Please Come Back, My Love novel Chapter 74

Chapter 74

Elena: POV

I stared at Sophia, her words hanging in the air between us like something tangible 1 could almost touch.

Take him for everything you can.

My hands tightened in my lap. ‘I don’t want his money.”

Sophia’s eyes widened. ‘Elena-

“I mean it. The words came out quieter than I intended. “If I take his money, it just proves what he’s always thought. That I married him for this. For

wealth for status, for a fucking exit strategy.”

“So what?” Sophia leaned forward,

pinning my shoulders. “Let him think whatever he wants. You deserve compensation for three years of-

“I don't want it.” My voice was at now. Final.

Sophia stared at me like I’d lost my mind. Maybe I had.

“You’re being stupid,” she

To give your baby a good life.”

bluntly. “You didn’t get love from this marriage. The least you can do is walk away with enough money to secure your future.

I looked down at my hands. At the invisible weight pressing against my stomach.

“Taking nothing isn’t noble, Elena. It’s just punishing yourself.”

She grabbed my face, forcing me to meet her eyes. “If I were you, I’d make them pay. Before I leave, I’d give everyone who ever looked down on me a lesson that bitch Victoria, all of them.” they’d never forget. His moth

I said nothing.

Sophia’s grip softened. “You don’t owe them dignity. Not after what they’ve done.”

“I’m not trying to be noble. The words came slowly. “And I’m not trying to punish myself. I just..” I swallowed hard. “I didn’t marry him for money, Soph. I never did.”

I closed my eyes. Saw Julian’s face that first time I’d really looked at him-twelve years old, standing in the Connecticut estate’s garden with sunlight turning his hair gold. I’d been ten. A child. The housekeeper’s adopted daughter watching the master’s son from the servants quarters.

“He was like the moon,” I whispered. “Hanging in the night sky, so far away it hurt to look at him. But sometimes… sometimes he’d shine down and light up the darkness. Just for a second. And I’d think maybe, just maybe, I could reach him.”

Sophia’s hand found mine.

“But you can’t hold the moon.” My voice broke. “You can’t drag it down from the sky and cage it. The only things that ever get close to the moon are stars- other celestial beings, born in the same universe. And me?”

A harsh laugh tore from my throat. “I was never gonna be his star. I was just some stupid girl with dirt under her fingernails, standing in the dark, reaching.

For something I had no right to touch.”

The silence that followed was heavy.

“I can support myself,” I said finally, straightening my spine. “I have my job. My degree. I can earn my own money. After I leave him, Ill be fine. The baby and 1-we’ll be fine.”

Sophia studied my face for a long moment. Then she pulled the into her arms, one hand stroking my hair.

“You’re fucking stubborn, you know that?” Her voice was thick. “But I get it. I do.”

She pulled back, cupping my face. “My friend’s gonna be okay no matter what path she chooses. And if things get rough?” She smiled through tears. “I can take care of you. Both of you.”

My throat tightened. “Sophia-

*I’m serious.”

“Can L… I hesitated. “Can I stay here for a while? Just for the week before Grandfather’s birthday party? I need space to think. To plan.”

“Stay as long as you want.” Sophia squeezed my hand. “You don’t even have to ask.”

Relief flooded through me. “Thank you.”

“Everything’s going to be okay,” Sophia murmured, half to me, half to herself. “You’ll see. It’s all going to work out.”

I wanted to believe her. God, I wanted to

“Yeah

I said quietly. “It will be.”

The lie tasted like ash, but I swallowed it down.

My eyes cracked open as I heard the sound of vibrating. The laptop had gone to sleep, leaving only the glow of Sophia’s phone on the nightstand, lighting up her face in harsh white light.

She was sitting up in bed, staring at the screen like it was a live grenade.

I watched through barely-open lids as she read whatever message had come through. Watched her entire body go rigid.

Then she was moving-carefully, quietly, like she was trying not to wake me. She grabbed a hoodie from the chair, pulled it on over her tank top, and slipped her feet into sneakers.

Her hands shook as she picked up her phone again, typing something fast.

What the hell?

I kept my breathing even. Slow. Pretending to sleep.

Sophia glanced back at me once, then tiptoed toward the door.

It opened. Closed. The lock clicked softly.

I lay there in the darkness, staring at the ceiling, my mind racing.

It was past midnight. Maybe closer to one.

What kind of emergency would have Sophia sneaking out of her own apartment in the middle of the night?

And gely had she looked so unsettled?