Please Come Back, My Love novel Chapter 346

11:49 Sat, Jul 11

Please Come Back, My Love

Chapter 346

I hadn’t even realized I was crying.

I wiped my face quickly, forcing a smile that felt like broken glass. “Je vals bien,” I said softly. I’m okay.

He frowned, clearly not buying it, then held out the ice cream cone.

“Pour toi,” he said firmly. For you.

I blinked at him, then at the cone, which was now more of a sticky mess than an actual dessert.

“Non, c’est le tien,” I said, shaking my head. No, it’s yours.

But he just pushed it closer, his little face so earnest it made

chest ache.

“Ça va mieux,” he insisted. It will make you feel better.

And God help me, I believed him.

I took the cone with trembling fingers, and he beamed at me like I’d just given him a gift. Then his mother called from somewhere behind me, and he waved once before running off, leaving me sitting there with melted chocolate dripping onto my hand and tears streaming

down my face.

I laughed a choked, broken sound-and brought the cone to my lips.

It tasted like sugar and kindness and everything I didn’t deserve.

But I ate it anyway.

By the time I made it to the restaurant Lucas had texted me about, the sun was setting, and I’d pulled myself back together.

I’d washed my face in a public restroom, reapplied the lipstick I’d bought with Lucas’s black card, and practiced my blank expression in the mirror until I could look at myself without flinching.

You can do this, I told myself. One more night. Then you’ll figure out the rest.

The restaurant was tucked into a quiet street in the Marais, all exposed brick and dim lighting and the kind of understated elegance that screamed money. I pushed open the door, and the hostess greeted me with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Bonsoir, mademoiselle. Do you have a reservation?”

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11:49 Sat, Jul 11

Chapter 346

“I’m meeting someone,” I said, “Lucas Reynolds.”

Her smile tightened. “Ah, yes. Right this way.”

She led me through the dining room, past tables full of couples leaning close and whispering, past waiters carrying trays of won ded

plates that looked like art.

And then I saw him.

Lucas sat at a corner table, his back to the wall, a glass of red wine in his hand. He looked up when I approached, and for a split second, something flickered across his face-relief, maybe, or surprise that I’d actually come back.

But I barely noticed.

Because sitting across from him, her perfectly manicured hand resting on the table like she owned it, was Claire.

Lucas’s fiancée.

She turned when she heard my footsteps, and her smile was all teeth.

“Sophia,” she said, her voice dripping with false warmth. “What a lovely surprise.”

I stopped in my tracks, my heart slamming against my ribs.

Lucas’s eyes met mine, and I saw it-the challenge, the dare, the silent question. What are you going to do now?

Claire tilted her head, her smile widening.

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