Chapter 17 - THE CHOICEThe next morning, Damian called Rachel.
“I’m not taking London.”
Rachel stared at him.
“You're turning down a year-long expansion project?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Damian looked out over Manhattan.
Because for years, he'd believed success meant being impossible to replace.
Now he understood something different.
Success was being able to leave work at five and still know the world would continue.
Success was having someone waiting at home.
Someone who didn't care how much his watch cost.
Someone who would tell him when he was wrong.
He didn't tell Rachel all of that.
He simply said:
“I've spent enough years missing things.”
Three weeks later, Damian bought nothing.
He didn't buy Elena an apartment.
Didn't buy Mia a school.
Didn't offer Elena money.
Instead, he showed up with two coffees and asked:
“Would you like to have dinner with me?”
Elena stared at him.
“Is this a business meeting?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have an agenda?”
Damian smiled.
“One item.”
“What?”
“Dinner.”
She laughed.
“Fine.”
Mia shouted from the bedroom:
“Can I come?”
Damian looked at Elena.
She shrugged.
“Of course.”
Mia appeared wearing mismatched socks.
“I knew it.”
That evening, they ate at a small neighborhood restaurant.
No private room.
No security perimeter.
No photographers.
Just three people at a small table near a window.
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And for the first time, Damian Cross looked completely ordinary.
Elena liked him that way.
