Chapter 5 I'm missing her already

Leon

The silence was more oppressive than any storm. It echoed off the great walls of the penthouse, glided over the marbled floors, and tightened around my neck.

Seven days had passed since Aria departed from my life.

No.

Since I had her taken away with my indifference.

I was in the bedroom-or what had been our bedroom-amidst the trappings of her absence. Her perfume lingered on the sheets. Her books no longer cluttered the nightstand. Her favorite sweater that always hung over the arm of the couch? Gone.

Nothing remained but the paper she had left behind-the divorce papers. Signed. By her.

I hadn't signed them.

I couldn't.

Whenever I clutched the pen in my hand, my fingers spasmed. My chest constricted. My heart muttered her name like a prayer I had recently learned.

"Aria."

My voice sounded harsh, vacant.

Why could I not comprehend what she meant to me before she was dead?

I made my way down the stairs, the weight of guilt and regret leading to each step. Ava, the maid, gazed at me with sorrowful eyes but remained quiet as I walked by.

She'd been there the day Aria left. She'd stood by silently as she packed, tears flowing down her face, but loyalty to me had compelled her to remain silent. But she knew. They all did.

Even my little brother Jasper had accused me of what the hell was wrong with me.

"You had the one girl who looked at you like you were the goddamn sun, Leon," he'd said days prior. "And you broke her like she was trash."

He was right.

Aria had loved me in silence. Tolerated me in silence. She asked for nothing, but I gave her less than even that.

I cracked open my laptop, flipping through the security footage from a week prior.

There she was.

Dragging her suitcase. Face pale. Swollen eyes. Trembling mouth. She kept stopping-as if she was waiting for me to call out to her. Call her name. Say something.

I didn't.

I was upstairs. Drinking. Alone.

She turned at the door, looked back one last time.

And then she disappeared.

I slammed the laptop shut.

I had to find her.

I pulled out my phone and looked up Raymond's number as he's my private investigator.

"Any word?" I barked as soon as he picked up.

He sighed heavily. "She's made it hard for me to track her down, Leon. She shut down her digital trail. No purchase, no checks-ins. Even her phone is deactivated."

"She's not hiding from the world, Raymond. She's hiding from me."

There was a pause. "Why does that surprise you?"

I did not respond.

Because it shouldn't.

Because I deserved her silence.

"Keep looking," I growled and hung up.

I leaned back in my chair, closed my eyes, and let the memories wash over me. They always came like that-sudden, unstoppable.

---

Flashback - Two Months Ago

Aria at the balcony, hair blowing, arms crossed. One of my shirts. Moonlight glowed on her skin, her figure silhouetted by city lights.

"You never ask me how I spent the day," she said softly.

I looked up at her from my scotch. "What?"

"You never ask anything, Leon. You come home, eat supper, have a drink, and retreat into that cold shell of yours."

I shrugged. "You signed the contract and enrolled for whatever that comes with it."

Her head whipped around. "Did I?"

There was silence.

"You could have chosen anyone for your stupid contract," she told me. "But you chose me. And why? So I can be your emotional punching bag and you can pretend I'm not alive?"

My jaw tightened. "It's a business arrangement."

Her eyes sparkled. "It was more than that to me, Leon. But you-you can't even feign to care."

I didn't answer.

Because if I had, I would have spoken something wrong. Or worse, something true.

---

Present Day

I rubbed my temples. The headaches were now a daily affair. So were the dreams.

And the guilt.

The one woman who had ever actually seen the broken pieces of me, held them gently in her hands...was gone.

And I didn't know how to fix it.

**

Three days later

**

A knock on the door of my office pulled me out of the abyss of despair.

Jasper came in with an envelope. "You should see this."

I opened it and froze.

Photos.

Of Aria.

She was standing in front of a used bookstore in a small town I didn't recognize. Her hair was pulled back into a low bun, no makeup. She looked calm. Tired, but calm.

And she was smiling.

Something turned inside me.

Then I saw the man standing next to her.

Tall. Relaxed. Too intimate.

Her face was tilted towards him. She was smiling.

My hand wrapped the photo so tight it folded.

"You think she's moved on already?" Jasper inquired softly.

I didn't say anything. My blood was racing.

Moved on?

No. She couldn't. Not yet.

Not from me.

I stood up in a rush. "Get the jet prepared. Track where exactly this is."

"Leon-"

"Now."

He stepped back, nodding.

I sat back down again, my mind racing.

I had to look at her. Talk to her. Apologize. Beg if necessary. I wasn't quite so high on myself anymore.

But I believed she wouldn't make it easy.

She was not the girl who had shrugged in acceptance of a contract wedding with trembling hands.

She was a woman who had survived me.

The thing was...

Whether she would ever let me get close to her again.

---

Later That Night

Sleep eluded me.

I stood at our bedroom window, looking out at the city lights, clutching the only thing left that still smelled of her-a scarf she'd worn on a rainy day.

My heart had never felt more hollow.

Because the truth was straightforward:

I didn't lose just Aria.

I lost the only version of myself that ever felt whole.

And now...

I was pursuing her.

No more waiting.

No more silence.

She might have left me once.

But this time?

I was going to fight.

Even if it meant bleeding.

Just as I closed my eyes, my phone rang.

A text from Raymond:

"You're not going to like what I just found."

My stomach dropped.

I opened the attachment.

My eyes widened.

It wasn't a picture of Aria alone.

It was a marriage license application.

Filed two days ago.

Her name.

And his.

No.

This couldn't be happening.

I dropped the phone, thumping in my chest.

What if she was indeed moving on?

For real this time.

What if she was "no longer mine to win back"?