Chapter 4

Only after three days without Elara did Rowan investigate Liam. He confirmed there was nothing between them, found two consecutive blank months in her cycle records, then discovered that his two-hour order had been changed to three days. At last, he told his driver to head for the airport.

Then Maeve called, claiming she had a dangerously high fever and making a point of mentioning that Liam called Elara Ms. Voss. Jealousy sank its teeth into Rowan like an old instinct, and he turned the car around.

At Maeve's place, Rowan could tell from her scent the moment he walked in that she was not feverish at all. Maeve cried and asked whether she could ever be the one he chose. Rowan realized he had gotten it wrong again and drove back to the airport like a madman.

Elara had already boarded. Rowan's name lit up on her screen and went dark again. She remembered the anniversary vows, the hand she had withdrawn at the gala, and the footsteps that never came in the dark, then powered off her phone. As the plane climbed into the night, Rowan watched through the glass and felt the mate bond wrench as if it had snapped in two. He finally understood: she wasn't lashing out. She truly didn't want him anymore.

The terminal glass reflected Elara's pale profile. She held the phone until the screen went black. It was not that she could not feel that familiar pull in the distance, and it was not that it had stopped hurting. She simply understood at last that every time Rowan came back, he came too late, and only after passing through another woman's tears. She slipped the phone into her bag as if putting away an answer that could no longer be delivered.

The plane landed in Scotland, and Elara checked into a hospital as a single woman. Back in North America, Maeve eagerly took over the project only to discover that the patents, the team, and the funding were already gone. Rowan told her coldly that she had never been anything but a knife he used on his wife.

Back at the estate, the closet was empty, the bathroom was empty, and even the water Elara always drank was gone from the refrigerator. All that remained in the safe were the divorce certificate and a pregnancy test report torn in two.

Rowan refused to accept the divorce. He convinced himself that Elara had gone into hiding with the baby and even began imagining a nursery. The more vivid the fantasy became, the more it looked like he was laying bricks for his own punishment.

Unfamiliar highlands stretched beyond the hospital window. Elara deactivated her old number and told Talia, "As of today, I don't have a husband."

Highland wind slipped through the gap in the hospital window, carrying the scent of grass and rain. No one here called her Luna, and no one decided what she was supposed to forgive. Elara's pen paused for a moment when she marked herself single on the form, then continued in a steady hand. She had lost so much, but she still had her name, her team, and her choices. Everything she had removed from that house wasn't a trophy of revenge. It was the life she had finally reclaimed.