Chapter 190 *
Scarlett’s POV
I woke up to an empty bed.
Not unusual. Damon had always been an early riser. Years of running an empire—both the legitimate one and the other kind—had trained his body to function on five hours of sleep and pure willpower.
I rolled over and checked my phone. Seven thirty. My first class wasn't until ten.
The sheets on his side were cold. He'd been up for a while.
I got out of bed and pulled on one of his hoodies. It hung past my thighs. I'd stopped wearing my own clothes around the house months ago. His were more comfortable and they smelled like him.
I found Damon in his office. He was on the phone, speaking in that low voice he used for business. Russian, maybe. Or Ukrainian. I could never tell the difference.
He saw me in the doorway and held up one finger. One minute.
I leaned against the door frame and waited.
He finished the call and set his phone down. "You're up early."
"Couldn't sleep without you hogging the bed."
"I don't hog the bed." He stood up and crossed the room. "You're the one who sprawls across the entire mattress like a starfish."
"That's called getting comfortable."
"That's called taking advantage of my generous nature." He pulled me close and kissed the top of my head. "Coffee?"
"Please."
We walked to the kitchen together. He already had a pot brewing.
I sat at the island and watched him move around the kitchen. He was wearing suit pants and a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. His hair was still damp from the shower.
"Big day?" I asked.
"Board meeting at ten. Conference call with Tokyo at two. Dinner with the Vitelli family at seven."
I raised an eyebrow. "The Vitellis?"
"Business dinner. Completely legitimate." He leaned against the counter. "You're welcome to join if you want."
"I have class until six. And I have zero interest in watching you negotiate shipping contracts over overpriced pasta."
"Fair enough." He took a sip of his own coffee. "What about you? What's on the schedule today?"
"Organic chemistry at ten. Lab at two. Study group at four."
"The same study group where that kid keeps trying to ask you out?"
I laughed. "Charles gave up three months ago. He's dating someone from his econ class now."
"Good." Damon's voice went flat. "I was getting tired of hearing about him."
"You never heard about him. I never told you about him."
"Lily told me about him."
"Lily has a big mouth."
"Lily is protective of you. I appreciate that about her."
I took another sip of coffee. It was perfect. Everything he did for me was perfect.
I kissed him. Soft and slow. The kind of kiss that said I love you without using words.
When I pulled back, he was smiling. "Go get ready for class," he said. "I'll drive you."
"You don't have to drive me. I can take the subway like a normal person."
"You're not a normal person. You're my wife. And I'm driving you."
"Your board meeting starts at ten."
"Then I'll be fashionably late."
There was no point arguing with him. When Damon made up his mind about something, that was the end of the discussion.
I went back to the bedroom and got dressed. Jeans, a Columbia sweatshirt, sneakers. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and grabbed my backpack.
Damon was waiting by the elevator when I came back out. He'd put on his suit jacket. He looked like he'd stepped out of a magazine. All sharp lines and controlled power.
"Ready?" he asked.
"As I'll ever be."
The drive to campus took twenty minutes. Arthur navigated through morning traffic with the kind of efficiency that came from years of experience.
I'd learned how to blend in over the past year. Most people on campus knew the basic story. Romano family drama. Illegitimate children. Affairs and betrayal. But they didn't know I was involved. They didn't connect the dots.
The morning air was crisp. Fall in New York. My favorite time of year.
I walked across campus with my backpack over one shoulder. Students hurried past. Some of them were on their phones. Others walked in groups, laughing and talking.
It was a good feeling.
Organic chemistry was in Hamilton Hall. I took my usual seat near the back. Lily dropped into the chair next to me two minutes before class started.
"You're late," I said.
"I'm not late. I'm exactly on time." She pulled out her laptop. "Did you do the reading?"
"Yeah. It was pretty straightforward."
"Straightforward?" Lily stared at me. "Did we read the same chapter? Because I got through three pages and wanted to cry."
"It's just mechanism theory. Same principles as last semester, different applications."
"You say that like it's simple."
"It kind of is once you see the pattern."
Lily shook her head. "I hate you sometimes. You know that, right?"
Professor Lee walked in and the class went quiet. He launched into a lecture about reaction mechanisms. I'd already read ahead through the next three chapters, so nothing he said was new. My hand moved across the page taking notes automatically while my brain wandered.
An hour and fifteen minutes later, we filed out.
"That was brutal," Lily said. "I understood maybe twenty percent of what he said."
"He spent forty minutes on nucleophilic substitution. That's literally just one reaction type."
"One reaction type that makes zero sense to me."
"I can explain it to you at lunch if you want. It's not that complicated."
"Everything is 'not that complicated' to you." Lily bumped my shoulder. "Some of us are normal people who have to actually work at this stuff."
"You want to grab lunch before lab?"
"Yeah. Let me just—"
My stomach lurched.
It came out of nowhere. One second I was fine. The next second I felt like I was going to throw up.
I stopped walking. Put one hand against the wall.
"Scarlett?" Lily's voice sounded far away. "You okay?"
"Yeah. I just—" I swallowed hard. "Give me a second."
The nausea passed as quickly as it had come. I took a deep breath and straightened up.
"You sure you're okay?" Lily was watching me with concern. "You look really pale."
"I'm fine. Just felt weird for a second."
"Did you eat breakfast?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?"
"Because you look like you're about to pass out." Lily grabbed my arm. "Come on. We're getting you food right now."
She dragged me to the dining hall. Made me sit down while she got a tray of food. Scrambled eggs, toast, fruit. She set it in front of me like a challenge.
"Eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"I don't care. Eat anyway."
I picked at the eggs. The first bite tasted fine. The second bite made my stomach turn.
I set my fork down.
"Scarlett." Lily's voice had gone from concerned to worried. "What's going on? Are you sick?"
"I don't know." And I didn't. "I've been feeling off for a few days. Nothing major. Just tired and kind of nauseous."
"How many days?"
"I don't know. Four? Five?"
Lily was quiet for a moment. Then her eyes went wide.
"Oh my God."
"What?"
"When was your last period?"
My brain went completely blank.