Elodie took a sip of water, the cool liquid doing nothing to ease the tightness in her throat. "Xavier and Hugo have already spent the whole day with you," she said, keeping her voice gentle. "They need so quiet ti to do their howork, and you might distract them if you stay."
Liora barely glanced up from her tablet, her small fingers swiping across the screen with practiced ease. "I don’t need them to stay with . I can play on my tablet by myself."
The words shouldn’t have stung. They were innocent enough , just a child being independent. But sothing about the casual dismissal, the way Liora didn’t even look at her when she spoke, settled like a stone in Elodie’s chest.
She didn’t push it. What would be the point? Instead, she pulled out her phone and typed a quick ssage to Dante: Can you have soone pick up Liora later?
She stared at the screen for a mont, watching the ssage shift to ’delivered.’ No response. Not that she expected one. Dante was probably busy, he was always busy when it ca to anything involving her. She slipped the phone back into her pocket and tried not to think about it.
After Xavier finished his shopping, they wandered through a few more stores, though Elodie’s mind was elsewhere. The bright lights felt too harsh, the chatter of other shoppers too loud. She smiled when Xavier showed her sothing, nodded in all the right places, but inside, she felt like she was watching herself from a distance.
When they finally arrived back at the Cole family house, the atmosphere shifted imdiately. Nonna’s face lit up the mont she saw Liora, her weathered hands reaching out to cup the little girl’s face.
"There’s my precious girl!" Nonna said, her voice warm and delighted in a way that made Elodie’s heart twist with sothing she couldn’t quite na. Not jealousy, never that. Just... absence. The knowledge that she used to be able to make her daughter’s face light up like that, too.
Liora bead, leaning into her great-grandmother’s touch in a way she hadn’t leaned into Elodie’s in months.
They truly adored Liora. And Liora, to her credit, was sweet with them—spending ti with Nonna after dinner, even suggesting a walk around the garden when the evening cooled down. Nonna’s laughter echoed through the house as they strolled arm in arm, and for a mont, Elodie could almost forget the hollow ache that had taken up permanent residence in her ribs.
Almost.
Dante still hadn’t replied.
That evening, Liora ended up staying at the old house. Elodie tucked her in, smoothing back her dark hair, that was so much like Dante’s it sotis hurt to look at and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Liora was already half-asleep, her breathing evening out as Elodie quietly closed the door behind her.
She stood in the hallway for a mont, her hand still on the doorknob, and tried to rember the last ti Liora had hugged her goodnight without being asked.
She couldn’t.
---
The next day, Xavier and Hugo disappeared into their rooms to tackle their howork, their doors firmly shut against any distractions. Liora, true to her word, found things to occupy herself downstairs, coloring quietly at the dining table or sitting beside Elodie on the couch, her tablet balanced on her knees, the glow reflecting off her small, serious face.
She didn’t cause any trouble. She never did. Sotis Elodie wished she would, wished Liora would throw a tantrum or demand attention or sothing that would require Elodie’s presence in a way that mattered.
Elodie’s phone buzzed against the coffee table, and she glanced down to see Dante’s na flash across the screen.
Dante: I’ll send soone to pick up Liora soon.
She stared at the ssage for a beat too long, her thumb hovering over the keyboard. What was there to say? Okay? Thanks for finally responding after a full day? Why does it feel like pulling teeth to get you to acknowledge your own daughter exists when she’s with ?
In the end, she said nothing. She set the phone down and turned her attention back to the book she wasn’t really reading, the words blurring together on the page.
A few seconds later, Liora’s phone rang, the cheerful ringtone cutting through the quietness of the living room. She looked up at Elodie, her expression shifting into sothing bright and hopeful in a way that made Elodie’s stomach twist.
"It’s Dad."
Elodie nodded, forcing a small smile that felt like it might crack her face. "Go ahead, sweetheart."
Liora pressed the phone to her ear, and her whole deanor changed. She sat up straighter. Her eyes sparkled. Her voice went soft and eager in a way it never did when she talked to Elodie anymore.
"Hi, Daddy!"
Elodie couldn’t hear what Dante was saying, but she could see the way Liora’s face lit up like soone had switched on a lamp inside her. The way she nodded enthusiastically, her free hand gesturing as she talked even though he couldn’t see her.
When she hung up barely a minute later, she was practically vibrating with excitent.
"Mom, Dad said he wants to take out to play."
Of course he did.
Elodie’s smile didn’t waver, even though sothing inside her cracked just a little bit more. "He told , too. If you want to go, then go ahead."
"Okay!" Liora was already scrambling off the couch, her earlier contentnt completely forgotten in her excitent to see her father. She didn’t even look back as she rushed upstairs to pack her things.
About half an hour later, a black car pulled up outside, one of Dante’s drivers, no doubt. Elodie walked Liora to the door, carrying the small overnight bag her daughter had haphazardly stuffed with clothes and toys.
Nonna appeared from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron, her face creasing with concern when she saw the car.
"Leaving already?" She didn’t wait for an answer before disappearing back into the kitchen, erging monts later with two containers of food, a bag of Liora’s favorite cookies, and what looked like half a cake wrapped in foil. "Here, bambina. Don’t let them feed you nothing but restaurant food."
Liora accepted the bags with a bright smile, standing on her tiptoes to kiss Nonna’s cheek. "Thank you, Nonna!"
Nonna watched as the driver loaded Liora’s things into the car, her mouth pressed into a thin line. When the car door closed and the engine purred to life, she shook her head, her voice just loud enough for Elodie to hear.
"I thought he was being generous, letting her stay for two whole days. But now look, already rushing to take her back like we’re going to keep her hostage."
Elodie opened her mouth to respond but Nonna was already walking away, muttering under her breath in Italian, her disappointnt hanging in the air.
Elodie stood at the door long after the car disappeared down the tree-lined driveway, her arms wrapped around herself against a chill that had nothing to do with the weather. The house felt quieter now. Emptier. Like Liora had taken all the warmth with her.
Her phone rang again, jolting her out of her thoughts. She glanced at the screen.
It was Paul.
She inhaled slowly, steadying herself before answering. "Hello?"
"I’ve t with Dante’s lawyer," Paul began to say. "I’ve received the new agreent. The additional three properties total about a billion in value. Everything looks clean. No hidden clauses, no strings attached."
A billion.
The number should have ant sothing, maybe security, freedom, the ability to start over without looking back. Instead, it just felt like a price tag. Compensation for years spent trying to make a marriage work that had been dead long before the divorce papers were ever drawn up.
"Okay," she said quietly, her voice sounding distant even to her own ears. "I understand."
Paul hesitated, and she could almost hear him weighing his next words, choosing them carefully. "Dante’s lawyer also ntioned that if you need the money urgently, he can arrange to transfer part of the assets to your account in advance. Apparently Dante wanted to make sure you knew that was an option. What do you think?"
Elodie closed her eyes, her free hand gripping the doorfra until her knuckles went white.
What does she think?
She thought that no amount of money would fill the empty spaces in her life. She thought that Dante could give her every property, every account, every asset he owned, and it still wouldn’t make up for the fact that he’d never once looked at her the way he looked at Sienna. That he’d never held her with intention, only by mistake. That he was more concerned about her financial stability in their divorce than he’d ever been about her happiness in their marriage.
But Paul didn’t need to hear that.
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