Too Late For Regret: My Lost Heir

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