Loved Him 15 Years, Then I Left

Chapter 2

Night had fallen completely when quick, urgent footsteps cut through the quiet of the bedroom.

Danica lifted her eyes, and saw Lucas stride in, a fine sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead.

"Got held up a little with Yanna. I'm back late." He walked over to her with a smile, and ruffled her hair the way he always did.

Danica froze for a beat. No wonder everyone else thought Lucas was head over heels for her. Even she had clung to the fantasy once, fooling herself that she held at least a tiny corner of his heart.

Soon the house staff served dinner. Lucas spooned some buttered crab into her plate.

"You've been looking so thin lately. Eat more, fatten yourself up a little."

Danica's hand holding her spoon froze mid-motion.

"Thanks," she mumbled quietly.

She was born sensitive to the cold, and couldn't touch raw or cold seafood at all. Seven years they'd shared a bed, and he'd never once remembered that. Or maybe, he'd never even bothered to try.

The whole dinner wrapped up quickly and quietly, the only sound the soft clink-clink of plates and utensils.

Deep in the night, Danica woke up shivering, the spot next to her ice-cold and empty. Lucas, who'd been lying next to her, was gone. The light in the adjacent lounge was on, so bright it stung her eyes.

She threw on a coat, climbed out of bed, grabbed a blanket from the sofa, and headed over.

Bathed in lamplight, Lucas held a paintbrush, totally absorbed in sketching an outline on the paper.

Only when Danica stepped closer did she make out the subject of the drawing: Yanna.

Staring at his focused, soft side profile, she understood that devotion all too well, but a dull, overwhelming ache bloomed in her chest.

For all these years, she'd sat just like this, stroke by careful stroke, sketching his face.

She had filled every page, every thought, with him. But the only person he could bring himself to draw was another woman.

Danica sighed softly, stepped forward, and draped the blanket over his shoulders. "It gets cold at night. Don't catch a chill."

Lucas didn't even glance up from the paper. "Did I wake you?" he asked flatly.

"I saw the light on. Just came to check on you."

Danica's gaze settled on the drawing, her voice barely above a whisper. "The features are perfect. It just lacks that little spark of life she has."

A warm, tender smile tugged at Lucas's lips. "You're right. Yanna's been sickly her whole life, but she's so lively normally. Chatters nonstop like a little swallow, always up to some mischief…"

He cut himself off mid-sentence, realizing how that must sound, and turned to look at Danica awkwardly. "Danica, you and Yanna are both really important to me."

That half-hearted reassurance was totally meaningless to her. Danica said nothing, just reached out and took the paintbrush from his hand.

The room went dead quiet, the only sound the soft scritch-scratch of the brush against paper.

Lucas watched her gentle, calm side profile, his brow creased slightly before he even realized it.

Any other time he'd mentioned Yanna, Danica's face would have given away how hurt and upset she was. But today, she was way too calm.

With just a few deft strokes, Danica brought Yanna's lively spirit to life on the page. Lucas stared at the finished piece, his eyes wide with amazement.

"All the top artists in the industry rave about your skill, and they're not wrong. This is so perfect, it looks just like her, she's practically alive on the page!"

Danica looked at the genuine, unfiltered happiness on his face, and her eyes stung with unshed tears.

She'd just helped her husband draw the woman he loved more than anything, with her own two hands.

From now on, she would never lift a brush again to paint the man she had loved for fifteen long years.

*****

The next morning...

Lucas headed to the group headquarters for a meeting. Danica had just finished fixing her hair and makeup when several maids walked into the room, their arms loaded with rolls of exquisite fabric.

"Madam, these are limited-edition top-grade Sawyer embroidery fabrics sent over by the brand. Mr. Monroe specifically instructed that all of these be specially reserved for you."

Danica glanced briefly at the fabric and said calmly, "I'll take them. Deliver everything straight to Ms. Spencer."

Carol's face scrunched up in confusion and reluctant frustration. "Madam, this fabric is so rare and precious! Why would you give it to her of all people?"

Danica stood and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, where she looked up at the gloomy sky outside and reached out to catch a dry leaf drifting down on the breeze.

Once, the most precious thing in her heart had always been Lucas.

Now that she was ready to let even him go, these worldly things meant absolutely nothing to her.

Besides, this villa, this marriage... none of it had ever really been hers. She had been an outsider here from the very start.

A gust of autumn wind whistled past, sweeping the dry leaf in her hand far into the distance.

Before long, Lucas would be with the woman he loved.

And she, just like that fallen leaf, would finally break free of her chains and regain her freedom.