Chapter 4 4

Arabella's POV Four Years Later

I lose her.

One second, Daisy is beside me, humming some cartoon song and fiddling with her sparkly pink purse. The next, she's gone, vanished into a crowd of high heels and designer suits.

Panic doesn't come all at once. It creeps up slowly, tightening my throat, stealing air, replacing logic with dread.

I spin around in circles, scanning the chandelier-lit hall of Earthbound Corporation's anniversary gala. The people here, sleek, powerful, too busy sipping champagne to notice a little girl wandering off, mean nothing to me right now.

I shouldn't have brought her.

I shouldn't have been here at all.

This partnership deal was the only reason I returned to New York. I told myself it was for the company. For the future. But I knew what else haunted these streets. And now I've dragged my daughter into it.

"Bella?" Ashley, the secretary I was speaking with, touches my arm. "Where's your daughter?"

My heart slams into my ribs. "I...I don't know. She was just here. She said something about the restroom earlier, but..."

Ashley's eyes widen. "That was nearly thirty minutes ago."

I nod, numb and furious with myself. "God, I told her to wait. I should've taken her. I just..." My voice cracks. "I got distracted."

Ashley grabs my hand. "It's okay. Let's check the restroom."

We weave through the sea of guests, my gown catching under my heels, my pulse surging with every step. I barely see the gilded walls, the floating waiters, or the CEO I came to impress. All I see is Daisy's little face, her dimples, her giant eyes, her wild curls, and the gaping hole of what if.

I knock on the restroom door, hard. "Daisy?"

No answer.

Again, louder this time. "Sweetheart? Are you in there?"

Silence.

A scream builds in my chest, but I bite it down. I will not lose her. Not in this city. Not ever.

Ashley touches my shoulder. "Let's split up. I'll check the courtyard. You go back to where you last saw her."

I nod, barely breathing. "Thank you."

She disappears down the hallway, and I'm already running, heels be damned. My lungs burn, my vision blurs, and the air smells too much like expensive perfume and not enough like home.

Back in the hall, the lights feel hotter. The music is louder. The laughter more cruel.

And then, I see it.

A flash of baby-pink satin.

Daisy.

She's near the far side of the room, animatedly telling a story to someone towering over her. Her little hands move like she's conducting an orchestra, and I can almost hear her giggles over the violin ensemble.

My heart trips over itself.

I rush toward her, barely dodging a waiter with champagne.

Her face lights up the second she sees me. "Mommy!"

She waves so hard her bracelet flies off. "I found a friend!"

I open my arms to scoop her up, but then. I freeze.

Because the man standing with her isn't just some random guest.

He's not a stranger.

He's the reason I left New York.

The reason I built a new life, changed my name, dyed my hair, and buried my past.

Richard Stone.

My ex-husband.

My biggest mistake.

And right now, he's smiling at my daughter like he knows her.

Like he sees her.

My stomach lurches.

The air between us crackles with the weight of what we were, what we never became, and what I've been hiding for four years.

His expression is unreadable, but his eyes, those sharp, steel-grey eyes, lock onto mine. Recognition flickers like a dying matchstick. Then it blazes.

"Arabel?"

He says my name like it's a question. Like he doesn't quite believe it.

Only he ever called me that. Everyone else calls me Bella now. Even Daisy.

And I never told her where that name came from.

I grab her hand. "Come on."

She blinks. "But Mommy..."

"Now."

I walk fast. I don't look back.

But his voice chases me anyway.

"Wait."

I don't.

Because if I do, I'll crumble. Or scream. Or slap him.

Daisy looks up at me, confused but obedient. She knows when I'm scared. She feels it.

"Mrs. Bella?"

Ashley again.

I stop.

She's standing next to Richard, frowning like she just realized the man I walked past isn't just another gala guest.

"I found her in the courtyard, talking to him," Ashley says. "I assumed you knew him."

"I didn't." My voice is too sharp. "Thanks again, but we're leaving."

Richard takes a step forward, voice low but steady. "She's yours?"

My chest tightens. "She's mine."

He doesn't blink. "She's... four?"

I say nothing.

He glances at Daisy again. His jaw tightens.

And then, slowly, like a thunderclap waiting to hit, he turns to Ashley. "You said... Bella?"

Ashley nods. "Arabella Greyson. CEO of Eagle Homes & Interiors."

I want the ground to open and swallow me whole.

Richard stares at me like I'm some ghost resurrected in silk and fire. "You're the CEO?"

I don't respond. I can't.

But the smirk that spreads across his face? That arrogant, breathtaking, infuriating smirk?

It tells me he just pieced it all together.

I pull Daisy closer. My fingers tremble against her tiny wrist.

He knows.