. Six years ago, we'd sat in my mother's small kitchen discussing names for our future children. I'd said it was too early, but he'd saved the names in his phone with a seriousness that made me laugh.

Later, he'd said the family's position was unstable. Our children could wait a little longer. I'd waited year after year. Now he was attending a consultation for another woman.

"Did you agree?"

"I agreed to go with her and learn about it."

"As the father."

He didn't deny it. In that moment, even anger felt far away. I pulled the blanket higher over my still-cold hands.

"I need to rest."

For the first time, unease entered his eyes.

"Erin, we haven't decided to do anything."

"I heard you."

That seemed to unsettle him more than an accusation would have. Outside, Sophia softly called his name. He didn't move right away.

I looked toward the door for him.

"She's waiting."

He quietly said he'd be back later and told me not to overthink things. I didn't answer when the door closed.

That evening, the doctor cleared me to leave. I went back to the estate for my last suitcase. My independent adviser had replied. They would review the occupancy authorization for me. I didn't need to stay in Port Arden and wait.

When I opened the bedside drawer, an old envelope fell out. It wasn't mine. This nightstand had been in Sophia's guest room until last month. She'd complained that its color clashed with her new furniture, so the housekeeper had moved it here.

The envelope had slipped through a c***k in the back panel. It was unsealed. The first photo inside showed my seaside cottage. The second showed a threatening letter addressed to Sophia. But pickup slips from the same print shop were attached to the backs of the photographs.

They were dated a full 3 weeks before she claimed to have received the first threat.

I kept looking. On the last page were several lines she'd edited by hand and a payment receipt bearing her name.

At last, I understood why she'd never actually agreed to move to a safe house.

I photographed every page, returned the originals to the envelope, and placed it beside the tray where Luca picked up his ring each day. I laid my engagement ring on top.

Then I took my suitcase and turned off the bedroom light. This time, whichever woman's room he returned to first, he wouldn't find me again.