Chapter 2

Elara Sovrano POV

The Sovrano Tower was a fortress of glass and steel that dominated the Chicago skyline, slicing through the clouds like a jagged, silver blade.

I cut through the lobby, my heels striking the marble floor in a sharp, staccato rhythm. I clutched a sleek leather portfolio against my side. Inside, nestled between fabricated insurance forms for the art gallery and mundane asset transfer protocols, lay my freedom.

Two guards stood like sentinels by the private elevator. They were massive men, their suit jackets straining against the bulk of concealed shoulder rigs.

"Mrs. Sovrano," one said, stepping forward to block my path with a curt nod. "The Boss is in a Sit-down. No interruptions."

"I don't need a meeting, Marco," I drawled, injecting a precise dose of boredom into my voice. "I just need a signature for the gallery insurance. If I don't get it by noon, the exhibition closes, and Dante will look like he can't afford to insure his wife's little hobby. Do you want to be the one to explain that to him?"

Marco hesitated. He knew Dante regarded my art as a trivial nuisance, but he also knew his boss would rather burn down the city than look weak-or cheap.

"Five minutes," Marco grunted, swiping his key card.

The elevator ride was a vacuum of silence. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird, frantic and wild, but I forced my face into a mask of smooth, indifferent porcelain. I had learned the art of the mask from the very best.

When the doors slid open on the top floor, the air was thick enough to choke on. Maria, Dante's executive assistant, looked up from her desk, her eyes widening in panic.

"Elara, you can't go in there. He's with-"

I didn't let her finish. I breezed past her and threw open the double mahogany doors before she could hit the intercom.

The office was vast, a cavern of power overlooking the city Dante claimed to own. But my eyes went instantly to the massive oak desk.

Dante was leaning over a sprawling map of the city. He had rolled up the sleeves of his crisp white dress shirt, revealing the dark ink of tattoos winding up his forearms. He looked powerful, lethal, and utterly annoyed.

Standing right next to him, her hip brushing intimately against the edge of the desk, was Isabella Romano. She wore a dress that cost more than most families' annual income, and she was smiling at something he had just murmured.

The laughter withered in Dante's throat the instant he saw me. His dark eyes narrowed.

"Elara," he said. His voice was a low rumble that used to make me shiver with desire. Today, it just fueled the cold fire in my gut. "I told you I was working."

"And I told you the gallery insurance needs to be signed today," I said, walking further into the room. I refused to look at Isabella, though I could feel her smirk burning into my skin like a brand.

"Does the little wife need her allowance signed off?" Isabella drawled. She picked up a crystal tumbler of scotch and took a slow sip, her eyes mocking me over the rim. "We're discussing shipping routes, sweetie. Real business."

"It takes two seconds, Dante," I said, ignoring her completely. I walked up to the desk and slapped the stack of papers down on top of his map, covering the territory he was so obsessed with. "Just sign the highlighted lines so I can go. Unless you want me to call Julian and tell him the great Dante Sovrano can't handle a simple asset management form."

Dante let out a sharp huff of irritation. He hated being interrupted, but he hated domestic nagging even more. He wanted me gone. He wanted to get back to his map, his empire, and his mistress.

"Fine," he snapped.

He grabbed a heavy fountain pen from the desk.

He didn't read the first page. He signed.

He flipped the page.

My breath hitched in my throat. This was it. The divorce decree. It was buried under a header I had Mark draft to look like a standard liability waiver: Mutual Asset Dissolution and Liability Release.

Isabella leaned over his shoulder, tracing a manicured finger along the map, drawing his eyes away from the paper. "Don't forget the Southside distribution, Dante. My father is expecting results."

Dante was distracted. He was looking at her finger, at the map, at the clock. He wasn't looking at the fine print.

He signed the divorce decree.

He flipped the page.

Relinquishment of Parental and Marital Rights. Another document Mark had drafted, legally severing him from any future "assets" acquired by the marriage.

"Is this the last one?" Dante grumbled, the pen hovering impatiently.

"Yes," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "Just that one, and I'll disappear."

He scribbled his signature. The aggressive, jagged scrawl of a man who thought he owned the world and everyone in it.

I reached out and snatched the papers before the ink was even dry.

"Thank you," I said.

Dante didn't even look up. He was already turning back to Isabella, his attention shifting as easily as the wind. "Now, about the harbor..."

I turned and walked out of the office. My legs felt like jelly, threatening to give way with every step. I clutched the portfolio to my chest as if it contained a bomb.

Because, in a way, it did.

I walked past a stunned Maria, past the imposing guards, and into the elevator. As the doors slid shut, cutting off the view of my husband and the woman he chose over me, a single tear leaked out.

I wiped it away instantly.

I had walked in a wife.

I was leaving a ghost.