Claimed by the Don

Chapter 4:Distance

Damian did the only thing he could. He made her disappear.

He didn't tell her. He called in favors, rebuilt security around her campus abroad, assigned two men she'd never notice, and paid for everything through a shell company so she'd never trace it to him. Then he stood in the airport terminal, hidden behind a pillar, watching her hug Luca goodbye.

She looked lighter. Free. A suitcase, a ticket, the whole world opening in front of her.

She never looked back, and he told himself it was the best thing for her.

Elena landed in a city of rain and old stone, and for the first time in years, she breathed.

She studied hard, made new friends and became more confident. She dated a sweet boy named Theo who kissed her in a stairwell and felt like nothing, a polite handshake of the lips. When she cried afterward, she told herself it was exhaustion. But her heart knew it was because of the man who rejected her.

Move on, she ordered herself every morning. He told you who he is. Believe him.

And she almost did.

Four years, one degree, and a hundred small rebellions later, she packed her bags. Luca was getting married, and she'd promised to be home for the wedding.

On the flight back, she studied her reflection in the dark window. The girl who had once trembled on a terrace was gone. In her place sat a woman with sharp eyes, a steady mouth, and no intention of shrinking ever again.

"I'm over him," she whispered to herself.

In a black car outside the arrivals gate, Damian lowered his window and watched the doors slide open.

His breath left him.

Because the woman walking out wasn't a girl anymore, and the man in the photograph's shadow was already watching her too.