Chapter 4

During the entire week I spent recovering in the Moretti family's private hospital, Julian never came to see me.

Maybe he didn't even remember that I was supposed to be pregnant.

Strangely, I wasn't surprised.

That was simply who Julian was.

In the past, I had always found excuses for him. He was a Moretti capo. There was always Family business to handle, territory to protect, people waiting for his orders.

But I wouldn't make excuses for him anymore.

A week later, I was finally well enough to leave the hospital.

During those seven days, I occasionally looked through Anne's social media.

Almost every post was about Julian.

In the pictures, Anne looked like a princess surrounded by Julian's men and the people closest to the Moretti Family. Her hospital room was filled with expensive gifts, flowers, and carefully prepared meals.

Meanwhile, I had spent the entire week alone.

Then I noticed the pearls around her neck.

I recognized them immediately.

Julian had once promised that necklace to me.

Now it rested against Anne's throat.

Oddly enough, I felt nothing.

No anger.

No jealousy.

Nothing at all.

When I returned to the Moretti estate, everything was exactly as I'd left it.

Julian hadn't been home.

He had spent the entire week at the hospital with Anne. He probably didn't even know that I had been admitted too.

I went upstairs and started packing.

There wasn't much I wanted to take.

I threw away the photograph beside our bed and burned the old love letters Julian had written me before he became the man he was today.

Then I took off my wedding ring.

For a moment, I stared at it in my palm before placing it on the coffee table.

When I finished packing, I looked around the estate.

Without my belongings, the rooms felt exactly as they had when Julian and I first moved in.

Cold.

Empty.

Lifeless.

My gaze fell on the divorce papers lying on the table.

I picked up a pen and signed my name.

I was about to call Julian and ask him to come home when the front door opened.

He walked in alone.

At that moment, I was on the phone with someone from the Moretti corporation's headquarters, confirming the details of my transfer.

"What time is your flight?" she asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon."

I ended the call when I saw Julian.

He frowned.

"What's happening tomorrow afternoon? Do you have a prenatal appointment?"

I put my phone away.

"Work."

That was all I said.

Only then did I notice the container in his hand.

Julian followed my gaze and held it out to me.

"I'm sorry, Scarlett. Anne has been in the hospital all week. I couldn't leave her alone."

His tone softened slightly.

"I brought you some fish soup. It's supposed to be good for you and the baby."

I didn't take it.

Even the faint smell made my stomach turn.

Julian and I had been together for years.

Yet he still didn't remember that I couldn't stand fish.

How ironic.

But I didn't have the energy to remind him anymore.

Then Julian seemed to remember something.

"Oh, right."

He placed a silk dress over the back of a chair.

"This belongs to Anne. It's delicate, so it can't go in the washing machine. Hand wash it for her tonight."

I stared at the dress.

Then at him.

For the first time, I genuinely wondered whether Julian had changed over the years, or whether I had simply refused to see what kind of man I'd married.

My jaw tightened.

"Leave it there."

Julian didn't notice anything unusual.

"I just came back to pick up some clothes. I'll head back to the hospital afterward."

He walked into the bedroom and began packing.

I looked at the divorce papers in my hand.

Then I followed him.

"Julian."

He glanced over.

I held the papers out to him.

"The ownership paperwork for this estate has finally been settled. I just need your signature here."

Julian barely looked at the pages.

He took the pen and signed his name without hesitation.

I watched his signature appear beneath mine.

That easily.

Years of marriage ended with a few careless strokes of his pen.

Julian handed the papers back to me, grabbed his bag, and left for the hospital again.

The moment the door closed behind him, I changed my flight.

Instead of leaving tomorrow afternoon, I booked one departing in two hours.

Before I left, I placed everything on the coffee table.

My wedding ring.

The signed divorce papers.

And the medical report confirming that our child was gone.

Those were the last things I wanted Julian Moretti to see.

Then I picked up my suitcase and walked out of the Moretti estate for the final time.

Whatever had once existed between us was over.