Six months ago
The wedding band slid off Liana's finger with a soft click, but it felt like her entire soul had been ripped out.
"Let's not make this harder than it already is," Sebastian said, his voice like cold steel, emotionless and sharp. "This marriage was never meant to be permanent."
Permanent? She wanted to laugh, or scream.They hadn't even made it to their one-year anniversary.
Liana stared at him, her heart pounding in disbelief. "We promised each other"
"No," he interrupted. "You promised. I was... confused. And now I've come to my senses."
Confused.
That was what he called the months they spent together hiding from the world. The nights they whispered dreams in the dark. The vows exchanged in a small chapel under fake names, away from his powerful family's eye.
She had been his secret, tucked away like something shameful.And now, discarded like one.
"I've already instructed my lawyer to draw up the annulment," he added, buttoning his cufflinks. "You'll be compensated generously. You'll want for nothing."
Liana flinched like she'd been slapped.
"I didn't marry you for money," she said quietly. "I married you because I loved you."
For the first time, his expression flickered. Not with regret, but with something worse.
Pity.
"I never asked you to love me."
The silence that followed was deafening.
She watched him walk out of the penthouse, the same one they had once called home, and didn't chase after him. Not when her heart was breaking. Not when she knew he had someone else waiting.
Present day
Liana sat on the edge of her small bed in the servant's quarters, gripping the wedding band she still wore on a chain around her neck. Her fingers trembled, but her resolve didn't.
She had kept her distance for six months. She had rebuilt herself in silence.
But now that he had proposed to another woman, live, before the world, she would walk back into his life.
As a maid.
As a nobody.
But also... as the only woman who had ever truly known him.
And the mother of his child.