Chapter 21 Is she leaving me?
Damian's POV.
She didn’t come back. The realization landed on me without warning or drama.
It was just a fact sitting on my desk like a loaded gun.
Her room was untouched. The bed was made. The lights were off. There wasn’t any movement from the south wing ever since she left in the morning.
She moved without asking for my permission.
That alone shouldn’t have mattered, but it did.
I leaned back in my chair, eyes on the glass wall of the office.
The city stretched below as if it belonged to me.
Everything here answered to me. Men moved when I spoke, and doors opened before I reached them.
And yet my wife had left. She simply chose to move out.
That hurts more than being rebellious. While I was in my thoughts, a knock came, sharply.
“Come in.”
My assistant stepped inside, tablet in hand, eyes careful. Everyone here learned how to read a room before they speak a word.
“Security update,” he said. “Routine.”
I said nothing.
He hesitated, then continued. “Madam existed the mansion at eight thirty. She headed to the Romano empire headquarters.”
The words hit hard. I straightened slowly. “Say that again.”
“She reported directly to the main tower. Executive clearance. She was assigned to an office and she working under…”
He stopped. I didn’t tell him to.
My jaw tightened. “Under who?”
A breath. “Under Dante.”
Silence filled the room. The kind that crushes lungs.
“Leave,” I said.
He left fast. The door shut.
I stared at the glass again, but I wasn’t seeing the city anymore.
She is my wife. He is my brother.
And she walked into his world as if she knew every path of it.
I stood, the chair scraping back harder then it should.
My hands flexed at my sides.
I should have known. My brother never chased, he waited. He let people fall into him and call it choice.
And Isla had fallen without effort or force or permission.
She didn’t even look back.
The heat crawled up my spine, slow and dangerous. Jealousy wasn’t loud, it whispered.
You lost her. No.
I clenched my fists. I let her go. And there was a difference.
I walked across the office, stopped at the window. My reflection stared back at me.
Inside, something was tearing loose. I gave him space.
I should have touched her first. I should have defended her.
I should not want her like this. Each thought that went through my head hit sharp.
Lucai’s face surfaced uninvited. The way she smiled.
The way Isla had seen it. The way isla’s eyes had gone distant, like she already decided something and didn’t bother sharing it.
I didn’t regret Lucia. I regretted letting Isla watch.
That was my mistake. I underestimate what silence does to a woman who was already bruised.
I moved back to my desk, picked a phone, and then set it back again. No messages, no calls.
She hadn’t tried to reach me, and that hurt worse than leaving.
There was another knock. “Come in.”
It was a security this time around. “Dante’s on his way up,” he said. “Private elevator.”
I nodded. “Let him.”
The door closed again. I didn’t sit.
When Dante walked in, he looked exactly like he always did. Calm and clean.
The kind of man who never needed to raise his voice because people followed on their own.
“Brother.” He said.
I didn’t answer. His gaze flicked around the office, the back at me.
“You look tense.”
“She’s working for you,” I said.
I didn’t question or accuse him, I just went straight to the point.
“She asked,” he replied.
That was worse. “She’s my wife.”
“Yes.”
The agreement landed too easily.
“You didn’t ask me.”
“I didn’t need to.”
I stepped closer, and measured. “You’re crossing the line.”
Dante’s mouth curved slightly. “You let her go.”
The words struck clean. “I didn’t,” I said.
“You did,” he replied. “The moment you stopped choosing her.”
Silence stretched between us. “She belongs here,” I said.
“She walked out,” he said. “On her own.”
My jaw tightened. “You’re winning her over.”
“I’m not trying,” he said.
That truth terrified me. Because effort could be fought.
“She chose me,” he continued quietly.
I saw it. He wasn’t teasing, it wasn’t curiosity something dark shifted dark in my heart.
“You forgot your place,” I said.
“I know exactly where I stand,” he replied. “Do you?”
I turned away first. Not because I lost.
Because if I didn’t, I would do something irreversible.
Dante moved toward the door. “She’s not a game,” he said. “And she wouldn’t survive being pulled apart.”
The door closed behind him. I stood alone again.
The city stared back. She chose him.
The words repeated until they lost meaning and became a threat.
I picked up the phone again. And this time I didn’t put it down.
“Get me everything on her father,” I said. “Finances. Pressure points. Weakness.”
A pause. “Ans prepare a transfer order.”
“Sir?”
“She comes back,” I said. “One way or another.”
The call ended.
I leaned both hands on the desk, breathing slow and controlled.
I didn’t touch her yet.
But the next time I did… I wouldn’t let her go.