Too Late For Regret: My Lost Heir
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gravel being thrown against the glass, hard and relentless. Seraphina sat on the velvet armchair that she had pic
on her phone screen. It was glowing in t
ugh the sound of the storm. The heavy oak door pushed open. A gust of cold, d
n wal
with rain. Water dripped from the hem onto the marble entryway, creating small
r hand reaching out instinctively to take the wet coat. It was a h
sideste
et room, it felt like a slap. He walked past her outstretched hand as if she were a p
rim. He did not add ice. He brought the glass to his lips and drank half of it in one swallow, his
he saw the tension in hi
rt, just above the starc
. Seraphina felt a phantom scent hit her-sandalwood and heavy, cloying roses. It wasn't a perfume she owned. It was the
ith exhaustion, but there was a hardness in them that she had never seen direct
t on the c
t slid across the smooth surface and came to a stop just inches from Seraphina's kne
e Sett
It sounded like a tea kettle left on the boil for
His voice was rough, like he
oven. She wanted to say that she had bought him the watch he wanted f
dying, J
ears stopped abruptly, repl
nued. He did not blink. Maybe le
dge of lipstick on his coll
sick, Seraphina said. Her voice sounded
ning the glass. She is scared, Sera. She has no one. She wants to be M
ing she has
k his favorite risotto. The way she had charmed his difficult board members. The way she had h
nthouse in Tribeca. The summer house in the Hamptons. A monthly allowance th
placement. He was pay
d not open the folder. She did not read the
n that sat on the table. The m
fight. He had brought his lawyers' arguments, his justificatio
the pen. She look
d softly. If she were healthy.
he only sound in the room was the rain hammering against the glass. He looke
, Julian said.
s not
, like a thread finally giving way under too much weight. The pain was so sharp it wa
the pen to
check the alimony clause. She simply wrote her name on the
Vanderbilt
r a second. It would be t
shed the document back ac
n, she said. I just want it to
e looked unsettled. He reached fo
ded annoyed. As if her compliance was more ir
ocket. A specific rington
placed by a look of tender, desperate concern. He pulled the
voice was a whisper she had not heard i
ed his keys off the console table. He turned and w
He did not say goodbye
icked shut. The l
f the vast living room. The silence r
r stomac
tarted in her gut and rose to her throat. She clamped h
d tile floor, clutching the porcelain rim of the toi
she slumped back against the cabinet, gasping for air. She looked at her reflection
e heartbreak, something else was